Grounding tri-colour to mast

[Guest]

Is this a crazy idea or can I use the two wires running up my mast to connect the positives of a tri-colour and an anchor light and ground them both to the mast thus avoiding having to run another wire? Aluminium mast,steel boat, mast stepped on deck.

 

[Guest]

Yup, crazy idea.

Use an existing wire to pull a new three core cable up the mast and ground the tri colour through the boats electrical system. Stray current corrosion will eat your mast if you try to use it for a ground.

Wully.

 

[Guest]

Wully is absolutely right it will corrode your mast as fast as you can say JACK FLASH.
Regards.
S.W.Richardson

 

[Guest]

The corrosion will most likely start as White pwoder deposit at base to deck mount and upper section where light is affixed. It will spread and the mast will disintegrate into a powder oxide ....... It will happen fairly quickly and is definitely to be avoided.

Take the route of proper cable ......, but of course there is nothing to stop running a 3 core cable, using the two cables, brown and blue for your live feeds to respective light and the green/yellow earth as the negative return .... that way you are close to your original suggestion and do not risk a mast collapse !

Nigel

 

[Guest]

Quad-colour?

Since we're talking about mast head lights.
I fitted a new Tri-Colour this winter that comes with a strobe light. I only found this out when I came to wire it up and I thought briefly about not connecting it. I decided I would as having the Strobe might keep me from scratching the paint work on the front end of a bulk carrier so bugger the legality.
Anyone else got one of these lights?

Wully

 

[Guest]

Re: Quad-colour?

As you say, Wully, Bugger the legality, if it makes someone else aware of you. Years ago, while visiting Australia, I bought a strobe torch - marketed by the US Eveready company(as opposed the the British Ever Ready, Eveready (US) used to be under the UCAR banner in the UK). When I revisited, (I was in the MN) and went to get another, it had been withdrawn as "illegal". Mine is on the boat, and if I need to use it, I will.

Philip

 

[Guest]

Lateral thinking

I was considering running a tricolour with my existing two wires by using diodes. Wire the two sections of the tricolour in parallel, but with a diode in series with either bulb. Reversing the polarity of the existing two wires would then select one or other of the bulbs.

However (a) this would require a double pole switch (or more clever work with relays...) and (b) a further 1.5 volt drop across the diode, combined with existing wiring losses, would reduce the voltage at the bulb to single figures....

KISS (Keep it Simple Stoopid)

 

[Guest]

Thks for the advice evry1.NM *NM*

 

[Guest]

Adding to what Bedouin has said, if you use Schottly diodes, you will only get less than half volt, volt drop across the diodes. They are very low forward volt drop diodes.

If you use a double pole three position rotary switch, (off, nav light, anchor light) you can wire your nav lights as Bedouin suggests.

Although I have three wire cable going up the mast, I have wired all my nav lights onto one five position single pole rotary switch. off, nav sail pullpit/stern, nav sail masthead, nav motor (pullpit/stern and steaming light), anchor. This way, there is no chance of switching the wrong combination of lights.

regards,
Philip