Bilge Pump constant power

[old skool malibu]

For a few years Malibu did not run constant power to the bilge pumps so if you turn of your Perko switch off there is no power to the auto bilge...seemy silly to me. I want to rewire my auto bilge direct to the battery in my 09 VTX but I have a few questions. What color wire is autobilge? What guage is the wire? When I wire for direct power (just for the auto bilge) I assume I should have an inline fuse? What type of fuse? Any recomendations on what type of connector to use on the battery? What should I do with the old power wire for the autobilge, just cut it at the pump or unplug it somewhere? Thanks

Edited December 12, 2010 by old skool malibu

[Bake's Marine]

I will try to answer in bullet points to make it easier.

• Malibu didn't wire the bilge direct to the battery until 2010 (so basically never until this year) I agree it was silly it took them 28 years to figure that out that people moor their boats in the water and still want to have the ability to turn their batteries off.
• Wire Color - Solid Brown (constant 12v from breaker / fuse panel) //// Automatic bildge - Brown wire with white stripe //// black - ground (on the bilge pump side) Double check me on the brown with the white stripe, ounce you disconnect the wire, use the auto bilge test knob and make sure it doesn't work.
• Wire Size 14awg
• Install a in-line fuse with in 12 inches of the battery connection
• Fuse size is either 5 or 10 amp (pretty sure its 10) you can verify by checking the fuse panel and verify the current fuse size.
• Use a ring terminal connection at the battery and use one of the wing nuts (make sure to tighten with a wrench)
• Use a heat shrink butt splice back at the bilge pump and run your wire to the battery from there. Once you disconnect the auto bilge termination that wire leg is dead so just tuck it away in case you ever want use that circuit again

It's pretty simple, should only take you a 1/2 -1 hour tops.

Hope this helps you out!!!

-Paul

[stumpf101]

[*]Wire Color - Solid Brown (constant 12v from breaker / fuse panel) //// Automatic bildge - Brown wire with white stripe //// black - ground (on the bilge pump side) Double check me on the brown with the white stripe, ounce you disconnect the wire, use the auto bilge test knob and make sure it doesn't work

Brown with white stripe is correct

[old skool malibu]

I will try to answer in bullet points to make it easier.

• Malibu didn't wire the bilge direct to the battery until 2010 (so basically never until this year) I agree it was silly it took them 28 years to figure that out that people moor their boats in the water and still want to have the ability to turn their batteries off.
• Wire Color - Solid Brown (constant 12v from breaker / fuse panel) //// Automatic bildge - Brown wire with white stripe //// black - ground (on the bilge pump side) Double check me on the brown with the white stripe, ounce you disconnect the wire, use the auto bilge test knob and make sure it doesn't work.
• Wire Size 14awg
• Install a in-line fuse with in 12 inches of the battery connection
• Fuse size is either 5 or 10 amp (pretty sure its 10) you can verify by checking the fuse panel and verify the current fuse size.
• Use a ring terminal connection at the battery and use one of the wing nuts (make sure to tighten with a wrench)
• Use a heat shrink butt splice back at the bilge pump and run your wire to the battery from there. Once you disconnect the auto bilge termination that wire leg is dead so just tuck it away in case you ever want use that circuit again

It's pretty simple, should only take you a 1/2 -1 hour tops.

Hope this helps you out!!!

-Paul

Perfect thanks Paul!

[old skool malibu]

I will try to answer in bullet points to make it easier.

• Malibu didn't wire the bilge direct to the battery until 2010 (so basically never until this year) I agree it was silly it took them 28 years to figure that out that people moor their boats in the water and still want to have the ability to turn their batteries off.
• Wire Color - Solid Brown (constant 12v from breaker / fuse panel) //// Automatic bildge - Brown wire with white stripe //// black - ground (on the bilge pump side) Double check me on the brown with the white stripe, ounce you disconnect the wire, use the auto bilge test knob and make sure it doesn't work.
• Wire Size 14awg
• Install a in-line fuse with in 12 inches of the battery connection
• Fuse size is either 5 or 10 amp (pretty sure its 10) you can verify by checking the fuse panel and verify the current fuse size.
• Use a ring terminal connection at the battery and use one of the wing nuts (make sure to tighten with a wrench)
• Use a heat shrink butt splice back at the bilge pump and run your wire to the battery from there. Once you disconnect the auto bilge termination that wire leg is dead so just tuck it away in case you ever want use that circuit again

It's pretty simple, should only take you a 1/2 -1 hour tops.

Hope this helps you out!!!

-Paul

Its Monday so the brain isnt working too well yet, just to clarify I just need to wire the brown/ white stripe wire (auto bilge) to the battery, the rest stay as is?

Edited December 13, 2010 by old skool malibu

[Bake's Marine]

Perfect thanks Paul!

Your very welcome!!

Its Monday so the brain isnt working too well yet, just to clarify I just need to wire the brown/ white stripe wire (auto bilge) to the battery, the rest stay as is?

