Electrical Switches

[Ghery Pettit]

I was getting things ready for the boat to be hauled and painted a couple weeks ago and in checking the electrical systems I found that virtually all of the switches in the electrical panel were broken where they pass through the panel. I'm going to have to replace them all. There's been no physical abuse of the switches (heck, there was no battery in the boat all last year, so I didn't even touch them). Any ideas on what might have caused this? Replacing them will be easy (count the different types, go to West Marine, buy switches and return to boat), but I would like to avoid repeating this in another 6 years. This is a 1994 model.

 

[Rick Webb]

UFOs?

Did somthing fall and snap the ends of the switches off? You could replace them with rocker switches as opposed to the paddle switches so they do stick out as far. I am assuming when you say broken you mean physically or are they inoperative and are not working.

 

[Ghery Pettit]

Broken Switches

They're physically broken where they pass through the panel. They were wobbling around when I threw them to check loads and when I tried to tighten the nut it just kept spinning. The panel on a 23.5 isn't positioned in a manner to be easily damaged, so I don't know what happened. Oh well, time to re-make a bunch of connections (like I did after I bought the boat new, Hunter's electricians needed to be sent back to class).

 

[Dick Leis]

Material fatigue

Sounds like the switch material has some type of built-in fatigue factor based upon time. I have seen plastic just fall apart after a number of years and with this happening to all switch handles at the same time sure indicates this has happened. I guess your chances of this happening again are remote, but would consider all metal next time.

 

[Russ King]

Contraction/Expansion from Temperature

Sounds like the switches broke from natural expansion and contraction from temperature changes.This can be a real problem in some places (like where I live; temperatures can vary from -40°F in winter to +100°F in summer). On really cold days, the switches can be loose in the panel (contraction from the cold). If you tighten them, the plastic can break when it expands with warmer temperatures.

 

[Allen]

Check the nuts

Sounds like you had the same problem I did. Hunter used plastic nuts to hold the switches in place. The switches push through the panel from behind and the only thing holding them is those plastic nuts. Most all of mine split, and the switches became loose. I went to Radio Shack, bought new steel nuts, problem solved. Hope this helps.