Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

[Mark42]

I'm adding a bilge pump to the ol' Bayliner. Found that there is a special wire made just for wiring automatic bilge pumps. Its a three conductor wire meant to bring power to the dash, then a 3 way switch will feed it back to eather the manual on or the automatic on.

So I ordered this stuff and was totally surprised when it came today. The outer jacket is molded around the three inner wires, not just a plastic jacket that three primary wires were pulled through. Its also tinned. But I thought the molded jacket was just too cool! The printing on the jacket reads "...BILGE PUMP CABLE - 15 AWG/3 COND ......WATER RESISTANT....".

I would never have thought there was cable just for bilge pumps.

That's the neat part about working on boats, I learn something new all the time.

Also ordered wire to bond the fuel tank parts and connect a gas guage. I am very happy with this order from gregsmarinewiresupply.com. I forgot to include an inline water proof fuse holder with the order, so I called, Greg answered the phone and said he would include it for free. That was Saturday afternoon. The wire came in the mail today, with the fuse holder. Great service and great wire (almo brand).

 

[83mulligan]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

a good tip for wire in general...........find out where your local metal recycle yard is. They have wire of all guages.......miles and miles of it. and the best part is they sell by the pound. I'll never buy wire at a store again.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

Sounds cheap. Is the wire trust worthy?

For the boat, so little wire is needed, for now I'll just order new what I need. Thanks for the tip!

 

[83mulligan]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

Sounds cheap. Is the wire trust worthy?

For the boat, so little wire is needed, for now I'll just order new what I need. Thanks for the tip!

Yeah, much of it is new. Brought in from job site run-over, stolen, whatever.

 

[HVSTRINE]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

Yeah, much of it is new. Brought in from job site run-over, stolen, whatever.

Last summer, i would of bet most of it was stolen. The bottom fell out of the scrap market so now even the crack-head/meth-heads are laid-off!

 

[5150abf]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

Something I did when I replaced bilge pumps is put an alarm in line so when the pump fires you know the boat is taking on water.

Had a near sink when I forgot the plug so this eliminates the possibility, as soon as the pump turns on I know there is a problem.

I actually have 2 pumps on my boat, a 500gph for rain water and an 1100gph for just in case and the alarm is wired to the 1100 which is slightly higher than the main pump so it doesn't go off when it is just raining.

Gives me a little more piece of mind.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

Something I did when I replaced bilge pumps is put an alarm in line so when the pump fires you know the boat is taking on water.

Had a near sink when I forgot the plug so this eliminates the possibility, as soon as the pump turns on I know there is a problem.

I actually have 2 pumps on my boat, a 500gph for rain water and an 1100gph for just in case and the alarm is wired to the 1100 which is slightly higher than the main pump so it doesn't go off when it is just raining.

Gives me a little more piece of mind.

That sounds like a great system you put together. What did you use for an alarm? Buzzer from Radio Shack, etc or something more water/moisture resistant?

 

[5150abf]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

That would certainly work but I work for a boat company and took one off an old wiring harness.

I have seen them at Autozone too.

It was scary, ran no wake down a canal for probably 15-20 minutes, got to where we were going to fish and opened the rod locker to find swirling water, the transom was only about 2'' above the water, explained why it was steering funny, I had the alarm installed before the next trip.

 

[chicknwing]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

Certainly a good find and thanks for the link. I like to use comapnies that have good customer service.

TC

 

[bear_69cuda]

Re: Bilge Pump Wire.... Cool!

Greg is also supplying all the wiring for my project. (VSR dual bat charging system, stereo power, trim gauge, trolling motor runs) Send him all measurements of runs. He sends me everything with requested crimped heavy duty terminal ends, all with marine heat shrink. The dude is high quality, and super friendly!