rewiring gauges

[Capt Mike]

I took on a job that has me rewiring the engine gauges. Can anybody tell me where you wire "I" terminal to 8-92's.

Thanks Mike

 

[mtadamek]

"I" on the gauge is usually the "ignition". Wire it to the key switch so when you turn the key on you power the gauge. "S" is for the sending unit wire. This would be the wire that goes to the water temp or oil temp sending unit on the engine. "G" or "Grnd" is for ground. Then power to the lights usually on a switch. It can be on the key or a seperate switch. I jump from gauge to gauge on the "G" then to a ground. The lights are the same way. The "I" is the same way but to a switch. The senders home run back to the engine. Use marine tinned wire and Ancor heat shrink connectors with adhesive made into it. Use a heat gun to shrink them. Not a lighter. Use a capillary threadlocker to make sure the nuts don't come loose. Done. Look up Genuinedealz on ebay. Do a store search or put in "tinned wire" for a search, you will find them. Great prices on wire and connectors. Those connectors are worth their weight in gold. Incredible connection that won't come loose and as water tight as you can get. Use them, you won't be dissapointed. Hope this helps, I just did mine and it came out perfect. You can also use cable ties to organize and a labeler to put some designations for future troubleshooting.

 

[Capt Mike]

Thats what I did and still can't get them to work.
Except I don't have a key switch so I just put them on a regular toggle.

Do you think I need to bring up a separate power and ground for each engine?

Thanks Mike

 

[mtadamek]

You could if you wanted, but you should not have to. Check to make sure you are getting 12volts (I assume it is a 12 volt system, but it could be 24 or 32 volts). Make sure you are getting the correct voltage with a voltmeter first before the switch. Also make sure you are getting the correct voltage after the switch. This just tells you that your switch is not bad. Make sure the ground goes back to the neg on the battery. You may have lost your ground or have a floating ground. Take as much out of the equation as possible. Check it with a battery so you take your boats wiring out of the loop and see if they power up. With the correct voltage to the gauge there is only 2 reasons why the gauges are not working. 1) Either the senders are bad or do not match the gauges. OR 2) The gauges are bad. If you bought new gauges, they may or may not be matched to the original senders. Most are pretty standard, but there are literally thousands of different types of senders. If the gauges ever experienced a reversed polarity, you could of smoked them. As far as sending units on the engines themselves, there should just be one wire going from the sender to the gauge (This is a single float sender). If you happen to have two wires, the other wire goes to an additional gauge (double float, if you had an upper and lower helm) There is no power that actually goes to the sender through a seperate wire to a battery or panel. It is just measuring a resistance in most cases. Beyond that call a Priest or an exorcist.