Why wont my switch panel work?

[bootyinblue]

Ok I am going to apologise in advance for this as I am going to have to explain it without pictures, but here goes.

I have a 6 switch panel which runs independant from the battery isolator. When you look at the back of it there are 2 red (assume positive) wires coming from the top lug on the switch. 1 of these runs down to the top terminal on the lower switch so its like a jumper wire and the other wire just earths to a stud on the boat and has a 15amp fuse holder in it. The lower lug on the switch has a black (assume negative) wire which runs into the hull, so assume it goes to the bit of equipment.

How do I wire in a new plug to it? Do I take 'positive' straight from the battery? Take 'negative' from the lower lug of the switch and if this is the case, whats the go with the positive earth and fuse set up?

Anyone got more electrical nouse than me?

[Feral]

1. Dont earth through the boat, run a seperate earth to everything, unless you like electrolosis.

Not sure what your describing, but there are two setups with those type of panels I am familiar with.

1. Standard setup

The switch is a power switch.

Power to one side of fuse from battery.

wire from other side of fuse to switch.

Wire from other side of switch to what ever you are powering.

2. Setup with indicator light (used to be bulbs, mostly LED's these days)

Similar to above, but after the switch is a circuit with a bulb in it, there is an earth wire from the LED / Bulb to allow the light to work when the switch is turned on.

[bootyinblue]

You lost me after electrolosis!

It looks like th switch has power to it as it just jumps from the one above. So if I run power positive straight from the battery and negative from the lower lug on the switch would that work as in on and off. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I dont have enough wire here at the moment to dummy it up and try, as I might smoke the entire thing as I have no idea what should connect to what.

[Feral]

er no.

Positive from battery to switch.

Other side of switch then connects to positive on whatever your running power to.

[Do$tylz]

have you tried turning it off, then turning it back on?? sorry couldnt help myself

[bootyinblue]

Ok so the positive goes through the switch to turn it on and off, got that bit. Where do I connect the negative from the pump too then?

[Feral]

To the negative side of the battery. Direct connection.

[bootyinblue]

Ok.... will get some extra wire tomorrow and see what how much smoke I can create and fuses I can blow. Otherwise plan B was just straight from the battery with an inline switch in the positive wire.

Cheers for the help Feral.

[bootyinblue]

I kept playing with this for a while and yes after making sure the switch was in the on position, thanks to Henry I found out that one wire on the lower lug and one wire on some little stud where there are all these other wires and success I have a switched on and off aerator.

Now I just need Dick Smith again for some more wire, some of those funky crimper things and some push on terminals...... All this to keep a bloody fish alive!

[faulked]

easy fix eat the fish and buy more rum \

jason

[rumrunner]

dont touch it booty!

sounds like you will need to know whats what before you go and short out the whole system or cause a fire!

if you have it at the comp i can show you what is what and give you a fair idea of what you will need to do!

dont forget to ask me when you see me otherwise i will forget!

cheers Ian

[bootyinblue]

KABOOOM...... too late!

Nah its all good I have just run leads off the battery for now, but want to work out this switch panel properly so will take you up on it Ian.... cheers

[kriso]

allright doin up a schematic for ya mate its dead simple. excuse my bad drawing though but should be able to follow it, with your cable make sure it is the right amperage or higher than what your powering also make the fuse the amperage of the pump as well

[kriso]

here's my bad paint skills! [img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/schematic_AFO.jpg

[ellicat]

kriso, I thought the circuit would work better if the leads didn't have all those breaks in them:dry:

[kriso]

rofl i didnt want to use up all my ink! hahahhaha lol

[dunney]

ok well when you switch a boat electronics you should always be switching positive voltage.

FOLLOW THIS PIC TO WIRE UP SWITCH

why do you have a fuse on the neutral.?if u still have it there remove it..

[shortie]

saltshaker wrote:

ok well when you switch a boat electronics you should always be switching positive voltage.

FOLLOW THIS PIC TO WIRE UP SWITCH

there will be 2 pins on the back of your switch.there maybe more pins if its a dual switching switch.but on most basic switch's its just 2.

the two pins are power in then power out.the power out should be having the fuse on it them off to whatever electronic your switching.

you should not have a fuse on your neutral.

wire the supple wire as the pic states

YOu do not have a neutral in a DC system you have a negative.

[dunney]

thanks for clearing that up im sure he would have been totally confused and not known what i was talkign about

[bootyinblue]

Correct.... totally confused, so reverted back to Jasons philosophy of eating the fish and buying more rum!

I have wired it up as per Kriso's diagram, but I think fuses are for people who are not confident in what they are doing, so I left mine out..

[dunney]

maybe your switch is broken..have you tested to see if you have a circut through it?wear are you located?i can look at it for you if your close.(im a licenced electical worker)

[bootyinblue]

Thanks for the offer mate, but its working. I just ran wires from the battery and put a switch in the positive line.

If anyone is a licensed sparkie, then steer well clear as I might steal your 'lecy tape just to wrap a bit more around the whole ensemble.

Ohh and ofcourse there are cable ties involved, and yes Brian if I had some then liquid nails would have been used in the 'custom installation'.

[bigtez]

Your a man after my own heart booty. Leccy tape, zip ties and sikaflex will fix anything. I have them all in my dodgied up live well for this weekend. Hopefully my bilge pump will work all day or I could be in real trouble.

[Burko]

booty throw a fuse in there mate!! you never know when the aerator could go bad but mix anything with water and chances increase. if you don't and the thing shorts, your wires then become the fuse and if you are using 6 amp or 4 amp (p.s. they won't fry at 6 or 4 amps more like 50+ before they go.) wires they will cause a sh!tload of damage as they burn up.

just go to supercheap and grab one of those sealed rubber inline fuses with wires and everything attached and run it between your battery and switch.

cheers Paul

[kriso]

hahah i did put a fuse in the drawing for a reason mate lol.

[bootyinblue]

Yea yea yea.... and I might have been midly concerned if I actually had to throw the switch and turn the monstrosity on, but alas I barely boated a fish so the live tank never went 'live'!