Who has tackled their electrical mess?

[SDMF]

Good point.

I may do both. I really want to figure out those switched. These wiring diagrams give me something to go on.

Then another fuze panel will be a little extra protection.

Now...who wants to help? There's a case of Blue Tasties in it for ya...

I'm curious whom you'll get to snuggle with you up under the console. Might I suggest one of 2400's Coffee Baristas, otherwise some folks are gonna talk. Prolly gonna cost you more than a case of blue nummies though.

 

[Duckslayer100]

I'm curious whom you'll get to snuggle with you up under the console. Might I suggest one of 2400's Coffee Baristas, otherwise some folks are gonna talk. Prolly gonna cost you more than a case of blue nummies though.

Clarification: You don't have to spoon with me under the console. You can perch yourself on a chair and snag brewskis out of the cooler for yourself and I, dish out thoughtful advice, tell me what I'm doing wrong, or just provide emotional support.

Or, tell me I'm an idiot and should have never started this damn project.

Regardless, I promise we won't have to get closer than necessary.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, I started piecing together some mysteries last night:

1) The three wires running to the back of the boat (green, blue and purple) were for the old hydraulics. Thinking I could just splice them into the new motor's extra tilt/trim wires to get my bow toggle switch working, I did that. Tried every conceivable configuration, however, and nada. Hmmm...bad toggle, perhaps?

2) An orange wire running to one of the two "Acc." fuzes winds up in the bow of the boat with its corresponding negative cable. So I have the ability to hook up another depth finder if I want. This is plausible, as I have a trolling motor with a ducer built in. All I need to do is find the appropriate coupler to marry it to my old extra Eagle and we're in "bid-ness" as the kids say.

3) My gas gauge does not work, and I can't figure out why. My inkling is that it might have worked before I replaced the old tachomter, and one of the wires that kept the entire gauge cluster in tandem that I took off made it inoperable. Or it hasn't worked for a long time and I just didn't know it. Another mystery...

4) After a thorough investigation, I have just one internal light for my boat. One. Yet the switch has no less than 8 wires running to it. Why the hell one light with two wires going to it somehow multiplies into 8 at the switch is mind boggling. Maybe during all this time they bred and reproduced while in storage?

5) I did successfully remove some old wires for the old boat that I'd forgotten about, thus decluttering the mess by the slightest amount. Progress.

 

[SDMF]

Skip the gas gauge. Get the fuel flow meter attachment that ties into your death finder. It's plug/play. Cut the fuel line, insert the straw, 2 hose clamps, twist-lock into your electronics backbone. No more estimating current fuel load, you'll know within a few drops what you've got. Good for optimizing cruise speed/trim as well because you'll be getting teal
time fuel economy #'s.

 

[Duckslayer100]

Skip the gas gauge. Get the fuel flow meter attachment that ties into your death finder. It's plug/play. Cut the fuel line, insert the straw, 2 hose clamps, twist-lock into your electronics backbone. No more estimating current fuel load, you'll know within a few drops what you've got. Good for optimizing cruise speed/trim as well because you'll be getting teal
time fuel economy #'s.

Can you expand on this? I guess I'm not sure what you're talking about.

My depth finder is ancient. I'm not sure it has fuel flow capabilities.

 

[SDMF]

What finder you got? There's really nothing to expand upon. Cut the line, 2 hose clamps, plug in.

 

[Duckslayer100]

What finder you got? There's really nothing to expand upon. Cut the line, 2 hose clamps, plug in.

An Eagle something or other from the 90s.

 

[2400]

Clarification: You don't have to spoon with me under the console. You can perch yourself on a chair and snag brewskis out of the cooler for yourself and I, dish out thoughtful advice, tell me what I'm doing wrong, or just provide emotional support.

Or, tell me I'm an idiot and should have never started this damn project.

OK, you're an Idiot!

Regardless, I promise we won't have to get closer than necessary.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, I started piecing together some mysteries last night:

1) The three wires running to the back of the boat (green, blue and purple) were for the old hydraulics. Thinking I could just splice them into the new motor's extra tilt/trim wires to get my bow toggle switch working, I did that. Tried every conceivable configuration, however, and nada. Hmmm...bad toggle, perhaps?

Do you have an ohm meter? Put one lead on each side of the switch and see if the needle moves when you flip the switch. If it doesn't move at all switch is fubar.Put one lead on one end of each tilt/trim wire and the other at the other end of the wire that way you can check each wire and find the one(s) that don't work.

