For all you electrical guys out there…

Picked up a nice 16′ Lowe heavy duty jon boat last weekend for a steal… Only problem is it needs some minimal work. There is minimal wiring in the boat (owner before me had a birds nest – nothing was color coated, cant tell what was what) so I ripped out the mess. Wiring from the motor to terminal (circut?) board and then up to the steering wheel is all there. The key ignition switch does not start the motor but it will make a small tick and then nothing happens… Replaced the ignition key switch last night and it still doesnt start.

One thing I noticed was that there were 5 wires to seperate terminals on the back of the ignition switch for the old one, and only four on my new one…(Green and what looked like a greenish blue.. could not really tell them apart. One of them is the inline fuse holder) Made sure the necessities worked. starter, ignition, battery, acc. I am fairly confident I hooked it up right.

My question is…. If it is not hooked up correctly, will it still click, or will it click regardless? or does that become a problem with the motor?

Just to clear it up, the motor does start.. But only by taking off the hood and jumping the solenoid with two terminals. Runs and starts like a dream, I am just having trouble with the key switch starting it on its own. What do you guys think? Thanks!

Joel

Take a test light or volt meter and make sure that you are getting power to the solenoid starting terminal from your ignition switch. This is not the two that you jumped. It is a small terminal on the solenoid that allows the power from your battery to the starter. Clicking usually means bad/dirty connections or a faulty solenoid.

I’ll concur with jetro…I know this from experience.. When I first bought my boat I had a 50HP Johnson that exhibited the same symptoms your describing. I replaced the starter solenoid on the motor and it still would not start.. Scratched my head then decided to clean the battery posts and the connections at the end of the wires…turned the key and BINGO!!.. motor started.. .. So those two area would be my first go to areas…and start with the posts and wires…much cheaper… ..

Thank you guys for your quick responses! The terminals did not look too bad, but I will clean them anyway. I do have another question..

There is a switch panel located under the steering column that is not hooked up to anything… I have never dealt with one of these and am unsure how to run the power to it. Every switch is wired together… except the first with one loose wire. I assume this is the master power and is used to splice into from the battery…

But how do I run my accessories to this panel? After I run my power wire to the board, I am unsure how to splice into the switches. They are orange colored wires and are basically a three inch female to female wire attached to the switch… every switch is like this. Do I cut the orange wire and tie in my wires from the bilge pump, depth finder, etc. or is there a better way? I am not sure if that will even work but rather F things up.. and I dont want to do that

I can usually figure out what needs to be done but I cannot find info on this.. I know how great everyone is on this site and I know this is the place to ask these dumb questions for a rookie like me

Does any of this make any sense or am i just jabbering away ?

if i am picturing this correctly there should be a spade type terminal on each switch that is not used right now to pull power out of. also somewhere down there should be a ground terminal . that is where you connect your accessories. do not cut the orange jumper.

On the switch panels I’ve dealt with, the main power switch is as you described, an input wire comes from the battery, goes through this switch and supplies power to the other switches in a daisy chain fashion. The opposite end of each switch supplies power to whatever is hooked to it and that line should have a fuse appropriate for that device. There may be a place for a ground wire on the panel if the switches have indicator lights to tell when they are on. Oh, the wire to the panel should be fairly hefty, I would use #10 or #8, depends on what it will run… Also put a main fuse that will handle the sum of the current of the accessories you plan to run off of the panel, on that wire as close to the battery as possible. My thoughts anyway.

You are correct… the orange wire connects the switch to the breaker and there is one un-used spade terminal. I did not get under far enough to see it.. Thanks for your help!

Yup there are HOT switches with open blades to pull + off and then the – goes to the block. Boats can be way different than cars due to grounding issues the mostly use hot switches with an open blade or blades. Can be confusing, has gotten me more than once. some systems are wired one way and some the other. which can leave a guy asking WTF but yes bring power to the block both + & – then there shoulg be a solo wire to the switch or switches and then they are sometimes hooked in series. then hook on the + the the blade and the – to the – block ports and vwolla… switched power best luck, do yourself a favor and buy a case and envite a buddy