Ignition button powers up dash

I just got a 1987 Ski Nautique 2001

When I turn the key to the "on" position, nothing has power. But when I press in the " ignition " button and have the key in the " on " position, everything receives power.

Even the hour meter advances, even though the motor is not running.

Is this correct ?

Is the " ignition " button supposed to act as main power supply along with the key ?
Even the radio only comes on when the key is in the " on " position and the " ignition " button is switched on.

Any insight would be much appreciated !

And here in the link below is an 87 dash wiring diagram from the "miscellaneous files" section of the CCF reference section

It's not the clearest, easiest thing to read

link

Thanks for all the great info !! I feel better now.

I was a bit surprised to see that the key has to be " on " and the " ignition " button needed to be depressed in order to run the even the bilge pump and radio.

But if that's the way it was designed, I am ok with it !

My fear was that someone had rewired stuff. That is usually a bad sign. Lol

Thinking about it, I think you'll find that the blower, the bilge pump, the lights and the horn will all work with the ignition breaker ON but the key in OFF. Also if you have an accessory switch it gets power too.

With the ignition breaker ON and the key ON you then get power to the instruments and the ignition system

Jay_L wrote: I was out there tonight and what you said is correct ! Thanks again for helping put my mind at ease. But I did notice something weird. If I have the " ignition " switched on, the oil PSI is maxed out. The needle shoots to the far right. But then when I turn the key on, it goes back to normal. ( at least, I think this was the sequence that caused the oil pressure to tac out ) When she is running, the PSI looks correct, which is what matters most.

I'd check that sequence again.

And I'd suspect the wiring on the gauge being wrong

Could be just me but in boats I've had with that ignition breaker, I've always left it in the ON position since I didn't really see any need to kill dash power when it wasn't running

Click on the link below and you'd want the 20 amp one for the ignition 

8122pbrainard wrote: David, Are you using the breaker/switch as an on/off on a regular basis? They are more breaker than switch and if used as a switch they tend to fail early. There's no need to turn the switch off every time you stop the engine like in the middle of the lake.

In the link below is an old thread  with a solution that  has worked some times for some people 

I bought a new one to put in but hitting it with WD40 4 year ago and using the boat regularly has kept the new one a spare part.