Running and anchor lights out

[ronbodkin]

Another tap into the collective knowledge here.

None of my running lights, anchor light, spreader lights, strobe,
nor horn are working.

It makes me think that there might be a common cause behind all.

I suspect that there are many wiring arrangements out there and that
this is a shot in the dark, but has anyone had a similar experience?

I pulled my main control panel to see if I could make any sense of
it at all, it appears to me that the running lights and the anchor
lights run through a seperate circuit board. This board has a fuse
(shorter than normal fuses but looks the same.) That Fuse was blown
and I thought I had hit the jackpot. I didn't know what size fuse
it was. It just said 125V Buss but had no amperage limit on it.

Being the master electrician that I am (heavy sarchasm) I stuck in a
1 amp fuse to replace the blown fuse to see what would happen.
Nothing happened. The fuse did not blow and the lights still don't
burn.

I know no one can troubleshoot a wiring system on line, but I
thought I'd check to see if anyone knows of an obvious problem.

Ron
V2751

 

[elrond8177]

Hi Ron,
John here. Get out your volt meter and check for 12
volts on the fuse holder measured to a ground point.
(Hint hint.. don't measure across the fuse that will
only con-fuse you!!) My first guess would be that all
the ground wires for those circuits are common
somewhere and that you have lost the connection
between that point and the negative side of the
battery or other ground plate. BTW.... in a 12 volt
circuit you should use 32 volt rated fuses. Most
people will say it doesn't matter and they are right
99.9% of the time. (Don't ask it gets too complicated)
I would guess you should use a 5 amp fuse there if all
those lights are on the same circuit.
My second guess would be a broken fuse socket or
connecting wire. Again, you'll still need to do point
to point checking for 12 volts.
Number 3... check to see if you have a terminal
strip attached to the ceiling in the V-berth or head
area. A broken ground wire or corroded terminal
connector on this strip could take all those items
out.
In my 21 years of USAF service I was awakened many
nights by the guys in my shop with more complicated
problems than this one and was able successfully to
t/s over the phone. But if you need some more direct
help I'd be glad to give you my number.

John Devany
Southern Comfort Too
V2931

 

[stevebirch2002]

Hi Ron

You really are a busy boy today!!! Your Vega must be in absolute bits with nothing working! Only joking...

I have always found the best way to fix the wiring on a Vega is to start from scratch and rewire the complete boat. Sounds a big job but really quite easy. I have just re-wired Diana Webb's Vega in a day and that included all instruments, lights etc etc. I put a new conduit in the starboard shelf, behind the wood trim and just put new wire in. Also fitted a new 12 way switch panel underneath the companionway and added a three way battery switch and new battery cables. If anyone would like more details I will be more than happy to draw diagrams and take some phots.

Kind Reagrds

Steve Birch

 

[elrond8177]

Wow Steve!
You did all of that in a day? It took me more than
a day just to take the old wiring out of SCT!! Your
definition of 'easy' might be colored by your lifetime
experience in and around the Vega. Or maybe it's just
that British dictionary you've been using! LOL
BUT.... I do have to agree with you about it being
the best way to go. I've always found that the 'ghosts
of owners past' are the dead end wires that never were
removed and caused some of the dumbest problems you've
ever seen. I think I might have even gained a fraction
of a knot after losing all that weight! j/j
After I 'really' retire I might just become a
floating Vega rewiring station! Just need to get
Carol past all that seasickness!
John
Southern Comfort Too
V2931

 

[stevebirch2002]

Hi John

Old wire is easy to take out, just use a pair of big cutters!!!! Diana had an
absolute fright when I just cut everything out and threw it in a heap beside
her car, she was almost in tears!!

Steve Birch

Vega "Southern Comfort One" V1703
At 14:09 23/06/03 -0700, you wrote:

 

[towlerg]

Hi Steve,

I for one would like to see that diagram.

Rgds George Towler "Vista" 1043

From as far west as you can be (well almost) and not be in the US

 

[rolyatad]

-On #712, there is a common blue ground wire from the head to the
main panel. Under the shelving above the toilet, there are connection
blocks for all the individual power wires and the blue ground wire
with little blue jumpers. Distribution from this connection block is
to the forward cabin lights, the running lights on the pulpit, and
everything up the mast. It is painful to undo these connections,
upside down with a teeny screw driver.

