New Labeled Marine Toggle Switches

OK, we’ve been touting this new product for months, and the first batch is finally in!  These marine labeled toggle switches are truly a unique product engineered by New Wire Marine to solve several common problems on marine switch panels.

The switches are all marine rated waterproof toggle switches, and solves the major problem with toggle on your boat… LABELS!  These toggle label plates look great, and give your boat’s panel a custom feel, and utility for no more than you’d pay for switches alone.

Second problem solved: SPACE!  Toggles take up much less space than our popular labeled rocker switches, making it easy to fit all your switches into a crowded dash.

Lastly, for the DIY’ers… our new line of labeled toggle switches can mount with a standard 0.50” hole, so all you need is a nice piece of wood, starboard or acrylic; and your drill to make an incredible looking switch panel – OR – drill directly into your dash for a great look as well.  (Note, our push button breakers also mount in a round hole!)

The labels on these guys are anodized aluminum, very durable, and the white lettering jumps right out at you.  The black background looks great contrasting against white.  The toggle labels have a 3M adhesive backing that is super strong to make sure they aren’t snagged and bent.

All the standard switch type are available: regular, and momentary ON-OFF’s, and ON-OFF-ON’s for horns, Nav lights, trim tabs, tilt-trim… whatever you need.

We are excited about this new product, and think you will be too… check them out here:

Labeled Toggle Switches

And, check back soon to see more innovative marine electrical products from New Wire Marine!

New Product Offerings – Circuit Protection

New Wire Marine has added some new marine grade circuit protection devices.  We have always carried panel mounted thermal resettable circuit breakers, but now are offering some fuses and surface mount large capacity circuit breakers.

The sealed marine large amperage surface mount breakers are great for keeping your large load wiring safe.  Used for engines, trolling motors or large panel feeders these surface mount breakers can be used like a switch… the red button on top will “trip” the breaker when pressed.  The little handle you see below can be pushed back in to reset the breaker.

These breakers are available in 50A, 100A and 150A models with more to come!

Also, carrying in-line fuse holders and ATC fuses.  Check back often, as we plan to add more products soon in this caregory.

Now Offering Sealed Marine Grade Toggle Switches

New Wire Marine is now carrying an array of all your standard marine toggle switches.  These guys are sealed and ready for the marine environment, and mount easily with a ½” hole, so you can fabricate your own panel for your boat.  Also a great replacement for your boat's old worn out switches.

We carry toggle switches in these types: *where (ON) represents momentary on *

ON-OFF  :  a regular switch for all your typical loads

(ON)-OFF : used for things like a horn… or an ejector seat

ON-OFF-ON : stuff like Nav/Anc lights, or two speed wipers

(ON)-OFF-(ON) : trim tabs, tilt/trim, or seat adjusters might use this switch.

If you don’t like the metallic look on your boat, or want some extra water protection try putting some rubber boots over the switches.

Check back soon because we are excited to announce we will soon be unveiling a truly unique line of anodized label plates for these toggles… super excited about this one!

What Carling Contura Rocker Switch Part Number Do You Need?

Carling V-Series switches are described by a full 14 unit part number, which get’s quite confusing.  Luckily, most vendors can get the switch you need with only the first 4 digits (including us!).

1st digit – V-series always starts with a “V”

2^nd digit – The function type, describes if you want an ON-OFF, (ON)-OFF, ON-OFF-ON, etc.  The “(ON)” with parentheses around it is a pretty standard way to describe a momentary function (like a horn).

3^rd digit – The switch rating… typically for marine use is a “D” for 20A, 12Vdc.  Note, the actual switch mechanism can typically be used at higher voltages (even 120Vac), but the lamp is the limiting factor.

4^th digit – The terminal and barrier style, typically a .250” TAB for a quick disconnect connector.  For .250 TAB, you should see a 1, 2, A, B, J or K.  The barriers are little pieces of plastic that separate the terminals… I typically recommend no barriers if you use insulated connectors.