You are correct, brown wire with white stripe to the battery, the rest stays the same.

-Paul

[old skool malibu]

I may be incorrect but I think autobildge is just brown...its hard to make out a small white stripe where the bildge is located and my eyes may have been playing tricks on me! I have it wired up and all works great, and the fuse is 5 amp. I do have one question, however..when the boat is running there are times when auto bildge will come on and it will give me a warning on my maliview that it is on. Not really that important but will this feature be lost as the auto bildge is now run directly to the battery and I have the old auto bildge wire inot utilized and cut hear the bilge pump? Should I be disconnecting this wire from my fuse panel as well? I used 14awg wire, it appears slightly larger than the bildge pump wire..is it possible it is 16awg? I checked your site and it appears that it is indeed 16 awg. I cant see it being an issue using the 14awg wire?

OEM replacement Attwood bilge pump for Malibu Boats. S750 is sized for larger recreational boats. Our most powerful 3/4"-outlet automatic pump! 750 GPH at open flow, 625 GPH at 3.3' head. 3/4" hose outlet. Sahara Bilge Pumps include 36" lengths of 16-gauge tinned copper wire. Wire is caulked to prevent water from wicking through insulation jacket. All materials and components are state-of-the-art.

Edited January 1, 2011 by old skool malibu

[Bake's Marine]

I may be incorrect but I think autobildge is just brown...its hard to make out a small white stripe where the bildge is located and my eyes may have been playing tricks on me! I have it wired up and all works great, and the fuse is 5 amp. I do have one question, however..when the boat is running there are times when auto bildge will come on and it will give me a warning on my maliview that it is on. Not really that important but will this feature be lost as the auto bildge is now run directly to the battery and I have the old auto bildge wire inot utilized and cut hear the bilge pump? Should I be disconnecting this wire from my fuse panel as well? I used 14awg wire, it appears slightly larger than the bildge pump wire..is it possible it is 16awg? I checked your site and it appears that it is indeed 16 awg. I cant see it being an issue using the 14awg wire?

OEM replacement Attwood bilge pump for Malibu Boats. S750 is sized for larger recreational boats. Our most powerful 3/4"-outlet automatic pump! 750 GPH at open flow, 625 GPH at 3.3' head. 3/4" hose outlet. Sahara Bilge Pumps include 36" lengths of 16-gauge tinned copper wire. Wire is caulked to prevent water from wicking through insulation jacket. All materials and components are state-of-the-art.

You need to terminate the wire or disconnect the wire at the breaker, otherwise you have a live wire just floating around and if it grounds to something it will blow that fuse/breaker.

No worries about 14 awg, oversizing the wire is alot better than under sizing

-Paul

[NorCaliBu]

Wire Color - Solid Brown (constant 12v from breaker / fuse panel) //// Automatic bildge - Brown wire with white stripe //// ...

Just for clarity...

The "Auto Bilge" power wire is the constant hot to the pump. The other brown wire is not constant hot, it comes from the dash switch and will only be hot when the switch is turned on. If the solid brown wire (no white stripe) is constant hot at the pump (which it sounds like that's what Old Skool found) then that is your "Auto Bilge" power wire.

Just wanted to clarify because in the above quote it kinda sounds like both brown wires would be constant hot, which is not the case.

Oh, and one last thing...there's no "d" in "bilge".

[old skool malibu]

Just for clarity...

The "Auto Bilge" power wire is the constant hot to the pump. The other brown wire is not constant hot, it comes from the dash switch and will only be hot when the switch is turned on. If the solid brown wire (no white stripe) is constant hot at the pump (which it sounds like that's what Old Skool found) then that is your "Auto Bilge" power wire.

Just wanted to clarify because in the above quote it kinda sounds like both brown wires would be constant hot, which is not the case.

Oh, and one last thing...there's no "d" in "bilge".

Thats correct, I will double check in better light but I believe solid brown is the case. Ha ha that funny about the "d" in bilge. I had it that way in my earlier post but I was looking at Paul's post and thought wow I have been spelling bilge wrong all this time so I went back and edited my last post! Thats why they have spell check!

[Soon2BV]

Does anyone know if the auto bilge is standard? I have a 2008 LSV.

If not standard, are the wires there for me to install an automatic pump?

We are leaving the boat in the water more and I want the security of an automatic system.

[Bobby Light]

Does anyone know if the auto bilge is standard? I have a 2008 LSV.

If not standard, are the wires there for me to install an automatic pump?

We are leaving the boat in the water more and I want the security of an automatic system.

What do you mean "auto bilge"? They didn't start wiring the bildge directly to the battery until 10' but if your battery switch is on then your bildge will work correctly. If the water gets high enough in the bilge it will come on by itself after the float is triggered.

Edited July 6, 2011 by 06vlx

[Soon2BV]

What do you mean "auto bilge"? They didn't start wiring the bildge directly to the battery until 10' but if your battery switch is on then your bildge will work correctly. If the water gets high enough in the bilge it will come on by itself after the float is triggered.

Thanks. What I needed.