How do you install auto float switch on Beneteau 321?
- Thread starter flowermom7
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Hey Flowermom7,
From memory, I believe our float switch on our 321 is route in the bilge toward the helm.
There is a hole between the main bilge area and the area where the shower drains. Can't recall where it went from there.
I can look when I go to our boat Saturday.
We had it wired 14 years ago so it is always on (not just when a battery is on). You want it to be able to run in all conditions.
From memory, I believe our float switch on our 321 is route in the bilge toward the helm.
There is a hole between the main bilge area and the area where the shower drains. Can't recall where it went from there.
I can look when I go to our boat Saturday.
We had it wired 14 years ago so it is always on (not just when a battery is on). You want it to be able to run in all conditions.
I can't answer specifically for the 321. On the 323 there is a junction box behind the back of the starboard settee. A float switch can be set on the bilge floor adjacent to the sump and wired through that junction box. I used adhesive to attach the switch to the floor of the bilge. Definitely not much clearance between the bottom of the bilge and the floorboards. I ran the wire back to a 3 position bilge pump switch on/off/auto and picked up a spare 12 volt hot lead at the back of the breaker panel. I always leave one battery switched on. If you wire direct to one battery there is no way to get to a backup battery if the first one dies. Granted, if the switchable battery dies and nobody is there to manually switch it over, there still would not be any power for the pump.
I always worry that if the pump is wired off of the 'out' side of the circuit breaker, but the "always" on float lead is wired to a different battery, what could happen since you are, in reality, connecting the two batteries if you use the breaker to operate the pump. You could take an inline fuse off of the hot side of the pump's circuit breaker to run to the switch, then up to that junction box.
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It doesn't really matter what kind of boat you have, the wiring is the same, unless you are asking specifically how to run the wires, etc. If you have one panel switch for the bilge pump, you just wire the float switch in line with the wires feeding the pump. The float switch itself is something that completes the circuit when water rises in the bilge and the switch floats. Therefore you just wire in the switch on one side (either positive or negative - usually the positive side). Cut one of the wires and then put the float switch in line by attaching each lead to one of the ends that you make bare after the wire is cut. If you have a panel bilge pump switch that reads off, on and auto, then you have to wire it differently to accommodate those switch positions. A third wire is then introduced from the momentary "on" position on the switch so that when that is thrown, the power will by pass the float switch and let power go directly to the pump. The switch is then put in line between the power source and the pump itself.
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Float switch
Thanks!No problem with how to wire or install,just can't find how to go from the bilge to the pump.No hole to route wire and no clearance from bilge to pump.To run under the floor the wire would be crushed
Thanks so much!Our 97 doesn't have any route out of the main bilge and to run over top and under the floor would crush the wires when you walk on the floor
Hhmmm... on 323 there is a ground wire from the breaker panel to a keel bolt. It is fed through a conduit. Maybe 321 does not have that, though?
'Lemme' check it out
I will try and remember to follow the path on our 321 this weekend float switch and will let you know....Thanks so much!Our 97 doesn't have any route out of the main bilge and to run over top and under the floor would crush the wires when you walk on the floor
Yes it's through the breaker. That's my preference. I would rather do that than fry a wire if the pump jams. I just wired the float switch in parallel with the main pump circuit at the junction box. I don't agree with the logic of wiring the pump directly to a battery without some sort of protection. Leaving the pump breaker on is not a big deal. If you are concerned about the breaker being shut off, are latches available that would allow the breaker to trip, but prevent it from being switched off. They are often used in residential and commercial applications. Just my thoughts.
Ahh, with the float switch in a parallel circuit you can still pick up a hot lead on a separate breaker without having to run all the way back to the battery.
The shower draining into the bilge is a stupid design any way you look at it. Shower drain power on the fresh water circuit makes some sense. What happens though when the water is turned on at the galley sink?
However, there is still the problem of having to turn the valve under the sink to drain the shower, and then remember to turn it back to bilge pump position. Maybe there should be a solenoid valve for that which returns to bilge pump position when de-energized. Anyway that's a different subject.
The shower draining into the bilge is a stupid design any way you look at it. Shower drain power on the fresh water circuit makes some sense. What happens though when the water is turned on at the galley sink?
However, there is still the problem of having to turn the valve under the sink to drain the shower, and then remember to turn it back to bilge pump position. Maybe there should be a solenoid valve for that which returns to bilge pump position when de-energized. Anyway that's a different subject.
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