Here is the full part number spec sheet from Carling (click to see it bigger):

About the Carling Contura Rocker Switch

Many people have questions about the terms we use when discussing New Wire Marine’s line of labeled Carling Contura V-series Rocker Switches...  So here’s an overview of this great switch:

Carling Technologies created a rocker switch called “contura” and it quickly became the go-to rocker switch for many industries including marine use.  Several other brands now manufacture contura style switches as well (all are pretty much interchangeable with each other), but nearly all major boat manufacturers now use this style switch.

These little guys come in many combinations including different actuators styles, poles, throws, lighting options, lighting type, voltage rating, terminal style, barrier style, etc.

The switch has two parts a Switch Body, and an Actuator (shown below).  The actuator snaps onto the body to create an entire switch combo.  All V-series contura actuators are interchangeable with all switch bodies.

The switch body:

The switch actuator:

The actuator can pop off easily with a tool like this, or if you pull it pretty hard it will snap off as well… I wouldn’t do this too many times though or risk breaking the latch, especially with an older switch.

Carling Contura ON-OFF Rocker Switch Wiring – Diagram Included

This is the beginning of a series of posts on how to wire up New Wire Marine’s line of Marine related V-Series Contura Rocker Switches.  Let’s start off with a simple one… Carling’s ON-OFF V1D1 model.  This is a simple ON-OFF switch with a negative for the return current for the light bulb.

Here is what the switch looks like:

You can see the bulb in the front (will be covered up with the actuator), and the 0.250” quick disconnect terminals on the back.

Carling uses the terminal numbering show here:

1-3 is on the left, 4-6 is on the right, and 7 and 8 are specialty terminals at the top.  In this carling V-series switch (and all others), all the terminal locations are numbered even if they are not used in this particular switch model... as you can see there are only 3 terminals on this one.

Here is a graphical way to look at it:

Power comes into terminal 2, and goes out of terminal 3 (the switch leg).  The switch leg is hot if the switch is ON, and not when the switch is OFF.  The negative for the light uses terminal 7.

Here is a wiring diagram of how the internal switching and lamp wiring is connected. 

Power feeds the bulb from terminal 3.  If you think about this for a moment, you realize that the switch could be wired up differently… if you put the + input on pin 3, then the light would always be ON and pin 2 could become the switch leg.  Additionally, if you had a load with an alternate input (like a bilge pump with a float switch), that input would feed back up the switch leg into pin 3 and illuminate the light, even if the switch is OFF.  This is really neat for a bilge because you can tell (via the lamp) when your float switch is making your bilge pump run… cool stuff!

New Wire Marine carries all the parts you need to make this work, and a lot more!

Another Successful Carling Contura Rocker Switch Installation

Glenn sent us this great photo of how he used our Carling Contra Rocker Switches.  But, instead of on his boat, he used them for a slightly different purpose… a Golf Cart!

We have several “not necessarily” marine related rocker switch labeled actuators, including:

Accessory

Courtesy Light

Fuel

Head Light

Horn

Instrument

Light

Panel Light

Stereo

and many more…

Glenn used our snap together Rocker Switch Mounting Panels for his installation (two end panels and two middle panels).  I like the way he made the backer plate out of diamond plate… looks great with the theme of the Golf Cart.  Nice graphics too!

Thanks for sharing this photo Glenn!

Ask Us Your Marine Electrical Installation Questions!

We want this blog to be informative, not just a plug for our products (of course we want to buy our great products too!).  If you have a question about New Wire Marine products, or marine electrical installation in general, please post it as a comment to this blog, and we will get you the answer!

Great Installation of Custom Marine Switch Panel on Kevin's Boat

Thanks Kevin for sharing the pictures of your New Wire Marine product installed on your jon boat.  He used a 6 switch panel with dc plug and a 2ft wiring harness. 

This panel is loaded with 6 labeled Carling Contura Marine Grade Rocker Switches.  He was able to select the 6 switch labels he needed for a real custom solution. 

If you take a close look you can see the labels New Wire Marine provided on each wire of the wiring harness.  Each came terminated with a ring terminal which made it a breeze for Kevin to interface the panel with a simple 20A terminal block.

Looks great Kevin… great install!

