Wild Wire

[pigbike]

I found a black wire loose in my battery compartment that has a small eye on the end and is marked #29. Anyone know what it's for or where it connects to?

Roy

[seabob4]

Roy,
It's black, so therefore it is a ground...or is it?  Since quite a few grounds on Aquasports are combined here and there, check for continuity between the batt negative and the wire.  If you get continuity, terminate it to a ground bus.  If you don't, leave it be, just tie it back...

If you have some appliance (light, pump, whatever) that is not working on your boat, well, #29 to ground may just be the answer to that mystery...

[pigbike]

Ok thanks. I will try to track it down. I was cleaning up the mess in the battery compartment, took out that extra Perko switch, reconnected the wires properly with inline connector, and heat shrinked it. Bought one new battery etc. Ran across this wire in the process.

Now that I think about it my float switch for the bilge pump doesn't work. The pump works fine manually switching it on, but the float does not turn it on.  Could this be the ground for the float switch?? Would the pump work if it was?

[gran398]

Most likely the black ground for the float switch. Float switches are wired straight to the batts for safety. You don't want them connected to an On-Off  switch. Not in a downpour.

[seabob4]

OK guys, a little electrical 101.  Float switches have no ground...they are simply switches, they interrupt the current flow in a circuit.  If you were to take the wire that feeds the bilge pump (brown), and cut it, it will no longer work.  Strip the ends of the 2 wires you now have in your hand, touch them together, the bilge pump now works...YOU are the switch!  And no ground involved whatsoever!!!  But you need a ground form THE PUMP to complete the circuit...

Here is a simple drawing showing how a typical bilge pump and float switch should be wired...



Note the float has no ground, only the pump.  One lead from the float combines with the positive of the pump, they go to the manual switch at the helm.  The other lead from the float goes to constant hot, either off the batt or the batt switch...

[gran398]

Bob, thanks for the clarification

Reckon the bottom line being...auto bilge pumps are powered straight to the batts.

[seabob4]

Bob, thanks for the clarification

Reckon the bottom line being...auto bilge pumps are powered straight to the batts.

Scott,
Autos, or "all in ones", work exactly the same way.  It's just that the float is built into the pump body.  Take a Rule-a-matic, for instance.  3 wires coning out of the top of the pump, brown, brown w/white stripe, and black.  Brown w/white strip is "switched" hot, that runs forward to the bilge pump on/off switch at the helm.  Solid brown goes to the batt or batt switch (post 1 or 2), that is "constant" hot.  Ground goes to the ground bus.

The automatics with their built in floats simply do the combining of the pump hot with one of the leads from the float inside the pump housing so you only have 1 wire to deal with instead of 2...