Newb Questions About 1984 Wellcraft Sportsman 228

[Destroyer]

Smoke, the switches I use are the on/off/on type you mentioned. Up position is manual on, off in the middle position and automatic in the down position. I also have a bright red LED light wired to the switch. When the pump on, it also turns the LED on, signaling me that the pump is running. That way if I have it in manual mode and I forget it's on, it reminds me to turn it off (so I don't run down the battery), and if it (the light) is on in auto mode it tells me to check and see why the pump is running.

[smokeonthewater]

An indicator is a good idea...
Another idea, especially if you plan to moor or sleep on a boat is to hook up a horn or siren to a float switch mounted higher that the normal one and on a second battery... That way, if the maintenance pump doesn't keep up you get warned or woke up when things get serious.

[macojoe]

Thats great idea, never thought of adding the horn as a alarm!

[A ReelCool Chick]

Originally Posted by destroyer

smoke, the switches i use are the on/off/on type you mentioned. Up position is manual on, off in the middle position and automatic in the down position. I also have a bright red led light wired to the switch. When the pump on, it also turns the led on, signaling me that the pump is running. That way if i have it in manual mode and i forget it's on, it reminds me to turn it off (so i don't run down the battery), and if it (the light) is on in auto mode it tells me to check and see why the pump is running.

nice!!!!

[bradford]

Looks a lot cleaner than mine did when I got her, Mine was part birds nest, part beaver dam.

[SkunkBoat]

looks to me like that big white wire contains the red & black feeds to the fuse panel? Maybe 12 gauge wire?(too thin in my opinion) Also, there are other wires connected to the + terminal. Are they coming from the battery also?(why) or are they feeding power TO devices?(wrong, should not feed From that terminal)

I would feed the panel from the battery (battery switch) with 8 gauge red & black wire. You should use a 30A Terminal fuse at the +battery post(or battery switch)
You should not run UN-Fused +12 feeds to the battery.

Remove all other feeds from the battery and use the Fuse panel to feed everything thru fuses. All Neg returns go to the Neg bus.
You go from fuse panel to center post on switches.


An exception is Bilge float switch +Brown and -Black. If the bilge pump is near the battery, power the float switch (with in line fuse) directly to the + battery and connect the Black bilge pump wire to the -battery. The Manual switch wire connects to the brown wire between the float switch and pump


here's a quick sketch

Oh and those are some heavy fuses in that panel. your circuits need 5A, maybe 10A for a VHF. Maybe 15 for the cigarette lighter socket.

Those wires will melt before that 25A fuse pops

[A ReelCool Chick]

Thanks for your input Skunk!

It's going to be a slow go, but between all of your input and the 12v Bible, I honestly feel like I can do it!

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by A ReelCool Chick

Thanks for your input Skunk!

It's going to be a slow go, but between all of your input and the 12v Bible, I honestly feel like I can do it!

Of course you can. "You can do it...we can help"

[bradford]

Once you get into it and figure out what you're looking at, eliminate all the junk that goes to nowhere, and start hooking up your new stuff it really isn't that bad. Be sure to spend a few extra bucks and take your time and do it right. It will pay off in the end. Also remember, K.I.S.S. Don't make the new system more complicated than it needs to be, you want to be able to look at it and know what it is if you ever have to make a repair.