Wiring up speedo

Tim M · 22 May 2004, 18:56

I'm in the process of setting up a speedo for my RIB. This is the first electrical thing I have added to the boat, so I find my self with this problem:
I want to wire it up so that it will only work whilst the ignition is on (this wil of course apply to anything else I add). How do I do this? I have a Quicksilver Commander 2000 control box, which has a wire coming out of it, with bigish plug for the tach (if I had one) and then a brown wire on it's own, currently with a plastic protector on the end. I was thinking that this may be the wire I connect to one of the terminals on my speedo............

tue · 22 May 2004, 19:59

The "bigish" plug should contain all the wires for the main guages. Purple is ignition, Brown/white is trim and from memory I think the grey is Tacho, black is ground. If you link the backlights in to the ignition use blue wire (I think you get a length with the guage?). You could wire the light to your nav. light switch but I find it easier (and it looks neater) if you bridge off the ignition pole on the tacho, and daisy chain to any other guages.

I would take a pick of my console but its not in my shed anymore, ready to go backin boat

Tim M · 22 May 2004, 20:25

OK.........
What is the common procedure for connecting the wires in a case like this; the "bigish" plug has five connectors in it. But, each one is only about 2mm from the other. Is it acceptable to cut the plug off and solder my gauge onto it's respective wire?

Tim M · 22 May 2004, 20:28

PS. There's no blue wire; I've got a black, a grey, a purple, what I think is a black and white, and I can't remember what the other one is.

Pete7 · 22 May 2004, 21:33

Rather than wire it to the engine circuit why not add a 4 socket fuse panel from the battery and have a second wiring loom. that way if you add anything else later like a VHF or echosounder then the fuses are already there. GPS and VHFs don't like the engine wiring circuits by the way.

Pete

DJL · 22 May 2004, 22:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7

Rather than wire it to the engine circuit why not add a 4 socket fuse panel from the battery and have a second wiring loom. that way if you add anything else later like a VHF or echosounder then the fuses are already there. GPS and VHFs don't like the engine wiring circuits by the way.

I agree with Pete. Install a decent fuse/switch panel; make sure that the cable supplying the panel can supply at least a good 15A. Adding kit later will be a lot easier.

As to the wiring loom from the engine control box - I would leave it be. You don't want to compromise the reliability of the engine.