trim wiring

daviscfad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Jun 22, 2008
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ok this is my situation... I am trying to hook my shifter up on my boat... I have a new teleflex shifter and the book doesnt say anything about wiring... I have a few pictures to help with the matter,.,,, In the first picture i have four wires coming from the boat and 3 wires coming from the shifter.. The boat as a purple wire where the shifter does not... |Does it not get used?? does it tie in with another wire?

DSC01697.jpg


In my second picture i have two yellow/red wires coming from the shifter and two yellow/red wires coming from the boat... The wires from the boat have a little black box they are attached to... The black box came off the old shifter... Do i just need to cut off the black box and splice the wires together???

DSC01698.jpg


And thirdly I i have a picture of the wires that come from the trim switch on the housing... I seem to have two sets of wires coming from the Gimbal housing and only 1 set coming off the trim pump... I have looked at wiring diagrams on the mercruiser book but it only show 1 set hooking up to the trim pump... My question is am i in need of more wires?? i have the two trim switch wires hooked together and then to the trim pump but i am sure that is wrong... here is a pic and i appreciate any imput:D

DSC01699.jpg
 

Fishermark

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Oct 19, 2003
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5,617
Re: trim wiring

Your yellow wires are a neutral safety switch. Yes, simply splice into the existing yellow wires.

The other wires - you have the red for power, the blue for up (sky), the green for down (grass), and the purple is for the trim limit switch... if memory serves.

The two sets of wires coming from the transom are: one set for the trim sender gauge, and the other set for the trim limit switch.
 

Fishermark

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Re: trim wiring

Do you have a trailer button built into your control, or it it somewhere else? And what year boat, etc? You mention having a "mercruiser book" ... is that an OEM Manual or an aftermarket one? If you go to the "Adults only" sticky at the top of the page you can download the appropriate manual for your situation.
 

daviscfad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Jun 22, 2008
Messages
143
Re: trim wiring

The two sets of wires coming from the transom are: one set for the trim sender gauge

When you say trim sender gauge do you mean the gauge on the dash..

Do you have a trailer button built into your control

Yes i do and it also has separate wires where do they hook at??

You mention having a "mercruiser book" ... is that an OEM Manual or an aftermarket one? If you go to the "Adults only" sticky at the top of the page you can download the appropriate manual for your situation.

Its just like the manual on the adults sticky... i think its 1986-1992 alpha/bravo
The boat is a 1987 211 liberator 4winns... The bravo transom assembly is brand new.. the motor is a 454 if it helps...
 

Don S

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62,321
Re: trim wiring

Before anyone can tell you how to wire it, we need to know how the control is wired. In your last reply you say you have a trailer button in the control, what color are the wires for that?

I'm not sure what your last picture is showing. Coming out of the transom shield, you have 2 sets of wires. 1 set for the trim gauge and the other set for the trim limit switch. In the last picture, you show the wires from the trim pump and you are hooking them to 4 trim switch wires .............. There aren't 4 trim switch wires.

If you have manual #11 (That is the Bravo manual, not an Alpha/Bravo manual).
Look at page 1C-15 at the wiring diagram.
 

daviscfad

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Jun 22, 2008
Messages
143
Re: trim wiring

dons thanks for the reply... the trim wires are red blue and green as in the 1st picture... The tilt button wires "which is seperate from the control" are green purple and white
 

daviscfad

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Jun 22, 2008
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Re: trim wiring

ok so i conected the purple and red together and it made a clicking noise when i pressed the down button butnothing wheni pressed the up button.... I noticed when i held the down button for a few seconds it would start smoking! do i need to take the trim pump apart.. maybe it is froze up?
 

Don S

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Re: trim wiring

I noticed when i held the down button for a few seconds it would start smoking!

OMG, You let the smoke out :eek: :eek:

You do realize that once you let the smoke out you are doomed, don't you.

BTW, what is the "IT" that started smoking. The button, the wires, the trim pump, the solenoids, what :confused:

You may know what you are talking about, but the rest of us have to have a discription of things.
 

daviscfad

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Jun 22, 2008
Messages
143
Re: trim wiring

You may know what you are talking about, but the rest of us have to have a description of things.

Your right I just don't have a clue about any of this and i forget you guys are not here with me... any way i think it is called the battery power terminal... Its the piece in the picture below..

untitled-1.jpg
 

Fishermark

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Re: trim wiring

Well, I don't know if you have it wired correctly or not, but a loose or corroded connection can cause heat - thus the smoke. But a frozen pump would cause wires and connections to get hot as well. I would clean all the connections and double check the wiring to make sure it is hooked up correctly.
 

Don S

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Re: trim wiring

I am trying to hook my shifter up on my boat... I have a new teleflex shifter and the book doesnt say anything about wiring...

