Unknown Switch

[SDSailor]

Hi everyone,

Can someone tell me what the switch and indicator light on the left of my flybridge (see picture) might be for? When I make the switch, it causes an alarm to sound but I still can't figure out for what? Boat is a 2006 Monk 36. I have attached a photo.

Thank You

 

[Bmarler]

Hard to say if factory installed, but I’d doubt it. Switch could literally be anything.
Maybe it’s for people that cant help themselves from playing with switches and buttons. When the alarm sounds you know you have one of those onboard.

 

[O C Diver]

Try starting the engine and then make the switch. It might be an engine sensor like oil pressure that tells you something isn't normal when the engine is running.

Ted

 

[kthoennes]

This reminds me of the sea trial on our current boat. There's a switch at the helm labeled TRIM TABS and I kept playing with it to see if I could feel any difference in the boat's angle or ride at higher throttle. Couldn't feel anything at all so I figured the trim tabs were just ineffective with a boat that big and heavy, or didn't work. When the boat was finally pulled -- oh -- no trim tabs. Mainship apparently installed that switch whether you had optional trim tabs or not. No wonder I couldn't feel anything.

 

[OldDan1943]

When you turn on the switch, does the neighbor’s garage door open? LOL

Personal experience, dinner time the garage door opened. We drove down the road until we found the offender. Never said a word but for a while his garage door would open Sunday about 730am as we went to church. We reached an unspoken truce. CHUCKLE

 

[Shrew]

When you turn on the switch, does the neighbor’s garage door open? LOL

Personal experience, dinner time the garage door opened. We drove down the road until we found the offender. Never said a word but for a while his garage door would open Sunday about 730am as we went to church. We reached an unspoken truce. CHUCKLE

It would seem like changing the code on your door would have been easier. What it sounds like you did was harass the neighbor until you forced him to change his code. I doubt he was aware that you had overlapping codes.

Kind an oddly malicious approach for someone who goes to church every Sunday. There were more neighborly ways of handling that problem. But what do I know.....I don't believe in your god.

 

[tiltrider1]

Let’s not go from unknown switch to god. Remember, there is always more to every story.

 

[OldDan1943]

It would seem like changing the code on your door would have been easier. What it sounds like you did was harass the neighbor until you forced him to change his code. I doubt he was aware that you had overlapping codes.

Kind an oddly malicious approach for someone who goes to church every Sunday. There were more neighborly ways of handling that problem. But what do I know.....I don't believe in your god.

I guess you are correct he harassed us every evening at dinner and we harassed on Sunday.
Shrew, there was a time when people had a sense of humor.

 

[C lectric]

Years ago I had the same trouble. Garage door opening but not by me. I would come home and the door would be open.
I simply changed the code by one digit, no more trouble.
I doubt he even knew his was triggering mine.
I looked around but never spotted the other unit. Could have been several blocks away.

The controllers , at least then, had a limited number of codes so in any town or city the odds were that with the same mfgr. there could be crossover.

 

[OldDan1943]

Seriously, start the main engine and generator, when everything is running normally, flick the switch the switch, if you get the alarm, maybe a sensor is bad. Which one, I have no idea.

 

[Bmarler]

Many times a piece of electronics will sound when you power it up. Does it only last a few seconds and then quiet down?
It doesn’t see like the right location for an engine alarm. That pod is mostly navigation hardware. Wouldn’t absolutely rule it out, but engine alarms should be automatic when the gauges are powered up. An alarm silencer? Maybe. Engine running test would show that, as has been mentioned.

 

[BruceK]

The ? 'rocker switch" to the left looks like the Stop/Start button for my Onan genset.

 

[hmason]

Looks like a Johnson Controls high water alarm. When you press the switch it enters test mode and sets off the alarm and turns on the red warning light.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. SD. Why not simply trace the wiring?

 

[OldDan1943]

Greetings,
Mr. SD. Why not simply trace the wiring?

Sounds easy until you go behind a panel or a wire bundle. A ‘fox and hound’ could provide you a bit of assistance.

