Mast light wiring

D

DAVA390

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Jul 13, 2010
1,097
Precision 23 Perry Hall,Baltimore County
Well, I had all lights good this spring but now the anchor light is failing. It`s not the bulb, it was flashing on and off during the trailer trip from the ramp to the parking area after a night ride. I`ve inspected and fooled with the plug on deck, cleaned prongs, etc, no joy.
I`m not gonna worry on this one, we rarely overnight and I have a battery lantern I can run up when I need to. I`m just P.O.ed because I fixed all the lights last summer, was proud of that one.
I`m thinking this winter I might rewire the mast. I need a 4 wire set up, 1 mast top anchor light and 1 steaming light. I have a 4 prong plug at the mast base, this stuff is factory ,I`m guessing. I prong is slightly larger that the other 3. I assume I have separate power/ground for each lamp, there are on 2 switches inside.

I have a multimeter so I can experiment and find out witch prongs power which light.
Question is : what kind of wire do I get, how do I order or find a 4 part wire? Whats it called in a catalog?
 
BobM

BobM

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Jun 10, 2004
3,269
S2 9.2A Winthrop, MA
You should use tinned wire for a marine application. There was non tinned wiring in my old boat. When you stripped the insulation i was amazed at how far the corrosion extended.
 
BobM

BobM

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Jun 10, 2004
3,269
S2 9.2A Winthrop, MA
I found it by the foot easily with a google search. Ancor also makes four strand.
 
jibes138

jibes138

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Jan 27, 2008
3,086
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
Turn on anchor switch and see if you have voltage at the deck plug. Then use the Ohms setting on a multimeter to see if you have continuity through the light bulb. If both are good then it remains a mystery You might have corrosion where the wires connect to the deck plug. Pull the plug and check those, if they are screw connections and any water got in they will likely need cleaning or replacement.
 
Worldwalker88

Worldwalker88

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Aug 27, 2013
41
Moody 346 Kenosha
Just completed this same job last night.

Steaming light flashed, anchor light dead.
3 wire through deck showed one hot port.
After really examining the coupling from mast found cut wire in the 2wire set in addition to the one into the 3 prong.

Did NOT want to climb mast and much skinnier son was out of the country, so didn’t have a surrogate available. :)

I went for the cheapest thing first before I moved on:
Went to AutoZone - continuity light ~$6, then to West Marine 4 prong through deck ~$20, box of fuses ~$2.

Pulled the old deck mount, 3 wires: R Bk G.
G and Bk are hot (surprise!) R is ground. Bk wire cracked about an inch down from stress. Cut and dressed all 3, coiled them in the deck mounted new through-deck without stressing the wires.

Cut back, dressed and mounted mast and steaming wires (2 wire brown and green) from mast to coupling. Wrapped both lines, new fuses in the board and everything works like it’s supposed to.
It cost under $60.00.
$28 for the parts and $32.00 for the screwdrivers that went overboard.
;-D

Hope this helped.

WW
 
jibes138

jibes138

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Jan 27, 2008
3,086
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
Unless the fuses are blown shouldn't need to replace them. Use adhesive lined shrink wrap where the wires enter the connectors to help keep water out. You can use a hair dryer to shrink the wrap or you can get a real cheap heat gun at Harbor Freight for about 19 bucks.
 
Worldwalker88

Worldwalker88

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Aug 27, 2013
41
Moody 346 Kenosha
When I was trying to find where the hots vs grounds were running, I was blowing fuses right and left...
Better a fuse than something I wanted to keep.

Like the boat.
 
D

DAVA390

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Jul 13, 2010
1,097
Precision 23 Perry Hall,Baltimore County
I drop the mast and bring her home in October, this isn`t happening until then. When i do start, I will have new wire and a new (hopefully)Bad Ass metal screw together connector plug for the decktop, the current one is a mess of caulk, sealant etc. When it comes out,it ain`t going back in easy. The male prongs and sockets on the current plug are so worn i had to cut bristlles of of a copper cleaning brush to fill the holes up some as shims for contact in the plug. A new one is definately called for.

I think the mast will spend the winter hanging on the fence next to the boat,who knows what kind of other projects will spring up with it in plain view at ground level!
 
Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
I hear that http://www.genuinedealz.com is a good place to buy tinned marine wire. Unfortunately, they only have 2 kinds of 4 lead wire, but many more 3 lead. For a Precision 23, I wonder why you need 4 lead wire? Should be stern light, bicolor bow light, and maybe fore/aft masthead light. So, both for anchoring, front only for steaming in conjunction with stern and bicolor.

I don't know this for a fact with a P23, but that would be my guess on standard small boat…

My small boat doesn't have a masthead light. Just stern and bicolor bow for sailing, then forward light 2/3rds up mast for steaming. For anchoring I would just hoist a light - a topic which has been beat around in many different threads, for better or for worse…
 
D

DAVA390

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Jul 13, 2010
1,097
Precision 23 Perry Hall,Baltimore County
Brian , I have a bow r/g and a stern white light on the "running lights" switch. I have a mast top "anchor light" on it`s own switch and a forward side of the mast "steaming light" on it`s own switch . I presume I have 1 pair hot/ground for each of the 2 lights on the pole. The running lights are all deck mounted. The 4 part wires would be for the mast only, the deck plug at the mast base has 4 wires in it.
 
Doc_holiday

Doc_holiday

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Nov 19, 2011
1,489
MacGregor 26S Hampton, VA
If it helps. If you are using a meter set to DC volts and check voltage. If the reading is a negative voltage swap the leads to make sure it goes positive. When it's positive, the red lead on your meter is the hot side.
 
Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
I'm no electrician, but I think you could use the same ground for both mast lights, so only need 3 conductor wire. Of course that doesn't solve the problem of both lights being at different positions on the mast :D

My steaming light had a 3 conductor plug, but only 2 conductor wire.

DAVA390 said:
Brian , I have a bow r/g and a stern white light on the "running lights" switch. I have a mast top "anchor light" on it`s own switch and a forward side of the mast "steaming light" on it`s own switch . I presume I have 1 pair hot/ground for each of the 2 lights on the pole. The running lights are all deck mounted. The 4 part wires would be for the mast only, the deck plug at the mast base has 4 wires in it.
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