Teleflex has a couple of dozen types of controls. What model did you buy, even a picture of it will help.
 

daviscfad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Jun 22, 2008
Messages
143
Re: trim wiring

Teleflex has a couple of dozen types of controls. What model did you buy, even a picture of it will help.

its the ch1700 teleflex shifter

Well, I don't know if you have it wired correctly or not, but a loose or corroded connection can cause heat - thus the smoke. But a frozen pump would cause wires and connections to get hot as well. I would clean all the connections and double check the wiring to make sure it is hooked up correctly.

I took the pump apart and cleaned it up some and its not smoking anymore when i hold the trim button down... But it still just makes a clicking noise right when you hit the button down.. "just 1 click" Press the trim up and i get nothing still...
 

daviscfad

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Jun 22, 2008
Messages
143
Re: trim wiring

I dont mean to quit bugging you guys but i looked at the manual again... and i come up with this
untitled.jpg


The problem with this is it tells me on the tilt button to connect the green and white wires together.. the green and white wires have a female connector just like the green wire in the first picture... I am not an electrian and know almost nothing about wiring but it dont make sense for them to send me two wires with female connectors on it, and If i am reading this right i now have to cut the female conector off the green and white wires and connect all of them together.. i would think they would just come connected...
 

Don S

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Re: trim wiring

Moving this over to the Elecrical forum, since it really has nothing to do with engine and drive, perhaps someone over there can help out.
 

PondTunes

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Jun 7, 2007
Messages
387
Re: trim wiring

Okay im looking at the posts and figure I'll take a stab at it....

1) The way your trim system works is when you press up on the switch 12 volts travels down the BLUE wire, triggering the UP relay on the trim system, when you press down on the switch 12 volts travels down the green wire triggering the DOWN relay on the system..

Once the respective relay is triggered current & ground is then sent from the relay(s) to the two wires on the trim pump. When you press up, the relay connected to the blue wire sends 12v+ to one wire on the trim pump while the other relay sends a ground. When you press the switch the other direction the current is reversed and the pump operates in the opposite direction.

2) You have 3 wires coming from your new controls here red, green, blue. Those should connect to the old red, green, and blue wires. From here the wires should go to a pair of relays that are in the engine compartment. With a little looking you should be able to locate the three wires going into a box or pair of relays. The relays route the proper current either positive or ground to the wires on the trim pump based on the way you press the switch.

3) Rather than trying to hook everything up at once do each project and test to make sure you're getting the desired result. If you hook red to red, blue to blue, green to green you should get the up and down operation of the trim system. *If this fails to work properly you could always hook your old controls back up to verify the trim system is still functioning and use a meter to properly identify the wires.
 

daviscfad

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Messages
143
Re: trim wiring

thanks a lot for the reply pondtunes
I have thos wires hooked up like you said and all i get when i press down is one click... When i press up i do not get anything... Then my next problem is i have i have the green purple and white wires comming out of a tilt button... The instructions just say connect the green and white together... I know that the purple will connect to my purple wire comming with the other wires from the boat, but i do not know where to put the green and white wires... I am just gonna have to piddle some more |Again thanks for the reply!! What kinda meter do you suggest?
 

PondTunes

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Jun 7, 2007
Messages
387
Re: trim wiring

There are lots of inexpensive meters out there, I would personally recommend getting a nice digital multimeter at lowes or home depot that will allow you to measure AC/DC/Resistance/Continuity/Amperage and you can use it for tons of things. It will run you about 40 bucks, if you're never going to use it again you can pick up a cheapie for 5 bucks at an auto parts store, or home supply store or maybe even wally world.

The way the instructions read it's wanting you to connect +12v to the violet wire tilt button (which should be another switch at the transom similar to the trim switch on the control) and then twist the green and white wires together.

I then assume they want you to tie the white+green wire on the transom switch to the blue wire on the trim switch (for up only operation) this sound's strange to me because if it were my boat i'd want to the switch at the transom to be able to move the engine up or down without climbing in the boat to lower it.

The functionality of the trim switch on the control box shouldn't depend on the white+green wire's being tied to anything they should just run back to that switch.

I think the best option would be to get yourself a meter or test light and do the following:
1) Set your meter to read DC voltage the zero - 20 volt setting if so equipped.

2) Connect the black lead of the meter to a ground (small alligator clips are a help here)

3) check the red wire to be sure you have +12 volts going to the switch. If you do NOT have +12 volts on the red wire find where it's fused and check the fuse.

4) if you do have 12 volts hook the wires back up for your old controls. Verify that the trim does in fact operate as expected. Tell us where the green / white / purple wires were connected to the old controls (might shed some light on why it isn't working now) Because it doesn't seem like they were twisted together on the old setup.

5) disconnect the white/violet/green wires from the old controls, this will tell you if the trim system is somehow tied to that switch. (They shouldn't depend on that switch)

http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/SERVICE/CRUISER/Servmanl/11/11covr5x.pdf

If it does not work with the old controls you need to troubleshoot the system, it's quite possible that a fuse is blown or there is some sort of other problem.

If you look at section 1C, starting at page 20 it gives you detailed step by step instructions on how to troubleshoot the power trim electrical system
 
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