Freestyle bilge to stay on all the time ?

[Al//gsx//sj]

i've got 2 ideas to keep the bilge on only when the ski is running. my idea is exactly what Fly6584 did, my 500 to stay on while the ski runs and my 1100 to a switch. in this post it says to tap into the wires for the overheat sensor, but i don't plan on removing my sensor. my other thought was to tap into the start/stop switch (red/brown). has anybody came across other posts on this?

http://www.x-h2o.com/threads/11885-Tips-Advice-for-Installing-MSD-Enhancer

 

[Seanc]

i have most of my skis hooked up so i pop the hood connect one bullet connector and the bilge is on until i am done riding

 

[Joker]

Put an inline fuse in and when you go to ride pop it in and when your done pull it out.

 

[bigo]

a) what if something happens engine wont start and your taking on water and have to swim back - id rather have it switched or always on
b) i run with the bilge on all day unless your running a small battery there's no reason you can't.

 

[Krashtestdustin]

a) what if something happens engine wont start and your taking on water and have to swim back - id rather have it switched or always on
b) i run with the bilge on all day unless your running a small battery there's no reason you can't.

he could always just run another wire from the power supply to the bilge or whatever that way if he does need to manually turn it on he will have the switch as a back up

 

[NVJAY775]

Not trying to rain on anybody's parade, but running bilges full time WILL burn up your charging (lighting) coil on your stator. Speaking from experience on that. It's actually stated on a page from JSS I think.. Not sure, but it's the real deal. Run them off a switch only when you need them. Sorry, just trying to help.

 

[Snivilous]

Not trying to rain on anybody's parade, but running bilges full time WILL burn up your charging (lighting) coil on your stator. Speaking from experience on that. It's actually stated on a page from JSS I think.. Not sure, but it's the real deal. Run them off a switch only when you need them. Sorry, just trying to help.

Why would it do that? The coil is always putting out a charge, not like it gets taxed more when you have more stuff running off the battery.

 

[NVJAY775]

The lighting coil can keep up with the demand yes. But only for so long. It will burn up. Mine did and that's exactly why. But lighting coils are cheap, only like $80 I think and they are replaceable.

 

[Snivilous]

Yea, but isn't it always putting out the same wattage? Why would it burn out from the battery being loaded more, it can only put out so much charge, which it's always doing to begin with.

 

[NVJAY775]

I'm no electrical engineer, so I can't say. The lighting coil can put out enough to keep the ski and two 500 bilges going, but it wears out the lighting coil doing it.

This will explain it.

http://www.x-h2o.com/threads/37800-Electrical-Ignition-System-trouble-shooting

 

[djkorn1]

This is kind of a worthless thread when they make this.....why EVERYONE doesn't run them and throw away their switches and old rule 500s is beyond me. Hook it up and forget about it for the life of your ski. On when you need it, off when you don't....even if your ski isn't running. Never kill a battery, never sink your ski....

Been using one for 9 years. Bulletproof, fast draining and maintenance free, no switches burning up, no sinking skis, no worrying about whether you turned it on or left it on, no worrying about dead batteries...

A little ping pong ball floats and turns it ON when there is water, it is OFF when there is no water. It is not rocket science.


If my garage roof leaked right now and filled my hull with water, I wouldn't have to worry about it getting in my carbs, because it is even ready to pump water while sitting in my garage. MAXIMUM protection with MINIMUM battery drain....

 

[aramis]

Yea, but isn't it always putting out the same wattage? Why would it burn out from the battery being loaded more, it can only put out so much charge, which it's always doing to begin with.

Without getting into to AC RMS voltages and AC power factors and crap, you can think of (for DC) that watts = volts * amps. The lighting coil acts like an AC voltage source...so current (amps) is NOT created, but pulled by whatever devices are connected to it.

For a stock setup, nothing in the ski runs off of the battery...everything runs off of the voltage regulator that is charging the battery, and that regulator is getting power supplied to it from the lighting coil. This is simply due to the fact that the regulator is supplying voltage higher than the battery's voltage, by design...current flows down hill. Otherwise the battery wouldn't get charged.

And, that stock setup is designed to supply a MAX of 2A. It doesn't create the amps even if they're not being asked for...the connected devices DEMAND the amps. That's how current works in a voltage supply design. So, that coil will TRY to supply enough amps to meet the demands connected to it. This is the battery, losses in the rectifier / regulator, losses in old crusty cables and bilge pumps. And, older batteries have higher resistances that suck up more amps too.

Demanding that 2A (or more) continuously will cause the coil to overheat, cook a winding and/or break down insulation over time.

Again, the battery does nothing to help with this...by design, it just sits there as a load on the charging system. We only connect to the battery since it's easier than getting to the regulator.

The only time the battery will supply juice to the bilges directly is when things are really bad: reaching a point where the current draw from the regulator (and lighting coil) is so high that it casues the 13.5 volts to droop...and if that supply voltage gets lower than the battery's voltage, then the battery will start to power things and drain...

 

[OCD Solutions]

Probably not too easy to follow for most but that is a pretty decent explanation. They call it Current "draw" for a reason.

The charging coil is designed to be able to satisfy a designed load which should cover all oem installed electrical components plus a bit extra so adding load can exceed its design and burn it out.

John at JSS has custom replacement coils that have had additional windings added with a larger gauge wire that will increase the capacity of your charging system. Not sure if every rebuilt stator gets this service or not but it's definitely worth asking about. Both my skis have them and run dual 500's all day long with ETX-9's and no issues whatsoever.

 

[NVJAY775]

Thanks for explaining that one. Helped me understand how it all works too.

Ive thought of running a single auto bilge, but have this issue in my head of one bilge failing. Then I have a backup. so I run duals off a switch. That's just me. I almost never turn on my bilges anymore anyways. The scupper takes care of most the water issues I have. So I only run the bilges when I really screw up and am swamped, or close to it.

 

[Al//gsx//sj]

Thanks for all the insight and interesting info. kinda pressed for time, so for now I’ll just have both pumps to a switch. When I get back from Florida, I’ll probably switch out the old 500 for an newer auto...