Dead Man Switch 1968 Mercury 50 HP

[WaterView]

Hello and thanks in advance for any help.

I am new to this so please forgive me if my terminology is not correct. I have a 1968 Mercury 50 HP 4 Cylinder that I am mounting up to a 14 foot Skagit Sportster.

I would like to install a dead man switch with a lanyard like you would find on a wave runner to kill the motor incase the driver is ejected. I can get one of these switches locally and I assume they either open a circuit or short one out with just two switch contacts.

Can anyone tell me what wires to connect this two on the motor to kill the engine? Also, my throttle control has a connector on the front of it that is labeled on the wiring diagrams as a tach connector. Could I utilize that somehow so I don't have to run more wirirng back to the motor? Thanks again.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Dead Man Switch 1968 Mercury 50 HP

You will need to tap into wiring harness and connect to the black and tan wire and the "deadman" needs to be NO (normally open).

 

[WaterView]

Re: Dead Man Switch 1968 Mercury 50 HP

Thanks for the reply!

If I read you right, if I short tan and black together I will safely kill the engine with no problems to the eleictircal system when the lanyard pulls from a normally open kill switch. Is that correct?

Awesome ppl share their knowledge like this....

 

[WaterView]

Re: Dead Man Switch 1968 Mercury 50 HP

Hello again, I have taken a closer look at wiring diagrams and I don't see a Tan wire in the harness only a Brown one and I assume that is the one. Do I want the switch to short Brown and Black to kill the engine? If this is the case the same diagram shows Brown and Black going to the front connector for the tach. Can I just make my deadman switch connections at the Brown and Black at the tach connector? Thanks!