Mysterious warning lights problem

[MrMe]

Hi Mrme, yes as soon as I turn port ignition key the warning lights come on, but all of my connections are tight as I have been swapping alternators. If I turn on stb ignition first there is no problem.

Hi,

I have been told that you can get these kind of "strange symptomps" if the light bulb for the alternator warning light is broken. One way to eliminate error source is to switch the cable harnesses on the engines (if they are long enough). I did it and could rule out any errors in the instrument panel since the problem "moved" when I switched the cables.

/Christian

 

[eileandour]

Hi Mrme, thanks for your suggestion and everyone else's, the bulbs are all ok. I have given in and called in a marine engineer to see if they can fix it.

 

[superheat6k]

Do these engines have the modular warning lamp block in the instrument panel ?

If so I would try swapping these over and see if the fault swaps too. These are prone to diode failure, and can be rebuilt - I have an instructional on how they work and have rebuilt several using diodes instead of filament bulbs. Note a ballast resistor is necessary to provide the field excitation current provided by the alternator warning light.

 

[eileandour]

Hi superheat6k, yes I think the warning lights are modular type and I may try swapping if marine engineer can't fix it, thanks