Topic: Compartment switches

This topic has 4 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 11 months ago by Bass Cat Boats.

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June 30, 2016 at 12:44 am #312859

mark hilyer
Participant

My lights in my compartments are not working. The boat is new to me and I cant remember if the front deck compartments worked but I did remember the back did. So I tested the power and by passed each switch and all my lights work. One of my back deck lids works randomly. The switches are a solid little block of aluminum which are different from the gray plastic mercury switches that are available online. I do have two of those under my seats and they work fine. Am I missing something? Is there some kind of ground that all the switches are attached to? I just think it is odd that all five are bad.

June 30, 2016 at 1:54 am #312879

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

What vintage boat?I did have three that were bad when I bought my 98 PIII. You should be able to place a jumper wire around the switches to see if they are bad or use an ohm meter: infinite resistance when open and near zero when closed.There are replacement Mercury switches available on line for a lot less than some other sources.Last edited by grybrd on June 30th, 2016, 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

June 30, 2016 at 12:29 pm #312897

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

Those are actual mercury switches and they work almost fail proof with the blue capsule models. If they are not working we are suspect its some other issue. The grey ones are also mercury and a later version water the previous vendor omitted the product. The brackets were rudimentary though in that time frame a way to mount them, they (bracket) also allowed them to function almost without fail as the capsule was never compromised. We would check power to and through the switches ans your only issue would be the wire connections or fragile wires on the ends with those. The grounds are connected at the main transom terminal block and often the terminal block is e source of issues. Tracing the grounds would be our next step after power is verified at the switch areas and to the lights.

June 30, 2016 at 3:04 pm #312917

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

Thanks BCB, also Ive read somewhere that those are part of the alarm system. Is that correct? This is on a 07 Cougar FTD.

July 1, 2016 at 3:45 am #312932

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

Yes, they are connected to alarms on boats with the system.
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