Originally Posted by alj

Hey Tom,

Those breakers listed on Ebay are the correct breakers. The Ebay seller is the source that I used previously (many years ago now) to obtain the correct switches. They are local to me. Last time I was at the store, the 25 amp units without lighting were all he had left. The Ebay listed ones are NOT lighted. You could use those and add an additional indicator light above or below each switch. Without going into a total rant as I did a few years back on this thread, I would be very suspect of the claim by Oconnor Marine that his boat did not have the ETA breaker/switch units in his boat when new. Both My F206LS and My F311SR1 have breaker panels under the dash and under the back seat as he claims. NONE of the breakers in those panels specifically protects any of the circuits for the accessories controlled by the dash switches. If Oconnor wants to post pictures of his breaker panels showing that his breakers protect those circuits, I would hope he can post those pictures and put this debate to rest. If he is the original owner he might be correct but it is much more likely that the originals were completely replaced at some point by the much cheaper and plentiful red lighted rocker switches. I think I posted a picture of the two types side by side in this thread before.

Tom, I think one of the best solutions is to do what Oconnor did and then add an additional breaker panel under the dash that has a breaker for each of the dash switches. I did something similar to this on my F402SR1 to replace all the glass fuse panels. It really isn't that big of a job and actually will make the dash switch panels much easier to service. Ask anyone who has tried to get those crowded panels out of the dashboard. That Ebay seller is actually a fantastic source for this kind of thing. No need to go to west marine and buy all the components new and separately. That guy has complete used and surplus panels already loaded with breakers indicator lights and in many cases pre-wired. Its where I bought everything to update my F402 electrical system. He also carries the original panel breakers (I'm not talking about the dash breaker/switches) that Formula used in the underdash and back seat panels. If you wanted to go nuts, find someone who can etch black plastic panels to duplicate the Formula breaker panels but customize them to say Horn, Bilge pump, Dash lights, Navigation lights, etc. I had a panel made locally that replaced the trim and tabs indicator panel inside the glass panel of my indicator to correctly reflect the position and direction that my Kaama drives move (up/down ... not in/out). I have to say that I really like the way those switches look in Oconnor's boat but until my switch/breakers take a crap, I'm not going to make the complete changeover. I'm also never going to take a chance of burning my boat down!

Regards ,, Al J

Originally Posted by alj

We should consider a group buy if these truly do work! From my experience, usually the electronics manufacturers and these distributors will only sell in quantity of each item requested. (it won't be mix and match) They supply OEM's like Formula. So they will want a minimum (think 50 or 100) of a "two pole - lighted - red light - 20amp - breaker switch. Another quantity of (50 or 100) two pole - lighted - red light -10amp - breaker switch. And so on. But buying in those quantities, the per unit price will be cheap.
Food for thought

Originally Posted by oconnor marine

my 1988 sr1 272 with factory merc racing 320 efis was a special order. I have all the build sheets on my boat and the switches from the factory were NOT breaker types. Thats a fact. I do have button breakers for all under the dash and under the rear bench from the factory.

Originally Posted by JimNut

I also have a 272 with the factory "Merc Racing 320 EFI" engines and my boat does in fact have the factory breaker switches on the dash . It is very unlikely that Formula would modify the main cockpit/cabin wiring much at all between the different engine packages unless where necessary. Like others have said, it is much more likely that a previous owner has already swapped the switches to something different prior to you owning the boat.