Pressing bilge light button causes horn to blow!

[Gunn]

On my 280DA, I've been having this issue lately where when I press the starboard side control panel bilge light button, the horn will blow, and the bilge light will turn on. Pressing again will blow the horn again and the light will go off.

Similarly, pressing the horn button will make the bilge light come on (and the green little light on the bilge light button will turn on). Pressing the horn button again will extinguish the light.

These two buttons are next to one another on the multi-button control panel. What could possibly be the issue here?! And has anyone else experienced it (and fixed it)?

Thanks,

 

[Boat Guy]

It seems like the connections must be touching. So, when you power one, you are powering both.

 

[FootballFan]

Guessing it might be either the switch pad or the EIM or EMI (forget what it stands for).

 

[BryanOnTheBay]

You obviously have a short across the two switches. The switched sides are connected, so when one switch supplies power it goes to both accessories. You will need to get behind the switches and see what is going on, whether a piece of metal has gotten wedged in between, the insulation on the wires has become damaged, etc. Remember, if it is bad insulation, it could be some distance from the switch, even to the point of being somewhere in the wiring harness, though that is unlikely.

if you have any further questions, pictures of the back of the switches and the wires coming from them would help.

And for comic relief, video of the problem would work well. :grin:

Bryan

 

[JimG]

Are these the switch pads?

I guessing so, and going to go with FootballFan and say it's a bad switch pad or Electronic Interface Module (EIM). The pads send commands to the EIM over a two wire serial connection, so it sounds like a communication issue between the two. There is an outside chance that you got water in the pad and are activating both buttons.

 

[Gunn]

Guessing it might be either the switch pad or the EIM or EMI (forget what it stands for).

Yes, I do have the multi-button switch pad that contains the horn and bilge light. On the backside of this pad are only a couple of wires, so they are meaningless to the actual switch itself.

I also have an issue where the blower little green light on the port side switch pad no longer lights to indicate whether my blowers are running or not. Damn switch pads. Are these still available to purchase somewhere??

Tom