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AZKC

Leo
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1979 20ft Hawaiian Moonraker

Posted: April 28 2003,5:25 pm

Post # 1

OK this boat is really fighting its revival, :angry

So I replaced all my switches, the new switches have 3 terminals, one is ground(top), one is power(middle), and one is the control/feed for the device(bottom). the original wiring was fine so I just swapped everything as it was +=+, -=-, control = control. When I hooked up the battery they worked fine, turned things on and off and lit up, but I noticed the main power wire was getting hot and then the 30 amp fuse blew. This all happened in the matter of a few seconds, so I figured I had a dead short somewhere, poked around, isolated some circuits, blah blah blah.

Now I get cornfused, I unhooked all the wiring to the switches and had the test lite and hooked them back up one at a time and I find that the ground terminals on all the switches have power to them. If I leave the ground wires off the switches they work fine just don't lite up when turned on, I even tried a stand alone ground same results.

I'm sure I'm just missing something simple here, me and electrical allways seem to butt heads.
Â Â Â
Â :rolleys

any ideas?

K"call me sparky"C

God is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Crazy......

AUTO SAFETY HOUSE

| Member # 29 | Joined: 12-18-2002 |

Rexone

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Posted: April 28 2003,10:54 pm

Post # 2

Kevin what type of switches we talkin about here? Rockers, Toggles, ?? Normally, a three terminal switch whether its momentary or stationary is a SPDT (single pole, double throw) type switch. Meaning... single power wire in the center, with the 2 outside terminals being "power out" terminals, active seperately based on which way the switch handle or rocker is positioned. In other words you use them to power 2 different functions alternately with one power feed wire in.

Ground never enters the equation in the above type of switch. Your device, light, whatever should be grounded to a ground circuit ultimately ending up connecting back to the engine block and neg bat terminal. Ground wire does not normally go back to a switch. Normally only the power is switched.

Are you running lights?, other devices. Tell me more and I'll try to assist.

You can be sure though that if you blew a 30 amp fuse it was because that terminal you thought was ground was actually hot and you created a dead short to ground when you flipped the switch. That's my guess.

Mike

"If you get to thinking you're a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around." Will Rogers

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| Member # 10 | Joined: 12-04-2002 |

AZKC

Leo
HDF Bronze Supporter

Jack of all trades. Master of none.
10,000 post flame

Tucson
Posts: 16,439
APPD 2.05
Post Rank: 5
1979 20ft Hawaiian Moonraker

Posted: April 29 2003,7:35 am

Post # 3

Hi Mike,
They are rocker switches, three terminal, off and lighted when on(2 position I assume, on or off). And as allways it was something simple, I had miss read the instructions. The top term is ground, the middle is the device, and the bottom was power. I had the device and power crossed :angry

I found this out as I was scanning the instruction to post, when I enlarged it BAM I saw my mistake. You still in a strange way helped by explaining the way they work and that caused me to reread the instructions. I think I need reading glasses :laugh