Mast wiring help - Beneteau 323

[mcanderson]

Stepped my mast today. Pre-purchase survey said all lights minus desk spot fine. Deck spot was supposed to be fixed as part of rectification work prior to taking her over (I have no reason to doubt this was done as everything else was).

I followed the old wires as a plan and now nothing works on the mast. The yacht is a beneteau 323 and has one cable consisting of a one blue and one brown wire and use to run into a bolck agains a red wire marked + and a red with no markings. The second cable has the stardard blue, brown and green with yellow. The old plan had the blue and brown from the mast twisted together and then inserted against a thicker black wire marked(-) and the green with gold in against a red +.

Buying a mulitmeter tomorrow as I was pulling my hair out this afternoon, so it was best to call it a day.

Not other wires to deal with lighting as the other 2 cables one does wind - works fine and the other is the VHF.

Long post, but after some fault finding top tips armed with the multimeter. Didn't check the lights when the mast was down so it maybe bulbs, but all three?!

The lights are Deck, Steaming and anchor.

Many thanks,

Shane

 

[MidiMagic]

So you didn't check them before stepping the mast?

You'll have 3 +ve supplies, one for each light and perhaps by the sound of it 2 -ve's. Your multi meter will confirm which is positive and which negative.

You'll need two people and having taken a drawing of the wires as they are, fasten them togethjer so they don't get mixed up then take them out of the connectors. Using the multimeter get person 2 to switch a light at a time until you get your 12v reading. Mark the wire with name corresponding to switch marking and when all wires are identified then connect one pair at a time to see which light is illuminated. Tedious process but guarantees you get it right.

 

[mcanderson]

Thanks for this, that's what I figured how to check the wiring to the base of the mast. What about checking the circuit up the mast to the respective bulb and back down? I would rather fault find from the deck than up the mast.

I know what your saying about checking the mast before stepping, but I , incorrectly, assumed it would work having only been disconnected for 2 weeks.

 

[MidiMagic]

I think you'll find the twin wire is your deck light, so put the meter leads onto the two wires with the bulb still in the fitting and you should get a reading indicating continuity. The tyre core is most likely the steamimg and anchor lights so you'll have two positive feeds and one -ve. It is just a process of illimination to find out which; for example, with one meter lead fastened to the brown wire try the seconf meter lead on the next wire and then the third. No reading, no circuit. What you are looking for is a reading on both of the other two wires when using the third. So much more difficult to explain than to do! It may be beneficial while the mast is down to clean the light covers and remove the bulbs, clean the contact areas and replace them with a touch of vaseline or similar to stop them corroding and causing a bad contact. It could be that the motion of stepping the mast has dislodged the bulbs slightly.

 

[mcanderson]

Thanks again.

Off to screwfix for a multimeter, a thousand or so zipties and then down for some wiring fun. My wife just can't wait.

Still it could be worse; it could be raining!

 

[Gary007]

Before you spend the money. The fact that none of them work would indicate to me that something simple is wrong..

Maybe first check simple things such as that all the fuses are switched on..

 

[mcanderson]

Thanks for the help. Armed with my new multimeter all sorted. Now have a wide arrange of lights and have labled all the wires both to the mast and those coming down the mast. What simple joy.

Shane