Oil pressure buzzer/light

mherrcat · Jun 23, 2009

The red lens and the retaining nut on the oil pressure light/buzzer on my engine control panel snapped off Sunday. (24 years of corrosion I guess...) The light bulb and the buzzer still work but I am afraid now that salt water can easily get inside the fixture and wanted to replace it.

Guess what, the replacement part costs $244.20 at Torreson Marine!

Any possibility that this part is available somewhere else, maybe one of the tractor supply companies, for less? The engine is a Universal M18. I have attached a picture of the part for reference.

wheelerwbrian · Jun 23, 2009

doesn't look much different from a cole hersee for $49.99.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...URL=true&storeNum=6&subdeptNum=84&classNum=85

mherrcat · Jun 23, 2009

Thanks for the tip. Found the same thing at elecDirect.com for $29.

Going to check a couple of other switches this weekend before ordering.

Shadowfax · Jun 23, 2009

Please let me know how that works out. Mine is not working right and needs replacement.

Thanks

Tom Metzger · Jun 23, 2009

Defender has it for $22.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|328|49758|303333|1017116&id=917272

I use the Engine Warning Kit which includes the switches for oil pressure and temperature @ $28. The buzzer is LOUD, which is good for us old guys. It does not have the light, but I think the temperature alarm is required more frequently than the oil pressure alarm. This will pick up a belt failure along with other cooling problems.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|311|302335|302334|1018488&id=614329

It is easy enough to buy a separate temperature switch if you want the temperature function with the light.

mherrcat · Jun 23, 2009

How do you integrate the pressure and temp switches? Where are they installed?

Tom Metzger · Jun 23, 2009

How do you integrate the pressure and temp switches? Where are they installed?

Both the oil pressure & the temperature switches are normally open and close to ground when in the alarm condition. This allows you to connect both of the switches to the same terminal on the alarm device. The alarm will sound if either the temperature gets too high or the oil pressure gets too low. Obviously you need a way to tell quickly which condition occurred.

On my installation I put the new temperature switch in the water heater circuit and installed a second oil pressure switch on a pipe tee as there is only one pressure port on the M-25XP. If the alarm sounds I check the temperature gauge to see if it is high. During the daytime I doubt if I could tell if the oil idiot light was on.

Installing the temperature switch in a hose as I did I had to attach a ground wire to the fitting. You can see the yellow crimp connector in the picture.

mherrcat · Jun 23, 2009

So, what is on the other side of the "T" fitting that the new oil pressure switch is on? The originally installed oil pressure switch? Why would you need two?

Tom Metzger · Jun 24, 2009

mherrcat said:
So, what is on the other side of the "T" fitting that the new oil pressure switch is on? The originally installed oil pressure switch? Why would you need two?

Yes, it is the original. It gives a little extra reliability, redundancy, having two switches and two alarm circuits. On my engine and with my alarm circuit I didn't have to use a separate switch for oil pressure; it depends how the circuits are wired. If you have a gauge then it is definitely needed.

The switch is much, much less reliable than the oil pump so having two separate circuits immediately tells me if I have to shut down the engine. This could be a life saver in an inlet. One switch wired to two alarms doesn't help.

mherrcat · Jun 24, 2009

I'm going to evaluate the whole control panel this weekend. It does not have a keyed ignition switch; just a toggle switch for power and a toggle switch for the blower. Don't know if that is original or not. I may swap the ignition toggle for a key switch.

I like the whole engine alarm kit, but it seems like a lot of additonal work for something that was functioning OK before. I may just replace the buzzer/light.

Will report on the outcome.

wheelerwbrian · Jun 24, 2009

Funny. I've been thinking of swapping my key for a toggle switch. I figure that it would be more waterproof, I rarely remove the key during the season and the floaty thing chain rusts, a monkey could hotwire a boat engine panel and I can secure the engine at the battery switch by locking the companionway. Although a nice set of bolt cutters gets through that pretty easily too.

mherrcat · Jun 24, 2009

Good point. The boat hasn't been stolen yet...

I leave my battery switch turned on when I'm not on the boat so the bilge pump is powered. It's one of those Rule pumps that cycles every few minutes for a couple of seconds.

