Buzzer

[wayneakp]

Hi all

On my new boat which I love very much there are buzzers on the helm and when you turn the ignition on they emit a high pitched buzz until the engine starts ..well one of the two does - the other remains silent.

I am probably missing something obvious but what is the significance of the buzzing??

Thanks

Wayne

[Antares_9]

..

On my new boat which I love very much there are buzzers on the helm and when you turn the ignition on they emit a high pitched buzz until the engine starts ..well one of the two does - the other remains silent.

I am probably missing something obvious but what is the significance of the buzzing??

.

It's just to confirm that the alarm system is working and is normal - it's the one that's not working that may need further investigation. A bit like the lights on your car ignition that come on when you start the car engine, and go out when the engine starts.

[wayneakp]

Thanks - what is the alarm system for - engine temp etc?

regards

Wayne

[Antares_9]

Can be a number of things, and on a boat of that age may have been modified. But expect stuff like oil pressure, coolant temp, exhaust temp, raw water flow, gearbox oil temp, bilge pump activity.

Basics will be oil pressure, alternator charge and coolant temp.

[pks1702]

Some dash board set ups have a switch which can turn off the alarm (although goodness knows why) ours does

Might be worth checking any switch positions on one engine v's the other

[wayneakp]

Many thanks for your help

I will check out the silent one

Best regards

Wayne

[DaveS]

My Mariner 40efi that you saw on Saturday Wayne, has pretty much the same setup.

A high pitched sounder, when the ignition is switched on, which then goes off once the engine has started, and another, which remains silent (hopefully ), which is an engine overheat warning. Albeit I have installed a cylinder head bolt fitting temperature sensor/sender, and a temperature gauge in the dashboard panel.

Dave

[Brigid-Mary]

Hello Wayne,

I would imagine that the alarms are to indicate primarily that the engine is not running. When you shut down the engine(with the alarm) then the alarm will activate to let you know that the engine is stopped. On a two engine installation,with no alarms, you may not realize that an engine has stopped over the noise of the other engine.

When I was assistant mechanic on Gorleston Lifeboat, the boats had this set up to let you know of an engine failure over all the other racket that was going on.

Paul

[Antares_9]

That is one use they can be put to Paul, and a useful one too, mind you the sudden going round in a circle would be a big clue. It is not the primary reason for them being there though as they are fitted to singles too and the alarm sounds on low oil pressure, overheat etc as well as the tell tale confirmation of warning system integrity on start up. The trigger for the start up buzzer is low oil pressure.

[Lucky]

I've got the same thing except:-

When I switch on the Bilge from the Master Control Panel (also 240v) one of the two red lights stays on all the time. When I start the enignes, one of the lights comes on, then goes off (with alarm)

BUT - when I was getting the boat up on the plane, when the boat was pointing upwards (lol - you know what I mean) the alarm went off. Once settled on the plane the buzzer stopped. Once all the water in the engine bay was got rid off this didn't happen (leak from raw water pump, now sorted) and I'm wondering if these lights/buzzer have various thing connected to them ? (obviously all as warnings..)

[Antares_9]

They can have all sorts of sfuff connected Luke, that one will be bilge water or pump activity as mentioned in my first post.

[mbird]

I've got the same thing except:-

When I switch on the Bilge from the Master Control Panel (also 240v) one of the two red lights stays on all the time. When I start the enignes, one of the lights comes on, then goes off (with alarm)

BUT - when I was getting the boat up on the plane, when the boat was pointing upwards (lol - you know what I mean) the alarm went off. Once settled on the plane the buzzer stopped. Once all the water in the engine bay was got rid off this didn't happen (leak from raw water pump, now sorted) and I'm wondering if these lights/buzzer have various thing connected to them ? (obviously all as warnings..)

Hi Luke,

I'm assuming your 310 is wired the same as mine. The two red lights on the dash are for the two bilge pumps, one in the front and one right by the transom. If the bilge pumps activate, the alarm sounds to let you know you have water in the boat enough to need the pump. You could be asleep for example and not know you are holed! Thye switch for the bilge pump on the main panel bypasses the float switch and provides a manual override, and so hence the buzzer sounds. I think I am right in saying the switch on the main panel os for the front bilge pump, and the one on the help panel is for the one aft.

When you were "pointing upwards" there was clearly water in the bilge that sloshed to the stern and activated the aft bilge pump, which was then pumped away, or ran forward again once she settled on the plane.

One word of warning! Please check the operation of your float switches, as they could save your life! Our pump in the engine bay did not run when we lifted the float switch to check it, even though the alarm sounded and the light lit. Thinking we had a knackered/blocked pump, I tried to get it out (no easy task where it is located) but in doing so discovered it was actually an earth wire joined with a bullet connector in the trunking leading up from the pump that had parted company. Rejoined the two securely and problem solved!

[Lucky]

Thanks Mark - I'll have a look at that in the morning !! Makes a lot of sense !!

Luke.

[wayneakp]

Can be a number of things, and on a boat of that age may have been modified. But expect stuff like oil pressure, coolant temp, exhaust temp, raw water flow, gearbox oil temp, bilge pump activity.

Basics will be oil pressure, alternator charge and coolant temp.

Well.. solved that one ...the buzzer is for the oil pressure as said above. After a little tracing back I found the earth wire from the sender was broken at the earth bolt. Problem is the earth bolt was partly covered by the oil filter and I did not want to take that off. In the end I piggybacked the earth off the oil pressure sender. Both wires went to the same point anyway so I guess that is o.k.

Now working (and really annoying me by it's high pitched noise) o.k

Thanks for the pointers

Wayne