Another wiring issue for Hunter 26.5

[vidalia]

The anchor light (360 degree white light at the very top of the mast) and the steaming light (225 degree white light halfway up the mast) are always both on at the same time, and are on the same circuit. The navigation lights (stern white light, and forward red and green lights) are on a different circuit. Anchor and steaming light will not go on if the navigation lights are also on. It makes sense that the anchor light will not go on if the nav lights are on, but does anyone else with a Hunter 26.5 have a steaming light that will not go on if the nav lights are on? Any idea of what the fix is? So I technically, can sail at night but cannot go under power at night. In addition, if I am anchored, the steaming light being perpetually on is a problem. Also I have seen diagrams of a tricolor lights at the top of the mast to indicate a sailboat under sail at night, which I think makes sense. Is this a common arrangement, and how useful do you think it is.

 

[JimInPB]

My 26.5 has no masthead light & came with only the steaming light wired in the mast. I am guessing that someone added your masthead light & was too lazy to run a new wire all the way home. My steaming light is on one switch & my bow/stern lights are together on a second switch. The two switches are fully independent. The status of the steaming light has no effect on the bow/stern lights.

One solution would be to add a single pole double throw switch at the base of your mast to change between the steaming light & the masthead light. The better solution would be to run a new wire all the way back to the main electrical panel for a separate feed switch.

If you end up working in the main panel anyway, you may wish to update some of the original fuse holders to breakers & change from slide connectors to the more reliable ring terminals & switches that accept ring terminals. I plan to do that on mine when time permits.

There also exists, a mast head light that can be either a tri-color light or an anchor light with only one power wire. You toggle the power on & off to switch between the two modes. Those lights are a bit expensive, but they allow you to do more with fewer wires.

 

[vidalia]

I replaced the main panel this summer. The problem was there before I installed the new panel and persisted after I installed the new panel. My boat has the set up diagrammed in the owner's manual, which shows the mast wire harness as having a red wire to the steaming light, and a green wire to the anchor light. When I trace the wires back to the panel and attach them to separate switches, they act as if they are on the same switch. The bow and stern running lights run to a separate switch on a white wire. The anchor light originally ran to a three way toggle switch, which I assume was wired at the panel to turn it off if the steaming and running lights were on in one position, but allowing it to be turned on even if the steaming and running lights were on in position two. I don't want to rewire the mast if I don't have to.

 

[JimInPB]

I just looked at the manual that is posted here - https://sbo.sailboatowners.com/downloads/Hunter_26.5_10089783.pdf

I see the reference to red & green wires, but I don't see an actual diagram. According to what is there, the masthead should have green & black wires while the steaming light should have red & black wires. All should be AWG16. Both black wires should go to battery negative, probably via a buss bar of some sort. Each of the red & green wires should go to a switch that then goes to battery positive, by way of a fuse or breaker. If you have something different, please post what you have. If you have a diagram that shows something different, please post the diagram.

As long as you have good red, black & green wires in the mast, you should not need to rewire it. If a wire is corroded though, then you might need to run some new copper. The black wires usually rot out first.

 

[Ron20324]

On my B323, there were separate breakers for the mast lights. With 3 lights on the mast, I got the heaviest wire from the breakers to the salon overhead panel next to the mast. Using the one + feed, I put in two toggle switches. One controls the deck light, the other is a DPDT to select EITHER the anchor OR the steaming, as they would not be used at the same time. This freed up breakers on the DC panel for other uses.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Take a photo of the dc breaker inside your boat and post it. I will then look at the manual and then comment. As a dealer now retired I sold a few but need to know what you have as it has been a long time.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

One other thing. Is there a deck plug for connections the masthead light or not?

 

[cagreen75]

Powering the ground wire would make both lights to be on. If ground is powered up the normal power wire would become the ground. Like a previous post suggested that the lights are on the same circuit as in a single wire feeding both lights.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

@vidalia

I was hoping you would have responded. The mast came with a combo steaming/anchor light with a three way toggle switch. I think the light was mfg by Perko which has two light bulbs with a divider between the two lights. Steaming forward at night under power or 180 light forward only in conjunction with running lights. Anchor light used when anchoring at night when both bulbs are on for a 360 light. The toggle switch was an on-off-on toggle switch. The wiring use to be a three strand wire connected together with a three pole connecter I believe at the deck adjacent to the mast of memory serves me right.

