Cabin Light Wiring

[dknorowski1]

I'm trying to trace the cabin wiring in the 1978 Catalina C30. The cabin switch on the fuse panel operates only the light located in the galley which according to a diagram is the first fixture on the wiring run (removed fixture only has one pair blue and black wire) must have a junction some where and I've looked in all the nooks and crannies with no luck? Wiring harness behind fuse panel don't seem to have all fixtures home-run and would be wired in parallel. Total lights inop are the Sette, Head, Two V-berth, Chart Table and 1/4 Berth. Hate to have to run new wiring! The only docs I have found was the wiring diagram on page 12 of a Catalina 30 Owner manual.

 

[centerline]

they make a tracer tool for this... a device that hooks to the wire at the fuse and sends a pulse signal down the wire... and a handheld device, that even if you get close to the wire(within a few inches) without contacting it, it will either light up or chirp with the sent signal... you can follow wires all around you boat with this, and find circuits you may not even know existed....
it can even be hooked to the bulb end of the wiring, and the wiring traced backwards... to find a break or disconnected junction. its a handy thing to have aboard.

 

[Lost Parent]

I pulled my kitchen light down to change it and found the wire go through a hole in the fiberglass behind the light and come out the other side ..about two inches away to port and continue up to the next light and so on , get a 12 volt test light and go for it

 

[rgarrison@gmail.com]

Do a little research, but there are tools described by "centerline", above that can estimate how far a line break, open, etc. is from your test point. The cable installers use them to test for open circuits, etc.

Just a thought, and they maybe too pricey, good luck

 

[philwsailz]

For the most part in the early years, Catalina buried wiring in the laminations. It is totally common to have the situation you describe; I have all lights working except the end fixture in the cabin light wiring loop on my '75 C27. The lights are wired parallel, but along a serial path. On my boat the wire starts at the panel and goes up the starboard side, then across at v-berth, then back along port side. As such I have no stock light above my port settee...

It will be easiest just to find a discreet way to re-wire.

 

[dknorowski1]

Thanks for the info, the cabin wiring circuit is defiantly embedded between the over head and deck and can not be pulled out! The holes that these wires come out to each lamp is an half inch at best making it hard to determine how the wire pairs are branched to the main buss. I found that the hot side (blue wire) is open between the galley and the settee light. I jumped this section and all lights lit. What I'm going to do is run a wire pair from the panel cabin switch to the 1/4 berth light back feeding to provide DC to the rest of the lamp string. I did not want to run wire pairs from the galley to the settee lamp as I could not readily hide this connection.