Rule 500 Two wire Question about ground issue

[carito]

2001 Sea Pro 17' Center Console

Ok I know this is simple. Hooked bilge pump directly to battery and it came on. So I know its good. Found the wiring diagram for my 2001 sea pro.

Wiring diagram indicates black, brown, and brown/black are for bilge. Black/Brown are for auto. What I cant figure out is the black wire. If I connect that black to pump it will not come on. If I ground to battery it will. I found two wires not hooked up in bilge that the diagram says are for an aerator, which I guess I dont have. Anyhow I connected the ground for bilge to the aerator black wire and it works great.

Soooo I am guessing the black ground for bilge goes straight to console, but I dont see any wires that are black and not connected anywhere under there. Can someone clue me in a little on what to look for? I finally got the bilge working in manual and auto, but curious about the black wire.


Also, about the aerator...I have a pump that fills one of two live wells. There is a pipe that runs from it to the 2nd live well. And when on you simply open the other tube and the second live well will fill. Soooo. What are the wires that were laying in there for unconnected that are labled aerator for?

thank you

[intubaited]

carito, welcome to the site. It sounds like you figured out your bilge pump issue. The the black and brown are for auto bilge and are usually the only accessory wired directly to the battery, so I don't think that your black would have gone to the console. Likely to your battery or another grounding post at or around your transom.

The other "aerator wires" are a bit of a mystery without looking at it. Is there a hose port below your live well pump? If so, it would have at one time gone to a wash down pump. Decent ones cost $125 - $150 so if it went bad (which they do), the previous owner might have just done away with it. Is there a rocker on your console labeled wash down?

[carito]

Thanks for the reply. Well I was more interested in the ground wire that is supposed to be for the bilge. If I use it, the bilge doesnt work. I happened to see the aerator wires laying there and tried that ground and the bilge worked.

So Im thinking the ground for the bilge is either disconnected, broke, or something else is going on. Where do all the ground wires go? Is there a common location or a way I can check that one wire?

[intubaited]

Sorry for getting off track, but I found it curious that you had another pair of wires to explain.

Someone else may know specifically about your boat, but mine has 3 grounds attached to the battery (or to the battery switch); one for the motor, one for the accessories (to the console), and one for the bilge pump. My guess would be that your non-functioning ground wire was removed from the battery terminal at some point and never re-attached...just a guess. I would look around the battery box for it. Good luck. This is a little like looking for fish in July

[carito]

thanks for the reply again. I will have to try and look close tomorrow. I beleive I remember there being a large balck wire and two smaller ones on the battery ground. Both appeared to be running back to the console. So guessing that the black bilge wire that doesnt work when I use it also goes back to the console and perhaps is undone from somewhere.

Yeah as for those aerator wires, I happened to notice them when looking around in there for the bilge wire I dropped. I do currently have the little bilge pump connected to that, but would rather just use the one intended. Hopefully this weekend will shed a little more light so I can catch some fish.

[T-Topless]

Rule Non-Auto Bilge Pump with External Float Switch:


Rule Automatic Bilge Pump:


Sea Pro Wiring Diagram/Colors:

[carito]

Thanks for the help everyone. This is all new to me with this being my first boat. BUT I got it fixed this morning and was able to use the correct ground.
What it was after I contorted myself up inside the console. There is a balck jumper that jumps between all the guages that is tied into the cig lighter. The cig lighter has a three prongs and two are grounds. One of the prongs is missing so I simply moved the ground connector over to the other prong and bamn pump came on. Geeze.

[intubaited]

Nice. Glad you found it. I'm digging around in my bilge today straightening out some wires so I hear that part about contorting...sometimes I wish my son still lived at home so I all I would have to do is hold his feet and reel him back up once in a while for air ;D