I am planning on two Rule #43 dash switches, one per pump- they have indicator lights. Because I have a dual battery system, I don't see why I should wire one to one battery and one to another. If I forget to swap from one battery to the other when charging, then I could lose one source of power for a bilge pump, but the manual switch can swap batteries anytime. It does mean that if the 300? amp switch dies, then I am stuck on one battery or worse. But that seems very very unlikely. Plus I have two alternators, one on the main, one on the kicker, so if the engine is running, then I should be good there, even if the battery is toast, but not a dead short.
I am about to cut the dash insert, so if there is some huge reason why I shouldn't have two switches for two pumps, I want to know.
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Originally Posted by Caymanboy
I run two switches and pumps. Not sure where the info on Rule is coming (I think they moved to Mexico) but from what I have seen, it doesn't matter what pump you put in, they all go bad at some point and Rule seems to hang in there with the rest, most of the time, space dictates what goes in.
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Wire each pump (seperatly) on the auto side directly to each battery on the switch (with a fuse), and the maunal side to switches on the dash.
I am not fond of anything automotive on boats, and auto reset relays or push breakers are worse, there is no way of shutting things down if they short circuit other than disconnecting them.
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