Trying to wire up a toogle swithch for boat light. Have a positive and negiative wire coming from the battery. I have 2 wires coming out of the toggle switch and two wires coming from the light. What goes where? Thanks
Like so: Battery (+) to inline fuse holder (within 6 inches of the battery). Fuse holder to switch. Switch to light. Light to battery (-). If you don't know what amp fuse you need, 3 amps should be more than enough in most cases. Please, please, please don't leave out the fuse -- boat wiring is subjected to a lot more shock, vibration than household or automotive. If the insulation gets chafed off the wires (more common than you might think) you can get a direct short to ground, which *will* get hot enough to start a fire. You really don't want to be dealing with a fire on your boat. Sounds like your switch is faulty. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ just read kilo's answer -- that's an interesting way to use a DPST switch. It'll certainly work, but seems a bit redundant to me. I just thought they were handy for switching two devices with separate 12V feeds (I used one for my helm lighting, with the tach being powered from the keyswitch accessory post, so it only lights up when the key's on). but he makes a good point; if your switch has 4 contact points (instead of just 2), make sure you use 2 on one side or the other (rather than the top 2 or bottom 2).
RE: Trying to wire up a toogle swithch for boat light. What wire go were? Trying to wire up a toogle swithch for boat light. Have a positive and negiative wire coming from the battery. I have 2 wires coming out of the toggle switch and two wires coming from the light. What goes where? Thanks
Boat Battery Switch Wiring Diagram
take the ground wire from the battery and connect it to one of the wires on the light. Take the positive wire from the battery and connect it to one of the wires on the switch. Take the other wire from the switch and connect it to the other wire from the light. Check all your contacts to make sure there are good connections. If this does not work but the light goes on if you bypass the switch the switch must be bad.