2) An orange wire running to one of the two "Acc." fuzes winds up in the bow of the boat with its corresponding negative cable. So I have the ability to hook up another depth finder if I want. This is plausible, as I have a trolling motor with a ducer built in. All I need to do is find the appropriate coupler to marry it to my old extra Eagle and we're in "bid-ness" as the kids say. Get your meter and see if you have power and ground working at the end of the wire, If not woek your way back until you find the short.

3) My gas gauge does not work, and I can't figure out why. My inkling is that it might have worked before I replaced the old tachomter, and one of the wires that kept the entire gauge cluster in tandem that I took off made it inoperable. Or it hasn't worked for a long time and I just didn't know it. Another mystery... Get your meter again and use the ohm part to see if the sender in the tank is working. If nothing happens pull the sender and see if it works outside the tank. Sometimes the floats fill up and they quit working.

4) After a thorough investigation, I have just one internal light for my boat. One. Yet the switch has no less than 8 wires running to it. Why the hell one light with two wires going to it somehow multiplies into 8 at the switch is mind boggling. Maybe during all this time they bred and reproduced while in storage? Are the wires grounds or power? Use your nifty little meter to find out. Once you know that you can trace them as you work on the rest. How many lights does your boat have? Do all of them have power going to them? Are the grounds ok?

5) I did successfully remove some old wires for the old boat that I'd forgotten about, thus decluttering the mess by the slightest amount. Progress. Awesome rip and tear is a good thing!

I hope this is clear as mud to you. If you need anything feel free to pm me. If I can help I will.

 

[SDMF]

An Eagle something or other from the 90s.

Disregard everything I said about fuel module.

 

[Duckslayer100]

I hope this is clear as mud to you. If you need anything feel free to pm me. If I can help I will.

2400, you are a gentleman and a scholar and I'm pretty sure I now owe you some Blue Numnums.

I do have an ohm meter, now that you mention it. Owned by the same grandpa that gave me the boat. And old thing with a needle (not digital) but it still functions. I was attempting to use it, however I know little of what I'm looking at. Sometimes it does nothing. Sometimes the needle jumps to zero. I will try it on the switch, though. That's a good idea to troubleshoot that before I start messing with the wiring. They are really tight up the gunnel to the bow, and ripping them out and then replacing them is the last thing on my mind.

I will also check that orange wire and its corresponding black wire. They are both hooked to the fuze block, so hopefully something happens when I connect the prongs.

You misunderstand about the light: I literally have one. Just one. It's on the side of my console. The wiring diagrams provided to me by the Alumacraft rep seem to show another light in the stern, however close inspection last night revealed no light. It's a stumper for sure. And the navigation lights have their own separate switch, so they can't be the culprit. My only thought is the guy building the boat wired it for extra internal lights, then for whatever reason didn't install them? Seems odd, but people do odd things.

Like try and figure out the wiring mess in their 22-year-old boat.

 

[2400]

2400, you are a gentleman and a scholar and I'm pretty sure I now owe you some Blue Numnums. Thanks for the kind words, coffee and a cigar will be fine.

I do have an ohm meter, now that you mention it. Owned by the same grandpa that gave me the boat. And old thing with a needle (not digital) but it still functions. I was attempting to use it, however I know little of what I'm looking at. Sometimes it does nothing. Sometimes the needle jumps to zero. I will try it on the switch, though. That's a good idea to troubleshoot that before I start messing with the wiring. They are really tight up the gunnel to the bow, and ripping them out and then replacing them is the last thing on my mind. OK, turn it on, then touch the leads together. Report back if anything does or doesn't happen. REMEMBER ohms are for DEAD circuits and volts are for LIVE circuits.

I will also check that orange wire and its corresponding black wire. They are both hooked to the fuze block, so hopefully something happens when I connect the prongs. Check the fuse block if you don't have power. Might even want to swap fuses even though it looks good. Sometimes that saves a lot of swearing and extra work.

You misunderstand about the light: I literally have one. Just one. It's on the side of my console. The wiring diagrams provided to me by the Alumacraft rep seem to show another light in the stern, however close inspection last night revealed no light. It's a stumper for sure. And the navigation lights have their own separate switch, so they can't be the culprit. My only thought is the guy building the boat wired it for extra internal lights, then for whatever reason didn't install them? Seems odd, but people do odd things. Well you must be wired for at least 2. Check around the stern for wires that have no home or a broken piece of metal or plastic that might have been a light or maybe a cigarette lighter. I have seen odder things.

Like try and figure out the wiring mess in their 22-year-old boat. I will almost bet you money it's better than the 40 year old fire engine that went through 13 departments that I'm rewiring. )

Hope this helps a little, feel free to ask more questions. Or PM me if you want.