2021 Axis Dashboard bilge light issue

[wakeywake]

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice as I’m having issues with my dashboard manual bilge light switch. I bought my boat about a year ago and had 0 problems until recently, I noticed that the bilge light on my driver dash started blinking. I knew this was going to be an issue and lo and behold - the bilge light now continues to stay on every time i turn on my engine or give battery power to my boat. The bilge pump continues to run and I’m afraid of going in water with this issue as I don’t want the pump to burn out. To diagnose the problem, I did the following 

1. I checked the float switch, cleaned it, made sure nothing was stuck. I was still skeptical so I actually replaced the pump (Sahara 750 automatic) and the problem still exist. So it’s not a float switch being stuck issue

2. Even when I cut all 3 bilge wires from the pump, the bilge light stays on

3. Checked the current to all the wires connecting to the 2 bilge pumps on the multimeter and all have power. Fuses are all intact, but I replaced both anyway with 5 amp fuses to make sure

My mechanic thinks it’s an issue with the button on the axis dashboard, except that the bilge button on the 21’ axis is connected to 1 socket that powers all the other buttons (blower + ballast pumps). He suggests I contact the dealer and get a new grey dashboard set (the one with blower, bilge, ballast etc). Has anyone had this problem and figured out a solution?

My temporary solution is to just hook up the black bilge wires (ground), brown wires (auto float), and keep the brown/white disconnected. Essentially running the boat with auto bilge pump function without the manual override. The concern here is that since the bilge light is On, I’m continuously draining battery by sending power to the brown/white wire (I may be wrong in this thinking since this wire isn’t connected to anything). Also, is it possible to remove the manual line fuse to cut the power to this brown/white line since I don’t plan on using it for a while?

any advice here is appreciated! My dealer is 4 hours away so I rather figure this on my own then make the drive if possible