Change momentary switch to on-off toggle

[Nancy]

At the helm of our 35CB, the switches for the three bilge pumps are momentary switches, meaning that you have to hold them in the on position in order for them to run. This is ridiculous! If I'm alone on the boat, I have no way to hold the switch and look over the side to see if water is coming out.

Is it possible to swap these out for plain old toggle switches? You know - on/off. Is this a plug and play project? Or do I need to be an electrical engineer? Any suggestion about what switches to buy?

helm-4-09.07.22-616.jpg

[spover]

Yes, this can be done as you had described. You don't need to be an EE, but I would suggest taking a look at the switch to see if its a double or single pole and purchase the same; but as a on-off versus momentary. A risk in doing this is in the event that you leave the pump on or accidentally bump the switch to on, you may drain your battery over time and possibly burn out the pump.

[Nancy]

Thank you! We've never had momentary switches for bilge pumps before (40 yrs), and haven't burned up a pump yet, so I think we're OK there.
Which type of switch do you have for your bilge pumps?

[Ed422]

Most (that I know of) bilge pumps have float switches that make the pump come on automatically when the water reaches a certain level, and the panel switch is to manually pump out water below that level. Some switches are 3-way…. on-off-auto(float).

Ed

[Nancy]

Most (that I know of) bilge pumps have float switches that make the pump come on automatically when the water reaches a certain level, and the panel switch is to manually pump out water below that level. Some switches are 3-way…. on-off-auto(float).

Yes, I just want the manual switch to be an on-off toggle instead of momentary. I want to be able to turn on the pump and then step away and look over the side to see if water is pumping out. Of course I want to retain the automatic feature as well. I'll look at the back of the panel and then try to buy a switch with matching terminals.

[GSSeattle]

I rewired mine to have the same functionality (on in one direction instead of momentary, auto / float switch mode in the other direction, all off in the center position. I used SPDT on-off-on switch (single pole, dual throw). Three terminal switch: One power wire in (always on regardless of battery switch), one load wire out to the pump directly, and one load wire to the float switch.

[GSSeattle]

I rewired mine to have the same functionality (on in one direction instead of momentary, auto / float switch mode in the other direction, all off in the center position. I used SPDT on-off-on switch (single pole, dual throw). Three terminal switch: One power wire in (always on regardless of battery switch), one load wire out to the pump directly, and one load wire to the float switch.

Caveat - I believe it was originally wired with a single pole / single throw momentary switch. The power in feed was combined with the lead to the float switch (crimped together at the switch). I wanted to separate this to have a way of turning the automatic pump off, in the event of a stuck float switch or if I wanted to not have it auto pump out while cleaning the bilge...

[Nancy]

Thanks, Greg. That's all very helpful.