Ojay Samson Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 Hi All, I was wondering if any of you could help me out with a bit of wiring. I'm completely new to washdown pumps and was wondering if anyone had the same or similar unit as me, the unit i have is a johnson 5.2 and the original owner installed it but said to me when buying the boat that the washdown pump always gave him trouble. now from what i saw with the install it is no wonder it never really worked for him in that when i took delivery of the boat, the switch panel had a 7.5amp fuse in it (found a few more rusty ones in the center console) and according to the pumps sticker, it takes 20 amp fuses. Secondly, old mate installed the inlet hose where the outlet hose should have been and vice versa . unfortunately for me the pump didn't come with the original instruction manual and i have tried to look online for my specific one manual with the switch panel integrated unit but none exist, i may be overthinking it but i just don't trust anything old mate has done with the pumps wiring...can anyone with the same unit tell me what i am supposed to do with the wiring, and confirm if the wires are plugged into the right male connectors according to the picture. in the red circle is the connection where the positive wire from the pump was connected to. Am i right in assuming that the blue and red bullet connectors are just the circuit to complete the light lighting up on the switch panel (when turned on) because i dont see any port for the negative side of the wire coming from the pump to go anywhere into the switch. highlighted in yellow box is a slot for a male connector to go into and am not sure if there is meant to be anything in there for the negative wire for the pump. The only thing i can think of in completing the circuit is to attach the negative wire coming from the pump directly to the negative terminal post...the switch seems to work as it lit up when i connected a 9v battery to the red and blue bullet connectors to test and placed a proper 20amp fuse in the holder.sorry if anyone is confused, i just confused myself i think, so if anyone has this same pump copuld they please do me a solid and take a picture of the rear of the switch panel so i can see if the wiring is correct to begin with and to see if anythings missing, and also if you guys/gals connect the negative from the pump directly to the negative post or if it goes back into the switch somehow.This is what my switch looks like This is the unit i haveAny help appreciated, cheers raiders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 (edited) Hi OJAY, Generally speaking, you would wire from a common negative ( this might be a terminal block under the dash or from the Negative terminal of the battery) straight to the pump. A common negative terminal block is best otherwise you have additional connectors on your batter terminal - I prefer not to do this. You would then run a positive wire ,(from a spare fuse in the fuse box if you have one) to the pump switch and then to the pump itself. Generally, toggle switches have three terminals. A common, a normally open , and a normally closed. Flicking the toggle switch connects the normally open to the common terminal one way and the other way it connects the normally closed to the common to complete the circuit. The common is in the middle. If you get the other one wrong the pump will be on all the time so just swap it over to the terminal at the other end of the switch. Check out the diagram below ( not a pretty diagram I know) LOL! The main difference between boat wiring and car wiring is that you don't use an earth return for negative wiring on a boat as it sets up earth loops and causes corrosion issues on alloy boats. If you are still uncertain, I don't think you live far from me so I could drop in and give you a hand. Cheers Jim Edited October 12, 2016 by fragmeister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Whilst u have describe the situation it's a bit hard without seeing the set up & testing the circuts Like JEWFISH I'm not far from u & if he can't make it send me a PM & we can set a time Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fab1 Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 To add to what the guys have said,crimp connectors will do the job and have their place but if at all possible try to solder all wire connections using heat shrink where necessary and use tinned marine grade wire instead of the standard automotive wire. It was nice of the guys to offer to come round and help out mate as you don't see that much these days. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ojay Samson Posted October 13, 2016 Author Share Posted October 13, 2016 Hi OJAY, Generally speaking, you would wire from a common negative ( this might be a terminal block under the dash or from the Negative terminal of the battery) straight to the pump. A common negative terminal block is best otherwise you have additional connectors on your batter terminal - I prefer not to do this. You would then run a positive wire ,(from a spare fuse in the fuse box if you have one) to the pump switch and then to the pump itself. Generally, toggle switches have three terminals. A common, a normally open , and a normally closed. Flicking the toggle switch connects the normally open to the common terminal one way and the other way it connects the normally closed to the common to complete the circuit. The common is in the middle. If you get the other one wrong the pump will be on all