WIF sensor wiring

[Lars Larsen]

I’m in the process of converting my garbage Racor fuel filters to the 2 stage system from “Filtration the Seaboard way” . I will have a FS1218 primary and a FS19596 secondary filter. My boat (new to me in Nov. 2017) is a ’99 Boston Whaler 31L, with twin 6BTA 315 HP engines. I currently have Racor WIF indicators on the dash, but I’m replacing the entire dash with new gauges, etc., and I’d like to get rid of the old, weathered Racor indicators, and replace them with something from this century. I’ve scoured the internet, but I can’t find an information on wiring the sensor to just an indicator light, or replacement indicators from Cummins. I assume that there’s more to these than just a simple switch circuit, and that they need some supporting electronics as well. Any Ideas?

Also, Thank you for all of the information that you post in Tony’s Tips. I jump on and read them whenever I have a spare minute, and they have pointed me towards looking at items that the previous owner (and his “Certified” Cummins Mechanic) overlooked. I installed one new “Seaboard” aftercooler, and repaired and pressure tested the other one. I changed all of the raw rater hoses, and found that the transmission coolers were 75% clogged, so I cleaned them. These would have been very costly repairs if left unattended, so …Thanks Again!

Topic

[Lars Larsen]

WIF Sensor

Hi Corey,
Thanks for the reply. I figured that it had to be something more complicated than a normally open contact, but it never hurts to ask. I may play around with the old Racor sensors, once I remove the old filter system, and see if I can figure it out. If I do, I’ll post my findings here.

Thanks again!

[Corey Schmidt]

Lars, I am not the be all WIF circuitry expert by any means, but I do know that the WIF circuits on mechanically controlled engines were never really sorted out 100%. Even though there is a WIF indicator lamp on the Cummins OEM analog instrument panels, Cummins never really fully implemented (and surely does not support) the alarm circuit.

How to handle Water in Fuel (WIF) Circuit / Sensor False Alarms

I will say that on a fundamental level, the alarm circuit should be as simple as a normally open sensor that closes by means of seawater providing continuity across the sensor terminals… in a perfect world this would “close” the circuit and activate any indicators that are a part of it i.e. lamps, buzzers, and the like that would be connected to a switched 12V IGN source on the POS side. However, we have experimented many times with this circuit in an attempt at “simplifying” it down to the level I just described and could never quote get it to be consistent as we would want and expect.

We have found that it’s better practice to just drain your fuel and inspect it regularly just as pilots do pre-flight… no better “mouse-trap” available for this one I’m afraid.

[Author]

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