Wiring query

[Colin K]

Hello,
We are just a week or so away from plodding off for a 3/4 week holiday on the boat. New boat to us and we got her in January. I have had all kinds of problems many with friends help I have sorted, some can wait until next winter!
Last night and this may be a complete coincidence we had a power cut at Ipswich haven marina and the power was off all night. Well from 8 pm until 8:30 am
Today I have got no power to my four saloon lights, trip is on and the rest of the boats cabin lights work. I do not really have the time to go wire tracking so I am thinking of a solution! Heaven help me !!
The four lights are all linked together and I can get access to the wiring from a panel on floor of the fly bridge which is obviously the ceiling of the saloon. No power here . As a holiday fix I was thinking of feeding the positive (if its the positive at fault) with a 12v feed from another source linking it in with a low ampage in line fuse.
Obviously I would pick a feed from a non essential source but wondered if anyone can think of any glaring problems?
Cheers, Colin.

 

[rptb1]

Only that you might forget your "temporary" bodge!

 

[nigelmercier]

On my boat there were two lighting circuits, with two breakers.

 

[William_H]

Well the lights have failed due to either a failure of the negative (earth) wire to the switch board or as you say failure of the positive supply. So yes g9ive the positive supply alternative a go. The failure of the shore power must be coincidental unless the loss of battery charging has reduced battery volts to a point where lights won't work. Unlikely though. good luck olewill

 

[lpdsn]

Hello,
We are just a week or so away from plodding off for a 3/4 week holiday on the boat. New boat to us and we got her in January. I have had all kinds of problems many with friends help I have sorted, some can wait until next winter!
Last night and this may be a complete coincidence we had a power cut at Ipswich haven marina and the power was off all night. Well from 8 pm until 8:30 am
Today I have got no power to my four saloon lights, trip is on and the rest of the boats cabin lights work. I do not really have the time to go wire tracking so I am thinking of a solution! Heaven help me !!
The four lights are all linked together and I can get access to the wiring from a panel on floor of the fly bridge which is obviously the ceiling of the saloon. No power here . As a holiday fix I was thinking of feeding the positive (if its the positive at fault) with a 12v feed from another source linking it in with a low ampage in line fuse.
Obviously I would pick a feed from a non essential source but wondered if anyone can think of any glaring problems?
Cheers, Colin.

C'mon, are you seriously planning to bodge something that you're likely to be able to sort out in a couple of hours.

Put the possibility of a wire being cut low down your list of possibilities, so that leaves you with a fuse/trip or a dodgy crimp, or possibly a switch. Get a multi-meter (not hard, I bought my last one cheaply from Argos and it is good enough), find how far the voltage gets on your lighting circuit and check the crimps. Are they firmly attached? has a wire come loose? is the crimp corroded?

Should be easy to identify the wiring by colour (unless the PO was an electrical idiot and made them all black, or such like).

As an aside, you can use the multimeter to check you don't have a battery voltage issue, just to eliminate that.

 

[David2452]

First ascertain that it is a + or - circuit issue by temporarily connecting a + power from your domestic feed, if they work it is clearly a + issue which will cut your tracing time in half, confirm with the same cable to the - side of the battery just in case. You will probably find the fault quite quickly by observation and testing, not a multimeter as they can mislead because they need next to no current to display voltage, use a bulb or circuit tester that puts a load on the circuit. The whole process should take only a little longer than a jury rig. A circuit tester is far more valuable than a multi for this kind of work as once connected to the battery it can also be used to provide a + or - at the push of a button, and a good quality Sealey PPX tester can be had for under £20

 

[lpdsn]

... and a good quality Sealey PPX tester can be had for under £20

Thanks for that. I've just ordered one off Amazon at £18.99.

I have just used a multimeter and measured the voltages with the switch on and off, but it looks like a very handy tool at that price.

 

[Colin K]

Morning,
Thanks for all of your advise. Yup I will give it an hour with my multi meter and a bit of wire to do some continuity testing. Circuit tester sounds a good toy to have? Main problem is tracking where it goes from the fly bridge down towards the fuse board,wires dissappear into tube built in the fibre glass and heaven knows where they emerge. I have put a post on the Fairline forum but its very quiet there!
All good fun and yes good point it could equally be a negative wire break which I can test pretty easy.

SWMBO has granted us an extra half day on board to sort it out bless her however I suspect I will feel an ache in my wallet as she retails around the shops of Ipswich !!!

Good weekend all, cheers, Colin.

 

[C08]

Only that you might forget your "temporary" bodge!

I had the alternator brackets crack and break when on holiday in the french alps. Having no money and there were no parts locally I made up a "spanish windlass" from some rope and got this so tight you could not tell the bracket was broken. I then tied the turning rod (an old spanner) down to the windlass. I then forgot about this completely until about 8 months and about 10000 miles later when I took the car to be tested!