The wiring was one black for negative/ground for both lights and two reds for the light bulbs individually. In the past few years, DC negative is now yellow so not to confuse it with AC hot. The running lights were on with a different on/off toggle switch.

It sounds like another light on the mast was put on the front of mast. Not sure if steaming or deck light which I always ask for photos.

If the above if correct, I would have run a separate two strand wire for the additional light up the mast using a four pole plug, i negative and three red for positive. On the deck plug, the large pole is for negative while the other smaller poles are for each individual positive wires

The above though depends on what light. If steaming, I would tie in the red to steaming light thus a three pole light would do. If deck light a four pole deck light plug would be necessary as it would need it’s own toggle switch but you can tie in all ground/negative wires together.

Hope this give a better idea

 

[vidalia]

I was looking for the old panel. I think my husband convinced me to throw it out. It had five switches, the center switch was a three way toggle switch and was labeled anchor(just as you describe Crazy Dave Condon). The other switches were running, steaming, accessory, and cabin lights. The deck plug under the mast has a red wire a green wire and a black wire and a coaxial cable for the antenna going up the mast. Below the deck the wire harness has a red wire a green wire and TWO black wires and a heavy #10 wire (the mast ground). Some of the switches had been rewired and I thought just putting each one on a separate switch on the new panel with all two way switches would solve the problem. I would just have to turn the switches on and off manually, rather than relying on the wiring to prevent running and anchor lights from accidentally being on simultaneously (which I am sure is what the original wiring cleverly accomplished). If what you are describing Crazy Dave Condon is the original layout for the mast light, someone at sometime did switch the anchor light to an all around 360 light at the top of the mast, and installed a 225 degree light to the front of the mast just below the spreaders, or they left the combo anchor-steaming light at the top of the mast and added a second steaming light half way up the mast, wired into the old combo anchor-steaming light to have both parts on all the time, but messed up the wiring either in the mast or at the switch or both, leaving me with the current setup. I guess I will pull new wire next time the mast is down. We did have the mast down this summer, but I do not recall anything unusual about the light. We were busy fixing the mast head sheaves.

 

[JimInPB]

Thank you for posting pictures. On my 26.5, a previous owner has installed a second switch panel where you have your audio system installed. My second switch panel controls things like VHF, Sound System, Depth Finder, Chart Plotter, etc. They appear to have been all added as later accessories.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Take a photo of the deck plug again but it appeared to be a wiring harnesses for a trailer hitch. Also can you get a better photo of the panel

 

[vidalia]

That is the best photo I have of the plug. Since it is now again snugly under the mast, I cannot get a new photo easily. Now that you mention it, it does look like a trailer hitch plug, although my previous trailer hitch electrical experience all involved wire nuts and electrical tape. So are you saying it is not original equipment? It seems to work fine.

I think I threw out the old electrical panel. Here is one that seems identical except for the labeling. Mine was labeled (from the top down) Running lights, Cabin lights, Anchor lights, Steaming lights, ACC. The Anchor light label was on a three way switch. Steaming light label was on a normal two way switch.

It is a clever idea if at one time the mast was wired so the anchor light could not be on if the steaming or running lights were on, but if this was the original idea, more recent modifications have messed that up.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

You are correct that is not original. How about a photo of the deck around the base of the mast. I need to see if there was ever a deck plug there.

 

[vidalia]

A deck plug would explain the round 3/4 to 1 inch hole filled with toothpaste an silicone near the mast. I cleaned it out filled it with fiberglass epoxy and it is no more!

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

The deck plug was installed there to disconnect the lights when taking the mast down. Some previous owner must have drilled thru the deck under the mast which was not a good idea. You may want to rethink that as now it is more difficult to repair wiring with potential leaks through the deck underneath the mast

 

[vidalia]

There had been some leaking at some point in the past, but it appears to have been in the area of the deck plug with some discoloration of the cabin ceiling below it. That's why I filled it with fiberglass. There has been no detectable leaking from under the mast since we have had the boat. I did replace what appeared to be a deteriorated rubber bung and wrapped the wires in heat shrink tubing, then filled the remaining void with silicone when we had the mast down, just to be sure. It was a rather impromptu repair, that I did not initially plan on doing, and it can certainly be addressed later if the need arises.