Electric/Wiring Question

[beerman57]

I need to install a safety lanyard on this 1984 Johnson 40hp. I think I know what to do, but would like to be sure before I start cutting wires. This motor doesn’t use a regular ignition switch, but has separate start and kill buttons on the steering arm. The lanyard has 2 black/yellow wires and a black ground wire, the instructions say to remove the bl/y wire from the ignition switch and install 1 bl/y wire from the lanyard, then splice the bl/y wire removed from ign. switch to the other bl/y lanyard wire, and put lanyard ground wire on ign. switch ground terminal.

OK, now bl/y must be the stop/kill circuit, because my bl/y wire comes from the stop button and goes to a pin in the connector to the power pack. So I would do like the instructions say, just substitute putting a pin connector on one bl/y lanyard wire instead of installing on an ign. switch, then splice the 2 bl/y wires together and put the lanyard ground wire on any engine ground, right?

[fleetwin]

Well, I’m confused, wish I could help….
But yes, the black/yellow lead is the stop lead to the powerpack. From the sounds of it, just seems like you splice this lanyard in series to the black/yellow stop lead…
Post some pictures, perhaps that will make it more understandable.

[frankr]

Actually, the two switches are electrically in parallel. Either one will kill the motor when closed. SW-1 being the lanyard switch with two black/yellow wires pre-attached.

screengrab

[beerman57]

Frank, I think I’ve got it, just wanted to see if I had it all wrong. Electrics and wiring ARE NOT my strong suits. WAIT, what are my strong suits?

[jeff-register]

Beerman,
Number 2 switch is just plain silly! Switch one covers it.
Frank,
What are we grounding with this terminal? I’m trying to learn more about the switch box assembly. A guy would think it shunts a winding but I’m guessing !
Thank you in advance,
Jeff

[beerman57]

Jeff, not sure what you mean. The 2nd bl/y wire? Splicing the 2nd bl/y wire to the stop button bl/y allows the stop button to keep working?

[frankr]

Jeff, SW-1 is the lanyard switch that he is adding. It kills the motor before the boat circles around and runs over him if he gets pitched overboard. SW-2 is the stock kill button that came on the motor, the one that you push to stop the motor without falling overboard.

Not knowing the exact circuit inside the sealed powerpack, I would guess the kill buttons ground out the capacitor (the "C" in "CD" ignition).

beerman, yes the switches work independently. Either one will stop the motor. And of course the lanyard has to be clipped onto SW-1 for it to run. Yank it off, and motor stops.

[beerman57]

I don’t plan on getting thrown out, but this should be fast enough to do it. When I was a teen I had a 12′ Lightning fiberglass boat with a 25 Johnson & 2 blade brass prop, pretty fast – someone threw one of those date pods from a Queen or Royal Palm in the bay, before it had opened – like hitting 4′ long hunk of 6 x 6 wood. My boat flew up, did a 180 before coming back down. No real damage and I wasn’t thrown out, but that’s the kind of thing the lanyard is for.

[jeff-register]

Robert,
Look at the drawing. The jumper between both switches can be removed & just have one switch. Maybe the other end of the engine leads go to different spots inside the electronics for engineering needs like one is better at high speeds. None have sam’s photo faxes drawings on them & now OMC is gone Mercury is the only one made here so getting data on the out of country product may be difficult…or not. I know of a post on Johns were they melted the potting material off the components more than once it was the silicone controlled rectifier that had failed. It’s like a electric switch like some transistors but the SCR handles much more current. It is a three pin device, input, output & gate. The gate terminal is the switching component of the device.
My Dad was in Nasa in design & rated his parts at 100% & the wheels came back & rated the parts at 60 to 70%. That is why they don’t last. Like walking along a cliff, How close can you get without falling in.
What a ride EH?

[Author]

Posts