How to tap into stock Auxillary Switch

bat32

I wanted to hard wire my GPS into one of the auxilary switches.  When I removed the dash and looked at the back of the switches there were no open terminals to wire into.  Every terminal on the swithces were already wired into.  I am the original owner fo the boat and am positive they do not operate anything on the boat.  Any help on how to tap into these switches would bbe greatly appreciated.

mvn

Could be that there is a short output lead coming from the switch and it's capped off somewhere close in the harness.  I have a few unused Aux switches as well.  I'll see if they are "pre-wired".

 

Mark

MarkB

There are some prewired switches that terminate to harnesses somewhere on the boat. I found one harness and identified the switch it was powered from to connect up a fishing device. I'm sure you could easily disconnect this wire at the switch and have an open switch for something else.

bat32

Thanks.  I talked to another guy todayand he gave me the same advice to just unplug the outgoing wires and tap in there.

mvn

I checked my 226.  There are 2 AUX switches that have outputs going into the harness.   Who knows where they terminate.   As previously mentioned,  if you can't find the end or if it ends up in the wrong place, simply disconnect and hookup your own wire. 

Mark

20captiva08

How might you disconnect and hook up your own wire @mvn

GoFigure

I had the same problem with my boat. If the switch has wires connected to it follow the colors of the wires connected to the switch. The wires usually have colors with stripes and are all different. Black is ground. There was a harness i found that had a bunch of wires coming out of it that I figured must go to those switches. I only needed one power wire for my GPS and i found one that went straight back to the battery without an ACC switch and I used that. Did not need a switch because the GPS has one. I found a harness behind the passenger seat cushion. 

bat32

I found and extra Hot and and Ground uner he dash but they wer operated of the ingition switch and them for some reason I lost power to the GPS unit last ime out.  So I figured I would find the problemand wire it up like I wanted to the first time to the auxilary switch.  @ Captiva I imagine you just need to find the wires going out back into the harnes and disconnect them they are just regular spade connections.  I should be back on the boat Saturday will the trusty voltmeter.  Hopefully I can let you guys know by the end of the weekend.

bat32

Ok so it was a little more confusing then I thought.  The only spade type connections were coming from the breaker above the switch.  Does anyone know if the breaker is the last connection before the wire goes out to what ever it is controlling.  I would imagine it works this way I just wanted to make sure.

Speedracer

does anyone know where the Aux switch wire would terminate on a 99-01 272 Captiva? I am trying to hook up a captains call.  Thank you.

mvn

bat32 said:

Ok so it was a little more confusing then I thought.  The only spade type connections were coming from the breaker above the switch.  Does anyone know if the breaker is the last connection before the wire goes out to what ever it is controlling.  I would imagine it works this way I just wanted to make sure.

The breaker is the last connection.

Mark

bat32

Thanks Mark!!

Michael T

Speedracer, I'm sure you know this - the only wire that you should use as an aux switch for your captain's call would be an initiator signal wire. I had a friend who wired-up the high amperage switches for the s.s. diverters wrong and burned up his whole dash. It took us a long weekend to re-wire it.The amperages coming from electric driven diverter solenoids are reall high, so watch your connections. P.S. I have run bright warning lights to the low voltage side of Corsa "captain's call" before to remind the the owner to shut them off when the engine isn't running. Almost nothing on a boat will drain a battery faster that two high amperage diverter solenoids that were left on. Good luck - you'll have a great sound when finished! MT

Michael T

P.S. I believe the older Mercury "silent choice" systems had their diverters activated by air pump pressure. Less amperage problems but some air hose leaking happened once in a while and the system was bulkier - but I'm assuming you are using one of the newer electric solenoid diverters. MT

Speedracer

Michael,

The diverters I have are electric and not operated by air pressure.  I am not familiar with the initiator signal wire.  I wanted to use the existing lead off of the stock ACC dash switch, assuming I know where it is terminated.  I was then going to take the power off of the starter solenoid.  When I looked at the ACC switch, there are no empty terminal which is why I believe there is an existing lead.  I was hoping this was part of a harness located in the engine compartment?  Is this not a good idea or does anyone know where the ACC lead is terminated for a 99-01 272 Captiva?

Michael T

Hey Speedracer, I don't want to steer you wrong and it's been a few years since I wired-up a Corsa, but there should be a wire in the Corsa harness that can go to any "regular" switch to signal the actuators to open or shut. You'll know as they make a real loud snap when they do. I believe we wired the diverters directly to a house battery with at least 1000cca. I have had friends who wired their diverters to the starter battery and left them on, which will kill the battery in about three hours. If you don't have the installation sheet from Corsa - which, if I remember correctly, was really good, I'd google Corsa's web site and download the PDF. The installation is pretty straightforward. I'm assuming that you know to have enough rise in your exhaust headers to avoid drawing water back into the manifolds and that your cam overlap isn't too exotic as to draw water back into the manifolds. As well, put some exterior flapper valves on your through hull pipes as even backing fast down a launch ramp can push water into your manifolds. Even though I favoured Gil Offshore tips I still installed external flappers to be safe. Best of luck, let us know how it goes. MT