Little Black Box

[Thunderyacht]

So after fighting electrical gremlins all last season I decided to clean up the electrical. Putting a new Blue Sea battery switch and ARC to replace the two Perkos. I want to isolate the house battery from the engine battery so I started looking at how the current switches are wired. Is it safe to assume the RED wire going from the ground terminal of the left Perko switch, not the actual battery cable, but the one going to the little black box, is actually ground and didn't come with that wire color from the factory? Also, the 14ga. Brown wire coming from the positive side of the switch to the little black box, is actually "hot?" Does anyone know how the guts of the little black box, the one with fuses and the reset button in the stern compartment is supposed to be wired? I've added a picture from Blue Seas of the setup.
Thanks.

BTW, it's a 2001 Osprey 250 CC with twin Evinrude 150s

[CLM65]

Do you have a picture?  Not sure what black box you are referring to.

The battery switches do not have a ground.  All wires connected to those switches should be positive.  And I believe the brown wire, if from the factory, is the lead to the automatic bilge pump.

[Capt. Bob]

Is it safe to assume the RED wire going from the ground terminal of the left Perko switch, not the actual battery cable, but the one going to the little black box, is actually ground and didn't come with that wire color from the factory?

No.
First, there is no "ground" on a Perko (or other brands that I'm familiar with) battery switch. That red wire is the power supply to the black box. It is wired to the breaker(push to reset) and then travels to the helm for the positive buss there. The Perko switch is just that, a switch. It blocks voltage from the battery (Off), supplies power to the starting system (1,2, Both) and when in one of those last positions supplies power to the positive buss.

Also, the 14ga. Brown wire coming from the positive side of the switch to the little black box, is actually "hot?" Does anyone know how the guts of the little black box, the one with fuses and the reset button in the stern compartment is supposed to be wired?

That wire (IIRC) provides constant power to the bilge float switch so that even when the battery switch is in the Off position, power is supplied to the bilge pump. This is generally for boats kept in a slip to prevent flooding while unattended. I believe it is also wired to the fuse marked "stereo" to provide a power supply to your stereo's memory/clock if applicable.

I'll see if I can locate a pic of the box for you but it is pretty straight forward once you understand what Aquasport was trying to accomplish.

Good luck.

Edit: Craig beat me to it.

[Capt. Bob]

Here's the black box.

http://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=12606.msg127186#msg127186

Read the entire thread for a better understanding of what's going on with the Factory wiring setup.

[Thunderyacht]

Thanks guys, makes a whole lot more sense now!  Now I need to find that "forward bilge"cause I've never seen one on my boat. Got the fresh water pump, but haven't seen a forward bilge or float switch. Thanks again.

[Capt. Bob]

TY,
I think you will find that the "black box" was used on both the Osprey and Explorer models but that the EX's came  with the forward bilge pump (215 excluded) while the Ospreys did not. It resided under the cabin floor accessed via a removable deck plate.

[wingtime]

I installed a Blue Seas ACR and battery switch in my 245 Explorer.  I LOVE IT!  No more worries about switching batteries and no more voltage drops or spikes to my electronics when I start my motor.

As you have found out there was some special wiring going on in the back of the Explorer/Ospreys.  You have a constant hot lead that is feeding the black box for the bilge pump floats and stereo memory.  I also wired the main 8ga feed wire that supplies power to the helm and all house power loads to my number two making it the "house battery"  Here are a few pics and wiring diagrams of how I did mine.

[Thunderyacht]

Thanks for the info and photos.  I'm hoping to get this wrapped up this weekend, spent the last 2 cleaning up a myriad of wires that went to nowhere and reconnecting wires that were simply crimped with non-heatshrink butt connectors.  By the way, what size wires did you use from the ACR to the battery?  I'm thinking 6 ga as I've got a very short run from ACR to the batteries.
Thanks again!

[wingtime]

Yeah I had to undo a bunch of PO wiring mess in my boat too.  Gotta love finding wire nuts on a boat!

I forget what gauge wire I used but 6 gauge sounds about right to me. 

You can find the yellow start wire in the engine harness and tap into that.  You can see where I did mine.  It is the two yellow wires going into a blue butt splice a little about the fuel filter.  You can go online and find a wire color chart for your engine wire harness.

[Thunderyacht]

Just wanted to thank everyone here for the info and advice. Got everything retired, cleaned up and everything works great. Ended up pulling 100' of wire out of the boat that went to no where or plugs to accessories long gone. Felt like I was the loser of a prize fight when I was done trying to get in that little cubby hole in the transom, but it was worth it. Thanks again!