 

[kthoennes]

Perfect job for an audible wire tracer. You clip the sending unit aligator-clip onto the switch wire and then move around the boat following the sound. Got the suggestion here on trawler forum, very useful tool for not much money. Don't know how I lived without it. You can buy cheap ones like this, they do fine, but now I wish I bought a good one because I use it so much. Like so many other boats previous service people got sloppy with maintaining wiring diagram colors so that tone generator has saved me a lot of wild goose chases following wiring bundles.

https://www.amazon.com/F02-Undergro...690892530&sprefix=wire+tracer,aps,256&sr=8-14

 

[C lectric]

Any chance it is the Power On , Power off switch for the electronics in the enclosure with it. I suspect you have tried that but if not ??

 

[RickyD]

When you turn on the switch, does the neighbor’s garage door open? LOL

Personal experience, dinner time the garage door opened. We drove down the road until we found the offender. Never said a word but for a while his garage door would open Sunday about 730am as we went to church. We reached an unspoken truce. CHUCKLE

Oh gosh, I just have to tell you. I put a new 420,000 candle power remote controlled searchlight on my boat. I'm an end tie facing another end tie. One night my neighbor was enjoying a relaxing evening on his fly bridge and my light turned on all by itself blinding him and almost peeling off his jell coat. Luckily I was aboard and saw my deck light up. Huh? Who is shining a light on me. Oops. Its me. Now I have to make sure the breaker is off.

 

[sunchaser]

1- Do you have starting capability on the fly bridge? If so that switch in the on position may be part of the start system.

2- x2 on High water test alarm?

 

[Circumnavigator]

Perfect job for an audible wire tracer. You clip the sending unit aligator-clip onto the switch wire and then move around the boat following the sound. Got the suggestion here on trawler forum, very useful tool for not much money. Don't know how I lived without it. You can buy cheap ones like this, they do fine, but now I wish I bought a good one because I use it so much. Like so many other boats previous service people got sloppy with maintaining wiring diagram colors so that tone generator has saved me a lot of wild goose chases following wiring bundles.

https://www.amazon.com/F02-Undergro...690892530&sprefix=wire+tracer,aps,256&sr=8-14

Couldn't live without it. Get one that not only puts a signal on a wire pair that you can trace with the "hound" but also indicates continuity. Then when you find the other end, you can put a jumper across the pair to confirm that you have the correct pair.


Jim

 

[kthoennes]

Yep. I can't tell you how many times I've used that thing since I bought it last year thanks to TF. The boat has two AM/FM radios, one at the helm and one in the salon, both wired to the house control panel, but one comes off off the bridge bus bar and one on the "stereo" 12-volt switch on the house panel), and both use the same color wiring in the wiring chases. Had to troubleshoot and replace one last weekend. What a hassle it would have been to figure out which was which in a wiring bundle as big as my wrist. Used it for irrigation control wires at home, home theater wiring, finding a short in my utility trailer wiring for the tail lights, figuring out a dead landscaping light (bad connector) in the lawn. Most useful tool I bought in a long time.

 

[jbbmillar]

Trim Tab Switches

... There's a switch at the helm labeled TRIM TABS and I kept playing with it to see if I could feel any difference in the boat's angle or ride at higher throttle. Couldn't feel anything at all so I figured the trim tabs were just ineffective with a boat that big and heavy, or didn't work. When the boat was finally pulled -- oh -- no trim tabs. Mainship apparently installed that switch whether you had optional trim tabs or not. No wonder I couldn't feel anything.

There may have been trim tabs, but the PO could have removed the. The ones on our 2002 390 did little, and we rarely operate at speeds where they are needed. One developed a leak so we removed them and glassed over - but we still have the switches!

 

[MaDehn]

My bet is power switch for pod of electronics possibly for a depth meter. Also possibly to silence an alarm tied to depth?

 

[hmason]

As I said in post #13:
https://defender.com/en_us/johnson-...ew94UqrWq-q4sNHBEETXcRoCVf8QAvD_BwE#493=19515

 

[Comodave]

Oh gosh, I just have to tell you. I put a new 420,000 candle power remote controlled searchlight on my boat. I'm an end tie facing another end tie. One night my neighbor was enjoying a relaxing evening on his fly bridge and my light turned on all by itself blinding him and almost peeling off his jell coat. Luckily I was aboard and saw my deck light up. Huh? Who is shining a light on me. Oops. Its me. Now I have to make sure the breaker is off.

In a previous boat the spotlight would turn on occasionally. Someone’s garage door opener was activating it I suspect. I started turning off the breaker, problem solved.