Legend 40.5 - Light above sink

[fero]

Hello again,
The light above sink suddenly stopped working, all others work fine. Checked the switch first, no problem, No voltage getting in. Checked the original manual, lighting schematic seems to indicate a wire connection at the nav table light. Opened it up, but no small twin cable (black and white in insulation) feeding the light above sink, only heavier single blue wires. Checked a few other lights, unable to locate where is the sink light being fed from.
I wonder if anyone had similar problem or had to retrack the light wiring and can provide an advice.
Thanks.

 

[JoeWhite]

I am a phone tech and I use this wire tracing test equipment to find and ID broken wires

Amazon.com

It might help you find the break

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

I am a phone tech and I use this wire tracing test equipment to find and ID broken wires

How is this tracer for inductance into closely packed wires ?

I have a cheaper version (purchased 2010) and it's bad for inducing a current into neighbouring wires. It CAN be used, depending on how the sensitivity is set as you move away from the input but it's more of an art than a science.

 

[Johnb]

Hello again,
The light above sink suddenly stopped working, all others work fine. Checked the switch first, no problem, No voltage getting in. Checked the original manual, lighting schemiatic seems to indicate a wire connection at the nav table light. Opened it up, but no small twin cable (black and white in insulation) feeding the light above sink, only heavier single blue wires. Checked a few other lights, unable to locate where is the sink light being fed from.
I wonder if anyone had similar problem or had to retrack the light wiring and can provide an advice.
Thanks.

I understand you state you have checked the voltage and that implies it is a wiring issue but I would additionally test the bulb. Either replace it in the fitting with a proven good one or put the existing bulb in a known good fitting.

 

[JoeWhite]

Ralph, it injects a 400 Hz ac signal through a capacitor. Adjacent wires will not be effected by microamp ac current. The probe has amplifier to pick up the signal. You can follow the wire that is behind the fiberglass and where the signal ends is the open circuit. It takes practice to be good at it.
Definitely no harm to other circuits.

 

[fero]

Thanks for comments so far. It is definitely not a lightbulb, actually I have also 2 short led stripes attached to the same switch to get better light over sink for number of years.
As for tracing it, sounds interesting, new to me, never late to learn. I suspect it is at the point where the 2 wires are branching off.

 

[Rich Stidger]

IIRC, the galley sink lights are in the string on the port side of the boat. Check all of the other port side lights including the aft cabin. The wiring break is likely to be at the nearest working light in the string.

 

[fero]

Thanks Rich, your comments are always welcome. Already checked the one above stove, will check all others tomorrow.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

It takes practice to be good at it.

I'm an authority on using my cheap one.

The required clothing is a long black robe covered with stickers of stars and nebulae. The hat is a long pointed affair and shoes are pointed with a curled toe.

​

One of the crew took the above picture of me just as I was preparing to search for a broken wire in back of the electrical panel.

 

[twalker H260]

Based on the manual on the Marlow-Hunter web site- it looks like the light over the dinette table is powered by the same wires from the nav table light area.
Is that light functional?

about p40 in linked manual.

https://www.marlow-hunter.com/wp-content/export/Owners-Manuals/40.5%20Owners%20Manual.pdf

 

[fero]

Rich Stidger, post:
IIRC, the galley sink lights are in the string on the port side of the boat. Check all of the other port side lights including the aft cabin. The wiring break is likely to be at the nearest working light in the string.
[/QUOTE]
Rich,
A few years ago I made the attached sketch of lights and circuit breakers, at the moment I cannot double check that light over sink is on Cabin A cb. I can also confirm that nav table and dinner table lights are not on the same circuit.
Next thing I will try to look behind panel on off chance that sink light is fed directly in parallel with the string of other Cabin A lights.

 

[twalker H260]

Just had a Quick Look at the wiring diagrams for our 260 and a few other models. It appears at some point hunter may have standardized on blue or blue with another colour trace wires for the cabin lighting positive and yellow/yellow with a colour trace ground. Of course your boat may predate this colour convention. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be a schematic/wire list for your boat other than what’s in the manual.

Index of /wp-content/export/Wiring-Schematics

 

[smokey73]

I would not be at all surprised if the wiring is "variable" at least to some extent based on who is doing the wiring at the time of construction.

 

[twalker H260]

Actually - my point was that the heavier “blue” wires found behind the nav light may be the ones being searched for. The light fixture may have a lighter pigtail (black/white) which is spliced into the main wire a bit away from the fixture itself. (Tug lightly to see if there is movement.)

Also how was power at switch tested? Did you test back to a known good ground?(at breaker panel?). Ground wires should be in vicinity of the blue wires - check for ones predominantly yellow.

 

[fero]

Thanks for all comments I will recheck all points. I’d be surprised if they would splice in other place than just by the light fixture, positive usually right at the connector to the switch., I will recheck the positive with good ground (to see if the problem is with positive or negative feed.

 

[baycloud]

Hey Fero, did you figure out the routing?
cheers

 

[fero]

A bit of long story. After quite a bit of reflection, following unsuccessful tracking even with the suggested tracking tool, I figured that the connection should be where wires enter the roof lining ( port side leg ), this would permit easy installation of the over the sink module. The 3 legs have each 3 stst machine screws #10. I started to unscrew the leg center aft - easy, so I figured that the other 6 would be same. Not so, stst in alu inserts … after one screw in both of other legs broke off I stopped for now. I had another idea, I purchased a small 4.5 Ah AGM battery and installed it on top between the cups. Practically invisible give us light for 3-4 weeks before need to recharge.

 

[baycloud]

A bit of long story. After quite a bit of reflection, following unsuccessful tracking even with the suggested tracking tool, I figured that the connection should be where wires enter the roof lining ( port side leg ), this would permit easy installation of the over the sink module. The 3 legs have each 3 stst machine screws #10. I started to unscrew the leg center aft - easy, so I figured that the other 6 would be same. Not so, stst in alu inserts … after one screw in both of other legs broke off I stopped for now. I had another idea, I purchased a small 4.5 Ah AGM battery and installed it on top between the cups. Practically invisible give us light for 3-4 weeks before need to recharge.

thanks for the warning!