Get out of the "ladder down club" mod

[jetboater4life]

Hello,
This thread is being ported over from Yamaha Jet Boaters • Login originally posted by @buckbuck I followed it pretty much to a tee. I did a few minor things differently as documented below.
1) Used 3m5200 to seal up the through hull cable, 2) used a red led vs blue, 3) used T-taps to tap into the starboard accessory wire (purple) and the ground wire from the start switch. The port doesn't have an accessory wire.

When the switch is in the upright/accessory position and the ladder is down the red light is on. When the ladder is up the light is off.

Here is the original thread posted on July 18th 2013 along with the original pictures + one I took. Many of the purchase links are dead since I bought these parts when the thread was started about 10 years ago. It would be great if someone could post new links to the products.
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I want to credit tracerrx for the ideas, plans and materials for this mod. You can view his write up here.
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=46880

I had finally had enough with the 'Ladder Down Club'. I wanted out and was ready to burn the bridge. I am not going back thanks to tracerrx.
Here are some pictures from my install. I tested placement many times before final install.
Removing the magnet from the plastic enclosure was easy. I just pumped some silicone in the leg of the ladder and slipped the magnet up inside. Mounting the proximity switch was easy except I snapped one screw off. Silicone holds switch and seals cable. Ran a cable to the helm and tied into the 12v socket. My daughter suggested the placement of the LED in order that the operator would see the light before starting the engines and any crew member could also see it. This thing works great.
I highly recommend this mod for those of you that are ready to drop your membership of the 'Ladder Down Club'.

 

[jetboater4life]

Trace also had a post (Jun 09, 2012 ) which is linked above and I have included as well. For reference.
Here are some of his comments.

On the Alarm sensor, it comes wired for both "Circuit OPEN when in contact" and "Circuit CLOSED when in contact" so you can have the light ON or OFF for ladder UP or DOWN, just hook to either the OPEN or CLOSED wire (Leave the other unconnected).
Ohh, and I placed my LED light on the far left side of my helm (also at my daughters suggestion) so that both myself and others on the boat can see it. Since, install someone suggested I wire a second LED into the swim platform.

Reviving an old thread here... But in case anyone else is looking here is what im going to try over the next week.

1. Apparently the "Garage door type" alarm contacts are totally waterproof (switch and wiring embeded in epoxy) and also work at a distance of up to 2.5" from the magnet. I will place the switch side of the contact (a Normally Open switch) on the bottom of the swim platform above the ladder. I will place the magnet side of the switch contact (no wiring required) inside one of the ladder rungs. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/produ...et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ConfirmEmail

2. I will run 20AWG wire from the switch contact to the helm

3. I purchased several Blue LED dash indicators (they already have a built in resistor so I can hook up directly to 12v system) and will place the indicator in the helm. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/produ...et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ConfirmEmail

4. Wire Positive from helm fuse box --> Alarm Contact -->LED
5. Wire Ground from helm fuse ground bus --> LED

in theory I think this should work (Going to test out the waterproofness in the pool first)... I will post pics of final install if all goes well.

Here's an update with pics... I put the pieces together (listed below) and hooked up a 9volt battery (the LED/resistor will take up to 24v)... Then I dropped it in my salt water pool in south florida (pool water is well above 85 degrees). It has been there for 3 days, and still works perfectly. The Alarm contact I purchased has both a "Normal Open" and "Normal Closed" wires. I'm using the normal open so that when the magnet is within 2" of the sensor the light is OFF. And yes, you do get about a 2" range even in the water. I'm going to let it sit for a couple more days before I try installing it, but I'm pretty sure this is going to work.

Waterproof contact (remove the magnet from the L bracket)
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/produ...et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ConfirmEmail

LED Panel Light
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/produ...et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ConfirmEmail

18AWG wire
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/produ...et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ConfirmEmail

Just an update, I attached the sensor to the hull directly above the swim ladder with 5200, ran the wire in through the hull right around the scupper valve, attached the magnet to the swim ladder. Had the boat up to over 50mph today, and all is well. Sensor held tight and functions perfectly!

Sorry I forgot to take pics, but the boat is back on the lift and it's difficult to get pics of the back side now.

I believe the "Garage Door Sensors" which I used are totally encased in epoxy...

While I live in florida, this is my lake boat, and I keep it on a lift at our lake house (fresh water).

 

[buckbuck]

That mod has never failed and we still reference that blue light today. Thanks for digging it up @jetboater4life

 

[dgfreeze]

Interesting you should revive this mod, as I'm in the process of engineering my own slightly different designed system to do the same thing. I saw in a different thread where someone else did it, but how it was done wasn't explained. I'll try to do a little write-up on it, and show how I do it, and what I use.

PS, the mcmelectronics links aren't working, it appears mcmelectronics is now newark.com

 

[Julian]

Added to the FAQ mods section:

https://jetboaters.net/faq/view/modifications-and-upgrades.3/#faq-243