Mast wiring

[shanker]

Sesmith,

Thanks for the heads up. I have done a lot of reading and have been following this LED issue for about a year. I have kept my bulbs and if I ever get this boat on the water, I'm going to do my own tests. I realize that at the end of the day its not my testing that has to be met, but if it meets my requirements I will use on my small lake. If I ever go on a trip, I will put the bulb back. I will be able to send the LED back for a full refund if I'm not happy with it. Very interesting stuff with these LEDs. Thanks again for your help.

 

[shanker]

After trouble shooting this issue here is what I've found.

A: From the deck plug back to the electrical panel.

• At the deck plug all seems fine. The proper two wire are each connected to a terminal on the plug as well as the ground. Testing shows power to each plug terminal in conjunction with the switch.
• When I looked in the Electrical panel, my 3 way switch has a 'jumper' wire that goes from the steaming side to the anchor side with what looks like a resistor on it. (lettering MS IN5400). I looks like which ever way you throw the switch it would be on. I disconnected it and only have the steaming wire to one side and the anchor wire to the other side of the switch.

B: From the deck plug up into the mast;

• Not matter what I do, the steaming light (half way up the mast) and the anchor light (top of mast) come on together. They must have been wired that way from the previous owner.

Today I'm going to see if I can change the wiring in the mast to allow for separate control of the steaming and anchor light as I do not want them on together. I must have the ability to control them individually.

This will be my first foray into the bowels of the mast and its fixtures. I hope the wiring is accessible!

 

[Hugh Straub]

Dear Shanker

If you have a working anchor light, you don't need the steaming light. Just remove the steaming light bulb and remember to turn off your stern light when under power with the mast head light on.

Kind regards

Hugh

 

[sesmith]

This link may help:

http://sbo.sailboatowners.com/downloads/Hunter_26_76520675.pdf

BTW, that wasn't a resistor. It's a diode. Does it look like it was added or possibly from factory? It is probably there so 1 switch turns on 1 power wire and the other side of the switch turns on both power wires. I remember it being an either one wire or the other wire being on not both at once, but I might be mistaken. If it was an owner modification, you will probably find the rest of the modifications at either or both lights.

 

[sesmith]

more info for you

The diode will allow power to go to 1 wire with one of the switches on and go to both wires with the other switch on.

Here's a link to an instruction sheet for a Perko combination mast light similar to what I had on my old boat.

http://www.perko.com/images/catalog/pdf/Figs 1183 to 1197 Inst (1183INS1).pdf

In this case, they want power to 1 wire for the front half of the light and power to both wires to power both sides of the light. So, in this case, the diode in the switch would do that, and was probably factory, and I was wrong on how mine worked. Sorry, my current boat is either / or and I made an assumption that my old one worked the same way.

In your case, if you have a steaming light and a separate all around mast light, you would want the diode disconnected and 1 light's power wire hooked to one side of the switch and the other light's power hooked to the other side of the switch. You want both lights to have a common ground. Not sure about your fuse blowing, but you will probably find the cause as you check things further.

Darn, this is getting way too long winded on my part. Hope it helps anyway.