Thing to do is replace all wire that is corrupt, clean the
connections, tin the wire ends, and reassemble with a dab of vaseline
on each wire end. The vaseline prevents corrosion. -- In AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com, "ronbodkin" rbodkin@d... wrote:

 

[mocap1]

I don't know of any obvious problem peculiar to Vega's, but check the ground
connection that goes from the panel to the battery.

Mort

 

[ronbodkin]

Thanks all. Some great information to get me started.

John,
If you're serious I may take you up on that phone consultation at
some point when I get stumped. I'll contact you off list and we can
exchange numbers.

Steve,
I can assure you that rewiring my Vega won't be a one day job for
me, I'm still learning to use my multimeter! I have thought about
it though. It would be a great way to learn.

At least I would know how everything was done. Right now I have no
idea what is original or what was done by some handy man along the
way. I don't like the battery arangement at all. I'm sure there is
something about it that makes great sense. It seems to me that its
very possible that I could drain both batteries down at sea and not
be able to start the boat. I like the 3 way switch idea.

You're right, this boat does have its share of nagging problems.
Thats what makes such a great first boat for me! My reason for
buying her was that she had pretty much all of the same systems on
board that any cruising boat would have, and I fiugured it was a
great way to learn how all of those systems work without investing
tens of thousands of dollars.

Even with it's problems, I still am able to untie her, motor out of
the creek, sail for hours and forget there is anything wrong. Makes
it all worth while.

Ron
V2751

 

[pelagicasd]

Ron, I've rewired Lyric twice. First time I went with the color coding as
specified for boats. I wound up with a maze of wires. Second time around I
used Duplex wire and branch circuits. Example, 14 guage from the panel to a
fuse box in the head. All wires in the mast: nav light, strobe, anchor,
running, and deck go to that box as does the forepeak and bow pulpit lights.
Keeps it a lot simpler then running wires from the panel to each seperate
light.
Use heavy wire, 13.5 volts coming into the panel from the battery is not
going to read 13.5 at the top of th mast. DC current drops due to resistance
as it travels down the wire. The more current delivered to the bulb the
brighter it is. 14 guage will deliver more than 16 guage.
Use Ring terminals rather than forks wherever possible. I used self sealing
shrink fit tubing on all terminals. Slide the tubing down the wire and crimp
a terminal to the wire. Don't use the kind of terminal with the plastic
tubing. (If thats all you can get you can remove the plastic with heat prior
to using it). After the terminal is crimped, solder or "tin" it. Then slide
the shrink tubing up and over the butt of the terminal and heat it. The self
sealing kind has a glue inside it that melts as the tubing shrinks from the
heat and seals the connection. I used a copper paste when I connected the
terminal to the box or circuit breaker. Use a drip loop where possible, this
is just a bend in the wire that keeps any water dripping down the wire from
dripping onto where the wire connects to the box or device. We never
had any failures so I guess we did a good job.
Doing it right isn't cheap, but doing it over costs even more. Find an
electrical supply house. You can probably save as compared to buying at your
local chandlery. Research it well. Talk to the cruisers on the dock and look
at their installations. Ask them what they would do differently it they were
doing it over. Good luck. Walt
P.S. AC current works similiar. We were in a marina wired for 20 amps. Not
much power to the boats. People were replacing the outlets in the dock boxes
with 30 amp outlets to get more power to their boats. Problem with that is
out towards the end of the run of wire power was dropping. Too much was
being taken by the boats at the begining of the wire run. As voltage drops
resistence goes up.
Resistence causes wires to heat up. Hot wire can cause fires. We had a
neighbors boat burn down because insufficient current was getting into it.
Their 110Volt heater overheated and caught the boat on fire. The next day
another neighbor used his multimeter and measured the current at 80 volts.
Do you know how much current is coming into your boat?
P.P.S. In one marina in Mexico we had the opposite problem. We plugged in
without measuring what was in the dock box and immediatley blew up our combo
invertor/battery charger. We measured 130 volts in the dock box after the
fact.