toolsinbox
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2009
- Messages
- 187
21 ft scarab 454 alpha outdrive. M.S.D. weather proof iginition.
My new used boat is a bute all in excellent condition however the wiring was not propperly done. In fact there were wires just hooked up just to make it go. In order to shut off the engine I had to pull the teather cord. I have an M.S.D ignition where a switch was installed, in the engine bay, to cut power to the ignition. ( another method of killing the engine). Not exactly sure why this was put there. Very messy and lookes like several sets of wires running to the helm that were ignored and redone without removing the old. A real mess. I took out most of the obvious crap and now I am tracing to establish the wires I will keep and the ones I will remove. The dash is out of the boat and is going to get a much needed face lift mainly because it has a few cutouts that I wont need so I cant have voids there, ( just to ugly) I have a couple of questions so far so here I go.
The ignition switch I have has three terminals. B (battery) I (ignition) and S (start). Where and how does the teather kill switch come into play. I have 4 terminals in the teather kill switch.
Along with feeding power to the guages, am I assuming that the Ignition terminal feeds power to the M.S.D modual when ready to opperate engine? I am aware that there is a power feed directly to the battery from the unit that is constant- Looks like a 10 or 12 guage wire.( that is where that switch was installed) but I am sure there is a feed from the key switch to the msd modual to activate it? Also it makes sense that would kill the engine when key is turned off. Am I correct? If so what guage of wire should I use for this? I am thinking # 16 but just want to make sure. I downloaded the diagram from M.S.D and they show an 18 guage wire off the ignition harnes that directs to be connected to the key switch.
As far as the S for start. I am sure that feeds the starter solanoid. What guage of wire should that be?
The B terminal is from the battery. Should I run this from the fuse pannel? If so what size fuse and what guage of wire?
Sorry for the long post just want to give all the info I can. Thanks for the assistance.
My new used boat is a bute all in excellent condition however the wiring was not propperly done. In fact there were wires just hooked up just to make it go. In order to shut off the engine I had to pull the teather cord. I have an M.S.D ignition where a switch was installed, in the engine bay, to cut power to the ignition. ( another method of killing the engine). Not exactly sure why this was put there. Very messy and lookes like several sets of wires running to the helm that were ignored and redone without removing the old. A real mess. I took out most of the obvious crap and now I am tracing to establish the wires I will keep and the ones I will remove. The dash is out of the boat and is going to get a much needed face lift mainly because it has a few cutouts that I wont need so I cant have voids there, ( just to ugly) I have a couple of questions so far so here I go.
The ignition switch I have has three terminals. B (battery) I (ignition) and S (start). Where and how does the teather kill switch come into play. I have 4 terminals in the teather kill switch.
Along with feeding power to the guages, am I assuming that the Ignition terminal feeds power to the M.S.D modual when ready to opperate engine? I am aware that there is a power feed directly to the battery from the unit that is constant- Looks like a 10 or 12 guage wire.( that is where that switch was installed) but I am sure there is a feed from the key switch to the msd modual to activate it? Also it makes sense that would kill the engine when key is turned off. Am I correct? If so what guage of wire should I use for this? I am thinking # 16 but just want to make sure. I downloaded the diagram from M.S.D and they show an 18 guage wire off the ignition harnes that directs to be connected to the key switch.
As far as the S for start. I am sure that feeds the starter solanoid. What guage of wire should that be?
The B terminal is from the battery. Should I run this from the fuse pannel? If so what size fuse and what guage of wire?
Sorry for the long post just want to give all the info I can. Thanks for the assistance.
If the wire shorts, the MSD looses power abruptly anyway, but the live wire will continue to spark and do more damage.