jcpa
Member
I can’t understand what’s going on.
I’d done a stack of mods behind the switchboard (Plastimo trip switches, circa 1984 vintage), including moving a switch to separate the stern and bow lights (so I can show the bow lights with the masthead anchor light when motoring).
On testing everything, the bow lights were fine (but I had to go to the pulpit to check properly). However, back on deck after going below to flick on the stern light, the nav lights had all tripped out. I switched the stern light off again and reset the breaker switch, but still no bow lights. So had the bulb just failed and was it now shorting?
The filament looked ok, but the multi-meter suggested an open circuit across the contacts - is this a valid test, or do I need to apply 12v? I replaced the bulb anyway, but still no bow lights. I checked the voltage across the light fitting terminals (0v), and then at the trip switch outlet (sometimes 12v, sometimes 7v [???], sometimes 0v – but I have found the circuit trips can take several seconds to activate). So is there a short in the bow-wiring – perhaps caused by flexing the cable to get behind the switchboard?
The meter did not find a short across the light fitting (so no obvious short in the feed wires), but these wires run in a channel within the balsa deck sandwich (near the hull to deck joint), and then seem to feed up through the pulpit tubes. It would need some ferreting to check the wires physically. Moreover, the headlining is also stapled into the balsa in places, so maybe someone stapled the cable too?
Or is the trip switch duff? If so, could I get a replacement after all these years? I believe I could separate the switch from the panel, and maybe swap it for the auxiliary switch on the end (one that could possibly be replaced with a newer style switch – and be usefully uprated too!) – but what a palaver!
I tried the tests several times, including turning everything off, and restarting the battery charger - it goes off when I switch off the house battery, which I’d done when I started my “stack of mods” several hours earlier, and with the fridge still on, and later the cabin lights, the battery level had dropped to around 12.3v (I think). Still the bow lights wouldn’t work, and I began to believe the wiring or trip switch really were duff.
Feeling utterly depressed, I went off for a cup of coffee. It was dark when I returned 30 minutes later, and would you believe it, the stern light was on (and presumably had been for those 30 minutes). I had left the bulb out of the bow fitting, with the nav lights turned on, and the stern light switched in. Maybe there isn’t a trip switch or wiring short after all?
It was too late and dark to mess around putting a bulb back in the bow light, and SWMBO had already called me home, but presumably that is what I should try next. I could also try a temporary wire from the switch panel to the bow light. This will mean digging out lots of sealant from the back of the light fitting – but I’ll probably have to do that anyway.
Dammit, will I ever get sailing?
I’d done a stack of mods behind the switchboard (Plastimo trip switches, circa 1984 vintage), including moving a switch to separate the stern and bow lights (so I can show the bow lights with the masthead anchor light when motoring).
On testing everything, the bow lights were fine (but I had to go to the pulpit to check properly). However, back on deck after going below to flick on the stern light, the nav lights had all tripped out. I switched the stern light off again and reset the breaker switch, but still no bow lights. So had the bulb just failed and was it now shorting?
The filament looked ok, but the multi-meter suggested an open circuit across the contacts - is this a valid test, or do I need to apply 12v? I replaced the bulb anyway, but still no bow lights. I checked the voltage across the light fitting terminals (0v), and then at the trip switch outlet (sometimes 12v, sometimes 7v [???], sometimes 0v – but I have found the circuit trips can take several seconds to activate). So is there a short in the bow-wiring – perhaps caused by flexing the cable to get behind the switchboard?
The meter did not find a short across the light fitting (so no obvious short in the feed wires), but these wires run in a channel within the balsa deck sandwich (near the hull to deck joint), and then seem to feed up through the pulpit tubes. It would need some ferreting to check the wires physically. Moreover, the headlining is also stapled into the balsa in places, so maybe someone stapled the cable too?
Or is the trip switch duff? If so, could I get a replacement after all these years? I believe I could separate the switch from the panel, and maybe swap it for the auxiliary switch on the end (one that could possibly be replaced with a newer style switch – and be usefully uprated too!) – but what a palaver!
I tried the tests several times, including turning everything off, and restarting the battery charger - it goes off when I switch off the house battery, which I’d done when I started my “stack of mods” several hours earlier, and with the fridge still on, and later the cabin lights, the battery level had dropped to around 12.3v (I think). Still the bow lights wouldn’t work, and I began to believe the wiring or trip switch really were duff.
Feeling utterly depressed, I went off for a cup of coffee. It was dark when I returned 30 minutes later, and would you believe it, the stern light was on (and presumably had been for those 30 minutes). I had left the bulb out of the bow fitting, with the nav lights turned on, and the stern light switched in. Maybe there isn’t a trip switch or wiring short after all?
It was too late and dark to mess around putting a bulb back in the bow light, and SWMBO had already called me home, but presumably that is what I should try next. I could also try a temporary wire from the switch panel to the bow light. This will mean digging out lots of sealant from the back of the light fitting – but I’ll probably have to do that anyway.
Dammit, will I ever get sailing?
