I got my bilge pump controller put together and it looks pretty neat.
It will fit right under the fuse panel I put in and the relay can be
easily pulled and replace.

I tested it and my portable 12 V battery immediately gave the "Tink"
that means the fuse blew. I checked and there were zero ohms across
the terminals to the relay coil. I put this together very carefully
so it was hard to believe I had a short. When I opened it up to look,
I noticed that the suppression diode across the coil had burned into
the wire slightly. I cut it and the short disappeared. I then cut
the suppression diodes out of both relay sockets.

There was no + or - indication on the relay wiring but one of the coil
wires was red. Did I blow the diode by hooking up with reverse
polarity?

--

Roger Long