Is the starter usually wired through the battery selector switch? I haven't checked that out yet. As far as I can recall it seems that the starter works in any battery selector position. Would that indicate that it is wired directly to one of the batteries?

wheelerwbrian · Jun 24, 2009

The way mine is set up is a house switch and an engine switch with a battery combiner to handle distributing the charging between the two banks. The engine switch disables the starter. My bilge pump is hard wired to a battery bus bar on the House side, as is a wire for my stereo so that it maintains its settings.

Loren Beach · Jun 25, 2009

wheelerwbrian said:
Funny. I've been thinking of swapping my key for a toggle switch. I figure that it would be more waterproof, I rarely remove the key during the season and the floaty thing chain rusts, a monkey could hotwire a boat engine panel and I can secure the engine at the battery switch by locking the companionway. Although a nice set of bolt cutters gets through that pretty easily too.

Our boat came to us with a heavy-duty push-pull switch installed where the key used to be. We like it that way. Hot wiring a boat is very simple, in any case, for anyone with larcenous intentions. I have been on a few boats over the years where the key was lost or broke off in the ignition switch -- usually from an errant foot during a jibe or tack.

Loren

rwthomas1 · Jun 25, 2009

Just another project that I have planned, to remove the key switch and just use a momentary for the starter and a standard toggle switch for the ignition. I was thinking of moving the key switch to a back corner of the engine space, or under the galley sink. That way I have the option of locking the start circuit if I want to. I also figure that anyone trying to steal the boat is now faced with trying to figure out where the switch is, since the panel would be dead.

I changed the way my bilge pump is powered. I like the convenience/idea of having the pump switch on the main panel. I separated the bilge pump circuit breaker/switch from the bus bar and it is wired directly to the house bank feed wire. That means the pump is always on regardless of the battery selector switch yet still managed by the panel mounted circuit breaker/switch. It was simple to do, cost almost nothing, and works well.

RT

Captron · Jun 25, 2009

Good Ideas

rwthomas1 said:
Just another project that I have planned, to remove the key switch and just use a momentary for the starter and a standard toggle switch for the ignition. I was thinking of moving the key switch to a back corner of the engine space, or under the galley sink. That way I have the option of locking the start circuit if I want to. I also figure that anyone trying to steal the boat is now faced with trying to figure out where the switch is, since the panel would be dead.

I changed the way my bilge pump is powered. I like the convenience/idea of having the pump switch on the main panel. I separated the bilge pump circuit breaker/switch from the bus bar and it is wired directly to the house bank feed wire. That means the pump is always on regardless of the battery selector switch yet still managed by the panel mounted circuit breaker/switch. It was simple to do, cost almost nothing, and works well.

RT

Rob, I like your ideas here. Do you have one of the automatic bilge pumps or do you have a separate float/water level switch? I've been thinking of switching my Rule 2000 with separate float switch to one of the automatic ones, probably the 2000 auto.

Also have you had any issues with the Universal wiring harness? The plugs in particular?
:egrin:

rwthomas1 · Jun 26, 2009

Ron,
Regular float switch/Rule pump setup. Just wired independently. No issues with the Universal harness. Not yet anyway.... Plugs appear to work fine, just need a 20-30 second glow and she lights off. If that ever goes south it will be "hotrodded" with a solenoid and heavy wire. I've messed with diesels for years, glow plugs are priority one for easy starting.

RT

Captron · Jun 26, 2009

Glow Plugs

Thanks Rob,

My 5432 also requires 20-30 seconds of glow plug or it refuses to start. If it was run up to operating temp within say the last 4 to 8 hours then it cranks right up, but overnight, even in the tropics it needs the glow plugs. It's always nice to get a little glow on anyway.

Thanks again for the reply.
:egrin:

mherrcat · Jul 14, 2009

Well, I replaced the old buzzer/light with my new $22 version and it works just fine. Even looks better than the original with a snazzy bezel around the light! Even replaced some of the old wiring while I was at it. I guess I saved $222 on that project considering what Torreson wanted for their buzzer...

I had purchased two toggle switches and boots to replace the old ones but decided to just keep them on hand for the future as the old ones seemed to still be working fine, although looking a little worse for wear...

Join us on April 26th, 7pm EST

for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

Oil pressure buzzer/light

Contributing Partner

Attachments

Member III

Contributing Partner

Member III

Sustaining Partner

Contributing Partner

Sustaining Partner

Attachments

Contributing Partner

Sustaining Partner

Contributing Partner

Member III

Contributing Partner

Member III

O34 - Portland, OR

Sustaining Partner

Member III

Sustaining Partner

Member III

Contributing Partner