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Purpose of White Button above Ignition Key
Posted: July 18th, 2023, 3:11 pm
by theorifice
There is a button above each of the ignition cylinders. What is it's purpose? On my boat - they buttons appear to do nothing. I had expected them to be a kill switch.
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Re: Purpose of White Button above Ignition Key
Posted: July 18th, 2023, 3:24 pm
by waybomb
Not sure, maybe circuit breakers?
Re: Purpose of White Button above Ignition Key
Posted: July 18th, 2023, 4:52 pm
by bud37
Yup....that is what I believe them to be also......one for each switch circuit.
Re: Purpose of White Button above Ignition Key
Posted: July 18th, 2023, 7:02 pm
by Viper
They are ignition circuit breakers. They won't pop/trip unless there is a problem with the circuit; high load, short, etc. (if they're working properly)
Re: Purpose of White Button above Ignition Key
Posted: July 20th, 2023, 6:32 pm
by Grafunkus
We had those on our Mariner. We were taught to push it to start the engines. It silenced the buzzing sound.
Re: Purpose of White Button above Ignition Key
Posted: July 22nd, 2023, 10:15 am
by JimN
They are circuit breakers and they can fail, over time, without excessive load but still had multiple tripping events. I replaced those on a friends' Carver because they would trip whenever they felt like it and when I checked the current, it wasn't high- maybe 15A.
If they trip frequently, do a current test by turning off all accessories that are controlled by the ignition switches and turn each on, separately. If something shows high current, address that separately and move on, making notes of the current draw for each. That way, you'll have a kind of baseline to use in the future.