orange wire?

J

jrisapirate

Member
So just replaced the original glass fuse block and original switches on my '87 20 fisherman(have to correct myself because I always thought it was an '89) traced all the wires and for the most part and they are still in decent shape. Especially for not being tinned. Close to 30 years on basic copper wire not bad I'd say. But I haven't been able to figure out the orange wire from the harness, only guess is an accessory?
And while I'm on it there are heavy battery cables that run from the port side locker to the bow. The port/plug they are connected to is un legible and not a plug I'm familiar with(i'll try to get a pic up) any ideas? Guessing it has to be an old dock charging plug? Cables are way to heavy to be any kind of accy.
 
It is loose at both ends of each harness(the aft and under the console). I dont think there is a seperate ground for it either because each black wire was accounted for when reconnecting the other colors
1.yellow - pump
2. black w/red - float
3. brown - bilge
4. blue - lights
5-6. grey and grey w/blue - nav and anchor
unless the nav and anchor share a neg, and the 6th neg wire from harness is for orange wire?
Is each neg designated to its own color?

Could it be for additional bus bars?
 
Yes CC. Yellow went to the livewell pump. Horn uses its own wires to the push button, but that could of been a possibilty for original wiring.
 
The orange wire on a mercruiser is IIRC the alternator charge lead.
It would connect to one side of an ammeter and the other side would be bat+

In an outboard application I suspect that it would not be used.
 
I believe orange is generally 12+ for accessories. I know my old Grady has orange providing power to all of the fuse holders and there are a few orange wires that run to stuff like the wipers.
 
IMHO, if everything is working the way it's supposed to be working, I'd just ignore it. There are always extra wires running everywhere on a used boat. Impossible to know what they were used for without a manual from the maker. As to that large wire, could be for an anchor windless, or a trolling motor or anything else the requires a larger gauge. Might even have been for a spare battery. :head:
 
Wiring is all done with new block and all new switches. Orange wire is unused and the heavy gauge was for a trolling motor which i found out after talking to previous owner, actually supposed to pick up old trolling motor from him. other than running new wires for the float and bilge and some new connectors for the nav im good.

Just out of curiosity any of you every use a $5 illuminated switch from radio shack. i picked one up and am using it for the courtesy lights. See how long it lasts?
 
Here are the schematics.... not sure what year.
 

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