With the key off and I turn the running lights on in my boat my gauges power up like when I turn my key on?

Question

I dont see any problems with the ground connections on the gauges or the light connection. I notice when I used a check light that there is some power in the ignition wire to the gauges

Answer 1

There wire correct if they only turn the lights on the gauges but if the gauges work like fuel> volt> As they function with engine not running>  than wired wrong> With the key switch off there should not be 12v in the wire unless you turn the lights on no gauge function>> If so than they wired it to the switch power side instead of acc> Check that out>>Best to wire from fuse panel and not Eng switch> As that will lead to voltage drop to the Eng and over load the switch and failure>

Answer 2

Do the gauges actually power up or just the lights in them? If it's just the lights, the others are right and someone has just wired them to come on with the running lights, However if that is the case, then the running lights should be coming on when the ignition switch is turned on also, or the dash lights shouldn't work with the ignition switch. That is not really going to hurt anything, but if the gauges actually power up IE: the tach needle drops to zero, it could be a problem.

Any power in the ignition switch other than the main power wire could cause the kill circuit in the switch to not work, resulting in the engine not stopping when the switch is turned off,

The running lights should actually be wired completely seperate from the ignition switch and should not be feeding any current back to the ignition switch. To fix it, find the wire running from the running lights to the dash lights and remove it. It could be a wire directly from the running light switch to the dash lights or a splice into a wire to the running lights between the switch and the lights.

ADDED AFTER YOUR ADDED INFO.

From the factory, your dash lights and gauges are wired to the ignition switch. You have a main power wire to the ignition switch that is hot all of the time. That is the only wire that should be hot on the ignition switch when the switch is off. If there is a wire going from the running lights to the dash lights or the gauges, it is also feeding voltage to the ignition switch thru the wire that powers the dash lights and/ or the gauges and it is probably powering everything else that is connected to the ignition switch. That is NOT good. To test this theory, turn the running light switch off and the ignition switch to the on position, then take a test light and see which small post(s) on the solenoid switch are hot. Then turn the ignition switch off. The small post(s) on the solenoid switch should now be dead check to make sure they are. Then turn on the running lights and test the small post(s) on the solenoid again. If any wires on the solenoid become hot, you deffinately need to find the wire from the running lights to the dash lights or gauges and remove it. If nothing becomes hot on the solenoid, it shouldn't hurt anything, but if it was me, I'd find the wire and remove it anyway.

Answer 3

THE THING TO REMEMBER IS THE RUNNING LIGHTS WORK AT ANY TIME, BY AN ON/OFF SWITCH EVEN IF ENGINE NOT RUNNING

SOUNDS LIKE ALL LIGHTS ARE WIRED IN TO THAT CIRCUIT.  

TRY REMOVING THE KEY AND SEE IF DASH LIGHTS GO OUT

HAVE YOU TRIED ALL SWITCHES ON DASH

Answer 4

The boat circuit and the engine share the same battery, but it's not common for the gauges to be inter connected to the ign system and boat systems.... In all likely-hood there is a crossed wire. I'd look at the fuse panel and under the dash for jury-rigged wires.

Answer 5

It's like paul describes...forget about it...very common.

Answer 6

It's just the way it's wired in, some mechanics wire to the lighting system and some to the ignition system.

I wire to the the lights because that way it prompts people to run the navigation lights at night in order to read the gauges and saves the bulbs during the daylight time.

If they're not giving you any problems don't worry about them.              

Happy Boating.