Instrument Panel help needed

[hfrench]

I recently purchase a 1988 18 Seacraft.
I need some basic help regarding the toggle switches and wiring on the instrument panel.

From left to right:

1. ignition
2. kill switch
3. Instrument
4. Nav
5. Anchor
6. Cockpit
7. Compass
8. Acc1
9. Acc2
10. Bilge Pump
11. Bilge warning light - turns on when bilge is activated



questions -

3. Instrument - not functioning, I am assuming this switch turns on the lighting for the indivual gauges, it this correct ?

8. & 9. both these switches are wired, however cannot determine what for, possibly for a bait well, even though no pumps were ever installed ?

all switches have what appears like a push button below the switch, clear now yellowing rubber cover, would this be for the fuse, if so I can't figure out to replace the fuse, the rubber cover does not seem to want to be removed. It appears it would tear very easily.


any help would be appreciated.

[Blue197320]

that cover below the switches is probably a circuit breaker. for the lights on the gauges you should check the ground. probably best thing to do is get a test light or a dvom and go do some testing under there. im sure its a pretty easy thing to fix. for the acc1 and acc2 your gonna have to trace that wire down. when i un-rigged my boat i had a bunch of abandoned wires in my console. now i re-wired it and know where everything goes and what everything does. thats what id suggest if any of the wires have a little bit of green corrosion on them. its easy just a little time consuming.

[McGillicuddy]

Follow the wires. One by one. Track them and document them on a piece of paper, what color? where do they lead to? Positive or negative? What are the wire colors associated with your unknowns? In all likelyhood they're pre-wired from the power source to a breaker/fuse to a switch. They may be open waiting for you to wire a fish finder or gps or a stereo to them. Sure you don't have breakers instead of fuses? The little rubber buttons sound like reset buttons for circuit breakers. In the darkness, press the reset for the instrument panel (3, I think you said), turn main power switch on, turn the ignition on and see if it lights up.
Go to the library and check out Powerboaters Guide to Electrical Systems by Ed Sherman, and Nigel Calder's book Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual. They are also available online for about $30 and worth every penny. They even have standards charts for wire colors. Here's a freebie:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.screamandfly.com/home/hull_tech/wiring_6.6.2004/images/007.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.screamandfly.com/home/hull_tech/wiring_6.6.2004/wiring_1.htm&h=600&w=800&sz=93&hl=en&start=13&tbni d=hyjcTixMgBD2OM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dboat%2Bwiring%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10% 26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26sa%3DG
Sounds like you already have a good system and you just need to get a better grasp on it. Good luck.

[hfrench]

yes, they are indeed breaker resets, not fuses.

As far as Acc1 and Acc2, both these switches are fully
wired, just haven't been able to trace them to a destination
yet.

thanks for your help, and thanks for the wire color
chart


Howie