the time so just swap it over to the terminal at the other end of the switch. Check out the diagram below ( not a pretty diagram I know) LOL! Pump.jpg The main difference between boat wiring and car wiring is that you don't use an earth return for negative wiring on a boat as it sets up earth loops and causes corrosion issues on alloy boats. If you are still uncertain, I don't think you live far from me so I could drop in and give you a hand. Cheers Jim Hey Jim, thanks for your advice. great pic by the way (nice and easy to read, for the simple folk like myself to understand ) , genuinely appreciate it in clearing up my confusion. Judging by your picture and talking with one of the guys at jaycar about my problem today (picked up some more terminals/heatshrink/junction boxes for the boat etc), it does indeed seem I have been overthinking this and the negative lead from the pump goes straight to the negative post for the battery (and NOT back to the switch somehow). the negative bullet connector in my original picture was just there to complete the circuit to turn on and off the little light for the switch when the switch was turned on (but does not serve as the negative return for the wash-down pump). Thank you for your offer of coming around to help, I will give it a crack tomorrow (as I've run out of time & light today + the weather is being to weird for my liking especially while having soldering equipment and heat gun out if the heavens decide to open up again out of nowhere for a 3 minute torrential downpour lol). If I still don't manage to make it work, I might take you up on that offer to give it the once over if there was anything I am missing etc. Whilst u have describe the situation it's a bit hard without seeing the set up & testing the circuts Like JEWFISH I'm not far from u & if he can't make it send me a PM & we can set a time Geoff Thank You for the kind offer Geoff, I appreciate it immensely. Cheers, and I will let you know if I can't figure it out and Jim's unavailable. I understand the confusion, I confused myself just trying to explain it & yeah its one of those things where it's easier to understand when you see it yourself etc lol. To add to what the guys have said,crimp connectors will do the job and have their place but if at all possible try to solder all wire connections using heat shrink where necessary and use tinned marine grade wire instead of the standard automotive wire. It was nice of the guys to offer to come round and help out mate as you don't see that much these days. Cheers. Thanks for the advice Fab1, yeah you're certainly not wrong there about the fellas offering to lend a hand, I can't help but feel warm and fuzzy on the inside about it as as you said since it's not that common anymore, and I truly do appreciate the offers. As to the wires and such, I am rewiring the whole boat actually with marine grade tinned wire (got rid of the original wiring the factory did as it was not tinned, and old mate butchered it with his 5pm beer o clock ethos to doing wiring on the boat, eg only the main positive wire from the battery was tinned, everything else including the negative was standard copper) and with all the connections I either solder wires together directly using the linesmans splice/western union splice then flux and solder, then heat shrink on each individual wire connection then a larger outer heat shrink to bind the 2 wires together for more protection (using twin core only), and sometimes going a bit further with those wires that will be more prone to seeing water with adding an extra layer of security by painting a nice thick coating of liquid electrical tape on both sides of the heat shrink once its been shrunk, and left to dry ... then placed in conduit lol)... With things that do need crimp connections of some sort, like terminals for buss bars etc I crimp then solder with flux to make sure there is a good connection at all terminals, then cover with heat shrink accordingly making the connection terminals 'Insulated' (the premade insulated terminals are not good because it doesn't allow me to solder the wire and the terminal together as the plastic will melt while trying to heat up the little gap for the sodler to go in. Here is a picture of what old mate who owned the boat before did when adding new things with the wiring: (just cut into original wiring whenever needed and then soldered then wrapped with some electrical tape...) Anyways, thanks for the advice all and I'll update this thread accordingly Sincerely Ojay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ojay Samson Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 Hey all, just here to report that everything turned out fine, the washdown pump has officially turned on in at least 3 1/2 years of dormancy. I pretty much followed the diagram Jim drew ( with the added circuit of a negative wire feed going to the negative buss bar from the switch - I assume to complete the circuit to turn on the switches light bulb when on) and replaced all the wiring while at it (except for the small section from fuse holder to switch). Thanks for all the advice raiders. Cheers Ojay Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fab1 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Good job mate.Im a firm believer in if you want something done right,do it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ojay Samson Posted October 15, 2016 Author Share Posted October 15, 2016 You said it fab1, cheers Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now