Sea-Fire Engine Interrupter Question

Pensacola Dan

Pensacola Dan

New Member
Oct 23, 2019
12
Pensacola, Florida
Boat Info
2000 480 Sedan Bridge
Engines
Caterpillar 3196TAs
Anyone have any experience with Sea-Fire relays? My generator will not shut off when testing the fire suppression system. It shuts down the engines and blowers, but it’s supposed to also shut down the generator if running. The Sea-Fire relay is located behind the main panel in the salon and has a white/red jumper on the generator terminals. When I removed the jumper, the generator will not start. Do I have a bad relay or is it wired improperly? I have a 2000 480 with 3196s and a Westerbeke 10.
 

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Jumping the relay contacts would be very unusual.
Even more interesting is that the jumper is the same wire as the OEM harness, as if it has always been there.

I attached the manual.

Some basics note the comment that the symbols are in the "Normal energized state".
What this means is when the Fire system is energized (has power but not triggered)

Most Diesel engines have "shut down solenoids" this is why your mains are wired to 11/12 and 14/5.
When the Sea-Fire triggers it as if you pushed the "shut down" button. 11/12 contacts close.
On a gasoline engine we use 10/11 which the ignition passes thru, on trigger these contacts open, interrupting the ignition (turning the key off).

The generator wiring could be either way some need a run circuit, some have a shut down circuit.
It seems that you need a closed circuit to run. (removing the jumper it wont run)
This is more like a ignition system and that jumper should not be there.
If you remove the jumper will it run if you start the blowers first?

The control box uses a complex set of diodes to accept power from any system to power the controller it self.
Either engine, generator or the blowers will power the control relays.
See terminals 16,17 from the engines power.
but 18 generator is not used? So you need a blowers running to provide control power.

1. Remove the jumper
2. energize blowers, will the generator start?
3. check you generator wiring, either 3 or 4 may provide 12v positive from the generator.
3. IF one of the generator wires provide 12v run power, that terminal can be jumpered to #18
This is likely where that jumper belongs.
So a PO may have moved it if the internal relay for the generator has failed
 

Attachments

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Thanks for the great insight. It seemed to me that based on the symbols, that the generator terminals are on a closed circuit on the interrupter when normally energized, but if so, why the need for a jumper? Plus, the generator won’t run without the jumper which tells me it’s actually an open circuit. I’ll run through your recommendations and let you know what I find out. It seems like moving the jumper to 18 makes the most sense. Thanks again for the help.
 
Do you know what wire is also connected to 18? I think that could be my missing piece. From your picture, I can’t tell if another wire is attached to that terminal as a Gen input. I’ve moved my jumper from 3-4 to 4-18 with no luck. Generator will only start in 3-4 jumper scenario but won’t shut down during test.
 
Then i would suspect the previous owner moved it because the internal relay is bad
 
Pensacola Dan said:
Do you know what wire is also connected to 18? I think that could be my missing piece. From your picture, I can’t tell if another wire is attached to that terminal as a Gen input. I’ve moved my jumper from 3-4 to 4-18 with no luck. Generator will only start in 3-4 jumper scenario but won’t shut down during test.
Click to expand...
Remove from terminal 3 that jumper and connect it to terminal 18. If the relay is good it should work as designed. If the relay is bad you need to replace the module - they are not that expensive.
 
Pensacola Dan said:
Do you know what wire is also connected to 18? I think that could be my missing piece. From your picture, I can’t tell if another wire is attached to that terminal as a Gen input. I’ve moved my jumper from 3-4 to 4-18 with no luck. Generator will only start in 3-4 jumper scenario but won’t shut down during test.
Click to expand...

Call Sea Fire tech support, they have a troubleshooting guide. You can pretty easily identify if the module is bad.

I translated that troubleshooting guide into a spread sheet to keep track of what I was doing.
 
Pensacola Dan said:
Do you know what wire is also connected to 18? I think that could be my missing piece. From your picture, I can’t tell if another wire is attached to that terminal as a Gen input. I’ve moved my jumper from 3-4 to 4-18 with no luck. Generator will only start in 3-4 jumper scenario but won’t shut down during test.
Click to expand...

I believe nothing…see post #14. Schematic shows jumper from #4 —> #18, nothing else connected to #18.
 
dtfeld said:
Call Sea Fire tech support, they have a troubleshooting guide. You can pretty easily identify if the module is bad.

I translated that troubleshooting guide into a spread sheet to keep track of what I was doing.
Click to expand...
I called SeaFire tech support. They have a guy named Elliot that was super helpful and generous with his time. We walked through different tests and determined the 3-4 circuit was bad and I’ve got to replace the unit. Also, he confirmed jumper should be from 4 to 18. Will update once the new SeaFire unit arrives and I install. Thanks for your help.
 
This site saves me a ton of $$ every year on things like this.
 
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