Stumped on the Anchor Light - Only half lights up

Jul 24, 2012
45
Hunter 240 Muskegon
I have a 2001 Hunter H240. The Mast light is a HellaMarine Model 158. My problem is only half of my Mast Light will come on when I have the Sterm/Mast toggle switch in the Mast position. Not sure when it quit working. When I move the toggle switch to Steam the front half of the light is let. When I move the toggle switch to Mast only the back half of the light is let. The Mast position from what I understand is for anchoring and the light should be lit 360 degree which is both the front half and the back half and that is not the case.

Bellow are pics of the DC panel (backside) and the mast wiring from the H240/H260 owners manual. The only discrepancy I see in the drawing is that all my wires going out from the grounding block are yellow, not black as shown. I traced all the wires through from the DC Panel to the Mast Light and everything is correct. The part I don't understand is circled in red. It's the back of the switch with three spade connectors. The center one being the common hot(Red wire). The outside spades are for the Mast and the Steam lights. The blue arrow appears to be a jumper, I do not have a jumper as illustrated going from the Mast spade to the Steam Spade on the switch. I am not an electrical engineer but if both bulbs on the lamp need to light up when in Mast (Anchor Mode) something needs to send current to both spades and I don't see how that happens from this diagram unless its internal to the switch or has something to do with the missing jumper. Any ideas from anyone?

DC Panel.JPG


Mast Wiring.JPG
 
May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
Were the mast lights ever working properly that you recall? According to the diagram which includes a jumper both front and back should be On simultaneously at all times irrespective of the switch position. Now if you remove the jumper you can turn front and back On independently by toggling the switch to one or the other. Now for them to work properly you would need a 2nd switch at the jumper to allow it to activate the jumper or not. Sometimes this 2nd switch is found in the form of a semiconductor "Diode" which would allow flow of power in just one direction. That is what the diagram is telling me. There is a symbol at the jumper which I cannot really make out but may indicate the design presence of an electronic switch. I could not ascertain if your toggle switch includes an internal jumper and has just gone bad but if you ad a wire jumper with a toggle switch on it you would likely get them to work. Or you could identify, find and replace the original switch. Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Jul 24, 2012
45
Hunter 240 Muskegon
Diode.PNG

Thanks for your reply Benny. I just blew up the diag. Does this look like it might be the diode with the flow going | < |. It makes sense because the spade on the right is the Mast/Anchor spade and when its hot it would allow flow to the other spade which in effect would light up both bulbs. If this is true the mystery is what happened to it. I am sure it worked before, I thought I had a bad deck connector so I ordered a new one and wired everything direct to do some testing before I installed the new deck connector.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
I zoomed in, and that is a diode. maybe the two bulb wires should be swapped?
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
how about a switch, DPDT? I have this on my galley lights to turn on one, or two. Same for the salon table lights.
 

Attachments

Jul 24, 2012
45
Hunter 240 Muskegon
Thanks Ron, I just swapped the wire, the opposite bulbs light up but only one lit in the mast light position. Here is a pic of the switch. Its a Carling 0130. I will try to research it. It maybe an internal diode is why I never seen it and maybe the switch went bad.
toggle switch.JPG
 
May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
Yes, that is a diode symbol and sometimes they fail just like any other component. If the lights were working properly before and now they are not then it could be a fairly safe bet that the switch has an internal jumper and the diode has failed. Find and replace the switch. The bad connector may have played a part but well never know. Check connectors and the wiring and you should be fine.
 
Dec 2, 2003
751
Hunter 260 winnipeg, Manitoba
I had the same problem on our 260 when we first got it from hunter. The diode jumper was never installed. Put a jumper with diode in place and it all works fine.
 
Jun 19, 2004
365
Island Packet IP 32 99 Forked River, NJ
Definitely a diode in that jumper. The switch itself is a standard SPDT item.
 
Jun 8, 2004
10,024
-na -NA Anywhere USA
That is a three way switch on-off-on. Steaming light is a 180 degree forward and anchor light is suppose to be a 360 with the middle as in off position. Twalker hit it on the nailhead that sometimes the folks at Hunter forgot to put the jumper on.
 
Jul 24, 2012
45
Hunter 240 Muskegon
Thanks everyone, As Kloudie1 suggested, looks like i need to make a stop at RadioShack (RS). I am also waiting to hear back from Hunter Parts to see what they have. If I use the RS diode I assume I would need to use some shrink wrap on it. I will post the final fix with pics in case someone runs across the same issue in the future.
 
Jul 24, 2012
45
Hunter 240 Muskegon
RESOLVED! Thanks everyone for the tips. Got what I needed at the local RS and had it working in 5 minutes. Now to put everything back together ( 5 hrs ). This has to be the cheapest fix ($1.95) I have had to make since I owned the boat (5 Yrs). Wished more were like this one.

Diode.JPG
Diode.JPG
Switch with Diode.JPG
Mast Light.JPG