livewell problem

[David Butler]

I have a Targa 18 livewell problem. I came home from a great day of catching smallmouth with daughter and Granddaughter and noticed livewell pump running. I have not use the well in a month or more so i figured the switch got bumped, went to turn switch off and it was off, pump runs weather switch is on or off. I pulled the fuse to stop pump. Question is Do you think i have a bad switch or have developed a short? Where should i start to trace problem?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Dave

 

[James D.]

sounds like a bad switch. assuming that you have a on/off two position switch, try the following.



with the switch in the off position remove one of the wires from the switch replace your fuse and see if the livewell pump runs. If the pump runs, it is getting it's power from another circuit (maybe miswired circuit or possibly a timer). If the pump does not run, replace the wire back on the switch. Remove the other wire. If the pump runs, it is still getting it's power from another circuit (maybe miswired circuit or possibly a timer). If the pump does not run, you probably have a bad switch.



to test the switch - disconnect both wires from the switch and ohm out the switch with an ohm meter to see if the switch is bad when in the off position. You should see 0 ohms when switch is on (closed circuit) and greater than 1 Meg ohm with the switch off (open circuit).



If the switch is ok, you are going to have to find out where the power is coming from. I would suspect either a timer or maybe an automatic float switch meant for the bilge pump was inadvertently wired to the livewell pump.



good luck and hope this helps out.



james d.