Fishing Boat Wiring

Kevin,

I had to get a new ignition switch after hubby broke the old one. Then he didn’t tape and write on the old boat wiring what they went to.

Can you give me the colors and letters that go together? The new one that he bought has the letters, S, I, C, M, B, M…I’m not even sure he bought the right one!

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Tami

Hi Tami,

He did buy the correct key switch.

Here are the colors and letters.

• S – start – yellow/red
• I – ignition – purple
• C – choke – purple/white
• M – magneto – black
• B – battery – red or red/purple
• M – magneto ground – black/yellow

Happy boat wiring,

Kevin

Thanks, Kevin.

The engine now turns over but the bilge, lights, etc. don’t work.

My old switch had S,C,A,M,B, and M, but no “I”…and hubby didn’t mark the wires. The switch even looks different. I’ve included a picture of the new switch with wires.

Please help! I love my boat and hubby wants to get rid of it, so he’s not doing much to fix it.

Tami

Tami,

The bilge pump, navigation lights, etc are either powered by a separate lead that has nothing to do with the ignition switch or an additional wire that would connect with the purple wire.

Check to see how the boat switch panel gets power and also check the ground. If all components quit, it is either the power or the ground for the accessories.

Kevin

Kevin,

I forgot to mention that the navigation lights, etc were working before I switched the wires to make the engine run – and it was all working before hubby broke the switch itself.

I just feel that something is either not connected correctly or we have the wrong switch. Did I wire it correctly? I was told somewhere else that the switch I have is for an I/O motor. Could that make a difference? Would switching the M and the MA make the difference?

Thank you so much for your help.

Tami

Hi,

An I/O switch will not have a choke, a mag, nor a mag ground terminal. You do have the correct switch.

Switching the M and MA will not make a difference. When you turn the key switch off, the M and MA posts are connected together internally to make the engine shut down.

Since all of your accessories have quit, there must me a wire left off either on the battery or the key switch. Is there an in-line fuse at the battery on a smaller wire?

Kevin

Kevin,

I fixed it!!! Yipeeeee….Thanks so much for all of your help!

My next project is to see why the tilt/trim doesn’t always want to work…..and then to learn to back the boat…that’s on my bucket list for this summer.

Thanks again…you’ve been a blessing!

Tami