ignition switch confusion

I rewired my dash recently with new gauges and pulled new wire etc. I have a 10 gauge wire from solenoid to battery terminal on switch. another 10 gauge white wire from start post on solenoid to start on switch and the purple wire from ballast resistor to ignition post on switch. problem is the volt gauge (and apparenly the rest of the gauges) is only seeing a little over 11 volts. which is the same voltage I'm seeing at the resistor.    

shouldnt the ignition terminal on the switch be seeing what the battery terminal is getting (which is 12.5 v) when the switch is in ON position?

it's new but maybe bad switch?

thanks in advance

it’s unclear if the voltage readings mentioned are being taken right at the switch (in the on position) or not. That would take all the variables out like ken is saying. There should not be a significant voltage drop through the switch.

You also seem to omit several components in your description of the rewire (namely breakers/fuses)... should we just assume that was for simplicity sake in your description?

TRBenj wrote: it’s unclear if the voltage readings mentioned are being taken right at the switch (in the on position) or not. That would take all the variables out like ken is saying. There should not be a significant voltage drop through the switch. You also seem to omit several components in your description of the rewire (namely breakers/fuses)... should we just assume that was for simplicity sake in your description?

yes readings were taken at the switch. and yes it was simplified. wiring was done following the diagrams I found on skidim for pcm

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-E7bD2dnc1TC0CtHtZEQZgOPINJ1Q35Q/view?usp=drivesdk


I cant seem to get these pictures to post right

yes all switches were Cole herse

no it wasnt intentional. couldnt find and diagrams of the dash wiring and I didnt know what I was doing.     

the original wiring was a mess and no help. I'm glad I posted. I will fix

Thanks!!

Presumably the boat is a 74 like the engine...

Take a look at the dash wiring diagrams in the reference section. They’re typically for 80’s boats but the only major electrical difference would be the use of a ammeter vs voltmeter. That change happened around ‘79.

Yours looks to be wired for a voltmeter.

I see what I did now with fusing the wrong circuit. I guess I was thinking that the breaker at the solenoid would cover the main 12v to dash wire. is it just a redundant fuse?

same thing I wondered about with having two nuetral safety switches. does one do something the other doesnt? even though with two small kids I'm all about it

well I guess it's not really a neutral safety but the switch inside of the Morse control. or teleflex control whoever's makes it. I've yet to see controls like the one on my boat. nuetral lock out knob has another switch in it.

actually the trans nss was bypassed on this boat and only used the controls switch. but the controls switch was acting up and I had bypassed it years ago last time the boat was used to get back.   the boat was bought new in 74. couple pieces of interior re-covered over the years but boat is all original except for the things I've done to it. I'm not too savvy with what all components etc that correct craft used on the certain models.   I'll take a picture of it tonite .   I currently do not have it wired up. actually in process of installing new rudder and prop shaft packing along with new gland.

took me 2 hours to get the dang shaft coupler off. I'm wondering now how the hell I'm going to get it back on. had no idea it was a press fit. I guess deburring if needed and heating it?

I guess nows a good time to replace trans output shaft seal too. one thing leads to another with this project

hotrod5337 wrote: i switched it to a volt meter and did away with the orange wire I will look at the dash wiring.    thank you

How did you do away with the orange wire?

It sounds like you don't have a complete circuit from the Alternator to the battery anymore.

Here's an engine diagram for a 1974 PCM that shows the wiring with an ammeter and tells how to wire for a voltmeter. See the dotted lines and the notes associated with the Orange wire. For a voltmeter the Orange wire goes straight to the starter solenoid (same terminal the battery cable hooks to) Then the mile and a half of Orange wire going up to the ammeter then the short Red wire to the keyswitch isn't needed and the battery will still charge.

It's a little tough to understand but the diagram shows how to wire it.



Also like TRB said, don't worry about that switch in the throttle control, they also got used with IO's and the switch was used in that application. With the Velvet Drives the switch on the transmission does the job.

Edit..........after seeing your last post about the switch being wired up (from the factory?) just use whichever switch you want to use.

And another also.............were the readings on the I terminal taken with nothing at all hooked to it ?

KENO to answer your question, everything was hooked up when I was taking the readings. which is still kind of strange to me. without the orange wire connected to solenoid I would still think that with the key ON I should still see 12.5v (same voltage on switch batt post) on switch ign post ?

hotrod5337 wrote: KENO to answer your question, everything was hooked up when I was taking the readings. which is still kind of strange to me. without the orange wire connected to solenoid I would still think that with the key ON I should still see 12.5v (same voltage on switch batt post) on switch ign post ?

Like TRB said, that question had nothing to do with the alternator but was about how you checked to get the voltage on the I terminal on the switch way back in the beginning of this thread

If you unhook everything from the I terminal and turn the key to ON the voltage on the B terminal on the switch and the I terminal should be the same if the switch is good.

KENO wrote: hotrod5337 wrote: KENO to answer your question, everything was hooked up when I was taking the readings. which is still kind of strange to me. without the orange wire connected to solenoid I would still think that with the key ON I should still see 12.5v (same voltage on switch batt post) on switch ign post ? Like TRB said, that question had nothing to do with the alternator but was about how you checked to get the voltage on the I terminal on the switch way back in the beginning of this thread If you unhook everything from the I terminal and turn the key to ON the voltage on the B terminal on the switch and the I terminal should be the same if the switch is good.

10 4. understood. I will check this evening

KENO wrote: TRBenj wrote: Correct that has nothing to do with the alt. Alt needs to hook to battery one way or the other. Has to go through ammeter first if that’s at the dash. Otherwise I would connect the orange wire to the protected side of the engine breaker. The solenoid is the unprotected side. The diagram shows a rather invisible engine breaker. My 76 ( with an ammeter) had the same rather invisible breaker as built by PCM Maybe he's got one , maybe he doesn't

nope didnt ever have one.   which explains a melting contest between the 10 ga red and 10 ga orange wires up to the dash at some point long ago.    I'm 42 and can always remember as a kid noticing the melted wire connector at the back of the engine. anyway all fixed now and with a breaker.