march pump switches

to begin with, my electrician skills are fairly limited. the most i've done is wire up car stereos.

tried searching for a detailed thread, but still don't have a definitive answer.

that being said, i have two march 809's that i would like to wire up to a control board. i plan on integrating some love switches in the future, but for right now, i'm just looking to make two switches for power on/off my march pumps individually. one has a plug and one just has wires, so my two options are to:

1. fuse a plug on the one without one
2. strip the plug on the one and wire them to individual switches.

any pictures or detailed threads would be very helpful. thanks!

I would personally cut the end off the one with a connector and wire it to a switch.

I wired mine to a regular home light switch I had laying around. Then the switch was fed through an extension cord to I plug into the receptacle that is fed from a GFCI breaker.

i agree. i'd rather strip the one and connect them both to switches. anyone have photos of a simple installation like this? i've never done it. thanks for your help SOB

It sucks to have to destroy something... you could also for only a few bucks just buy a female connector plug and get a foot of 14 gauge wire. Plug the pump into the connector, and attach your bare wire from the connector to the switch and your neutral and ground. This way you at least have the option in the future of using it plugged.

a better idea:
You need to mount the switches to something, so why not build a small box that you can put the switches on (just light switches will do) and also have two regular outlets. Plug one pump into one outlet, and wire the other pump's wire to a male plug, then plug it in the same way.


If you don't want to cut neat holes, go dirty and just cover it with wall plates. All these things are really cheap at most local hardware stores.

thank you budzu, looks like the best way to go.

anyone ever use these?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062527&filterName=Type&filterValue=SPST#tabsetBasic

Budzu said:

It sucks to have to destroy something...

Click to expand...

You're not really destroying anything. Just cutting the plug off the end. It seems like a lot of extra work and more money to "save" the plug end.

If you cut the end off and later realize you want it back on you can always buy a $2 plug and wire a new plug back on.

Maltose said:

anyone ever use these?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062527&filterName=Type&filterValue=SPST#tabsetBasic

Click to expand...

No, but be aware that those switches are only rated for 12V DC, your pumps will be running 110V AC, you would not want to use this to control your pumps

FWIW, I use a remote control switch designed for use with Xmas lighting. These are sometimes hard to find other than during the holidays. Got mine at Home Depot for $10. Works like a charm. It's plug and play, so no wiring required.