Nav lights onto single spade connection?

conks01

conks01

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Hi,

I have a 4 way switch panel and have a switch for the nav lights.

I need to include the mast light onto the same switch so was wondering if it's Ok to combine & crimp the wiring for all onto a single spade connection?

Thanks.
 
I suggest you Google colregs light combinations. For a sailing boat you need to display port/starboard + stern light when sailing + steaming light when motoring.
 
conks01 said:
Hi,

I have a 4 way switch panel and have a switch for the nav lights.

I need to include the mast light onto the same switch so was wondering if it's Ok to combine & crimp the wiring for all onto a single spade connection?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Under sail you will need to show port and starboard side lights, which you may be able to combine into a single "bicolour" lantern, and a stern light

When under power , you also need to display a "masthead light " aka "steaming light".

If you supply all the lights from the "nav light" switch on your panel you will need an additional switch in the circuit to the mast head light in order to switch it off while under sail an on while under power.

The following diagrams and illustrations show the legal combination of lights which apply to vessels under 12m ( although if you are under 7m with a top speed under 7 knots you are only required to show a single all round white light)

You will find the details of the arcs of visibilty and the visible range in the colregs mentioned above. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/281965/msn1781.pdf

Navigationlights.jpg


Navigation-lights-3D.jpg
 
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FWIW here is the wiring diagram for the switch panel in my boat

You will notice that it also includes a tricolour light for use on its own while sailing.

The switching has been designed so that it is not possible to display an "illegal" combination of lights.

I dont claim that it could not be improved upon

97a15036.jpg


panel.jpg
 
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Wow - OK, thanks Vic.

On that basis looks as if my 4 way isn't big enough ( re No. Of switches). Need to think this over. Thanks.
 
nigelmercier said:
I like that idea, I may borrow it.

I also liked the lights diagrams in your previous post, do you have one for a 14m vessel?
Click to expand...

ITYWF that the only difference for any vessel between 12 and 20 metres is that you cannot combine the masthead and stern lights into one allround white
 
Over here the standard installation is to have a rotary switch with, say, six positions and no end-stop.
It would be labelled "off"-"sailing"-"off"-"steaming"-"off"-"tricolour", so that you just rotate through the various combinations. The various lights are connected onto terminal strips with jumpers connecting the different fixtures' + wires. That eliminates errors, and the anchor light could be included if you had an 8-way switch. Krauss & Naimer make switches to suit, like these: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...aRIhooBAwWebjpHfDUHzVB4quXekitmmev38rOEV6ESxg
 
If your struggling with the number of switches available on a proprietary switch panel, you can save one by connecting the compass light through a diode such that it comes on when you select 'sailing' or 'steaming' light combinations.
 
ghostlymoron said:
... connecting the compass light through a diode such that it comes on when you select 'sailing' or 'steaming' light combinations.
Click to expand...

Thinking further: why not use diodes to reduce all the lights to just two switches?

Vic's solution is very neat, but I don't see the need for S3.

Personally, when sailing I keep both my tri-light and fwd/aft lights on, unless the battery is low.
 
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nigelmercier said:
Thinking further: why not use diodes to reduce all the lights to just two switches?

Vic's solution is very neat, but I don't see the need for S3.

Personally, when sailing I keep both my tri-light and fwd/aft lights on, unless the battery is low.
Click to expand...

The switching allows the deck level lights to be used under sail when appropriate or if the tricolour fails. S3 switches the steaming light on for use under power.

S8 switches between either the tricolour or the deck level lights
 
nigelmercier said:
Thinking further: why not use diodes to reduce all the lights to just two switches?
Click to expand...

I used a set of diodes to control six different light fittings from one (rotary) switch :)

A9677D81-C969-484B-B933-647E94957253_zpsxn3bvqih.jpg

(The "low" and "high" refer to physical height, not light intensity.)

nigelmercier said:
Personally, when sailing I keep both my tri-light and fwd/aft lights on, unless the battery is low.
Click to expand...

Presumably you're aware that that's an illegal combination, although I don't think it signals anything specific from most angles. The two stern lights viewed from the quarter could be distant ship's masthead lights though.

Pete
 
VicS said:
You did not say they were LEDs......
Click to expand...

There's lots of things I didn't say :)

Anyway, if I were using Victorian coils of white-hot wire in fragile glass containers with the current passing through un-sealed bits of brass loosely touching each other, I would also need much larger diodes. And presumably (I haven't done the sums) the amount of energy wasted in those diodes would start to become significant when under sail. I might instead have looked at one of those multi-stacked rotary switches where you can do quite a lot by wiring different contacts together, and I might also have simplified the light arrangements a little (I don't really use "Motor High" much, for instance, nor the all-round white as inferior anchor light). But fortunately I did all this in the 21st century and was able to use a set of Bebi LEDs that draw very little current, accept a wide voltage range, put out light colours squarely within the approved Colregs gamut through a typical Aqua Signal housing, and are simple and practically indestructible.

Sadly, the Fijiian government ran them out of town for political reasons a couple of years ago so I won't be able to get any more for any future boat :(

Pete
 
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