See the panel shown below HERE

And all 20+ of our Custom Marine Switch Panels HERE

Now offering Rule-Mate 1500gph bilge pumps - ON SALE at $99 ea for a Limited Time

New Wire Marine is introducing a new product by offering it for a limited time at an extreme discount.  You'll find the Rule-Mate 1500 GPH Automatic bilge pump at most online retailers anywhere from $150 to $200... We have it for a limited time at $99!

This pump has a neat 3 second delay to eliminate false starts.  This means your pump won’t constantly be turning on and off as that little bit of water in the bilge sloshes around.  And 1500 Gallons Per Hour means you can get the water out quickly.

It has separate inputs for automatic and manual mode as well… a really neat pump.

Check it out HERE

Now Offering Marine Switch Panel Blanks!

New Wire Marine is now offering our popular custom marine switch panel substrates as individual blanks.  This allows you to use existing switches you may have, or just save a little dough by assembling your boat’s switch panel yourself.

We now offer all the products needed to assemble your own panel:

Panel Blanks

Switch / Labeled Actuator Combos

Push to reset circuit breakers

DC plug sockets

Connectors

New Wire Marine Now Offering Connectors and Terminals

New Wire Marine has started offering the marine grade terminals and connectors to help with your boat wiring project, right on our website.  We are starting with the same quality connectors used to assemble our custom boat switch panels, including male and female quick disconnects and piggybacks.

At only a couple bucks for 10 connectors, it’s a great item to throw in your cart to help avoid trips to the hardware store for overpriced cheap terminals.

We will be adding various commonly used marine lugs and terminals to our lineup in the coming days. 

See everything here:

Terminals, Lugs and Connectors

Fully Custom Boat Switch Panels Available from New Wire Marine

New Wire Marine specializes in a line of “semi-custom” marine switch panels.  These quality marine grade products split the difference between ugly commercial products, and fully customized boat switch panels made to order.  We have a couple dozen layout options, and within each option you can choose from our 45 plus family of labeled carling contura rocker switches… allowing a custom touch at a reasonable price.

Most people don’t realize though that we can also design and fabricate fully custom panels in any shape, material and layout you wish.  These fully custom marine switch panels need to be quoted individually, but you can expect $150 or so additional fee over a similarly sized semi-custom model.  With this customization fee you get to design everything yourself, we draw it up, and you review it as many times as you like until you are happy.

If you’re interested in a fully custom panel contact us through our store page. 

Independent vs Dependant lamp models of Carling Contura V-series rocker switches



We often have customers ask if there is a way to illuminate the lamp with a separate signal to light up all the symbols on our labeled switch actuators.

Well, this is possible through the use of an independent lamp switch body (New Wire Marine caries two varieties of carling’s independent switch type).   An independent lamp rocker switch (see it here) has a fourth terminal on the back, that when applied with 12V will light up, without actually having the switch in the ON position.

The standard dependant lamp switches (see them here), only illuminate the lamp when in the ON position.

I personally prefer dependant lamp type switches.  This is because when you trigger the lamps independently, you really can’t make out the symbol at night anyway, so a better option is to install some kind of helm light (use red color so it doesn’t screw up your night vision).  Also, if you trigger the external light, you loose the indicator of whether or not the switch is actually ON… as the lamp is always illuminated, you could run your bilge dry, or leave your stereo on, etc, without realizing it.

See all our switch body options here

New Carling Contura Switch Actuators Added

New Wire Marine has recently added 9 more labels to our family of carling contura switch actuators (covers).  The new labels include:

Docking Lights
Hatch
Eject
Livewell Light
Motor
Sounder
Steaming Light
Tilt/Trim
VHF

We now have over 45 unique switch actuators available on our website at only $4.99 or less. 

Check them out here!

Funny new switch actuator - Ejector Seat!

Want to add a funny twist to your switch panel?  We have a new actuator for our carling rocker switches sporting the novelty "ejector seat" label.

At only $4.99 it is a neat way to fool your friends.  Try it on a spare switch, or even a working switch (just remember what the function actually is)!

If you have any ideas for novelty marine related rocker switch actuators post a comment here.  If we use your idea,  we will send you a free switch actuators with the label you came up with!

You can purchse this switch actuator here, or the whole carling switch and actuator combo here!

** For anybody out there actually considering building an ejector seat on your boat… we don’t recommend it **