Trouble with Deck,Steaming and Anchor Lights w/Flix

[dave davis]

The Steaming and Anchor lights are dead and the Deck light just BLINKS at a rate of less than one or two brinks per second. All three of these lights go to the same circuit breaker on the panel. So I thought the circuit breaker was faulty. I got a replacement from WM but when hooked up, I got the same results. After checking the connections at the base of the mast, at the ground at the back of the panel, I got the same results. Several dock side consultants recommended that I go up and clean the light sockets and connectors and wipe down with some anti corrosion liquid. The next time I go up, I will bring with me an ohm meter and some new bulbs.
The strange part of this message is the constant blinking of the Deck light. It acts like a stobe light. Very Strange. For your entertainment., Dave

[Stu Jackson]

Our steaming light is intermittent - not quite a strobe - it just works when it wants to!  I did the panel and mast base wiring things, too.  The deck light works fine, the steaming light only sometimes.  When I was out last Friday night, I was prepared to redo the mast base wiring after dinner, because the steaming light wouldn't work coming all the way out the estuary to Clipper Cove.  Finished dinner, clicked the switch, the light worked! 

My experience is that the wiring is lamp cord.  That's a disaster waiting to happen.  One of these days I'll get a new combo steaming deck light fitting and completely redo the fitting and the wiring.

We swapped the anchor light out for a Davis mega light a few years ago, but now use a lamp oil light attached to the backstay.

I should have redone the wiring when the mast was out of the boat for the standing rigging replacement and ProFurl a few years ago - along with the masthead sheaves.

There is a certain advantage to having your stick pulled every year - and this is about the only one I can think of!   

[Footloose]

Dave

It sounds to me like you have a bad ground.  Use your multi meter to check for voltage at the connector in the bilge.  You can then use the ohm meter to see how much resistance is in the wires going up the mast.  If the connections and the bulbs are good in the fixtures you should have about 1.0 - 1.5 ohms going up the mast.  Then with the connector apart check the voltage coming from the nav station.  This may same you a trip up the mast.  The bilge is a nasty area for a connector at it may be the culprit.  I replaced mine with one from an auto parts store that is used for trailer lights.

A poor ground could make it blink.

[Craig Illman]

Dave - I sounds like a ground issue to me as well. Does it blink with and without the shore power charger on? I had a ground issue with my cabin lights and forward navigation lights. Luckily, it was somewhere between the panel and the first light forward of the panel. Even after I reterminated the wire behind the panel, it didn't help. I wound up running another parallel wire from the ground bus behind the panel to the first cabin light. My retirement project is to rewire the boat. Something to spend time doing during the cold dreary winters of the Pacific NW, but better than running a snowblower.

Craig

[Ron Hill]

Dave : The only thing common between your 3 lights that do not work is - the ground (-).  Take a mulit meter and start at the "trailer" connector at the base of the mast.  Check voltage at the connector from the panel and Ohms (continuity) of the wires going up the mast.

BTW,your boat (and mine) were built before Catalina started to use marine grade wire and connected common grounds with those damn blue splice connectors!! 

[rirvine]

Sure sounds like a wire connection problem to me.  Just becasue you can measure a voltage across the +ve and -ve wire does not elliminate a wire problem.  A high resistance connection will measure voltage but will prevent sufficient current to flow to make the lites glow.   

One lite "flashing" is a bit of a puzzle.

Ray

[John Langford]

Craig,
Scrape off the mildew and throw away the long underwear. It is going to be perfect for four days over the Easter weekend. We'll be drinking margaritas in the cockpit at Friday Harbor.

[Ken Juul]

Back to the Flickering lights.  on my 1990 vintage boat, at the base of the mast is a 4 prong plug that supplies the power and a common ground to the lights on the mast.  Might want to check this connection for corrosion.  Could be the motion/natural vibrations of the boat is causing this connection to open/close causing the flicker.

[Stu Jackson]

We just replaced the steaming light (by WE I mean my buddy Dave).  He used a mountaineering gizmo with a foot loop to get him up the mast, so tailing the winch was a breeze as he took the load off, four or so feet at a time.

FLICKERING LIGHTS???

What Dave found was that the positive wire to the flickering light had simply worked its way out of the small compression fitting.  If you look closely, you can see the white wire just out of the connector below the steaming lamp.

No wonder it came and went.

Used the old base, rewired the guts as necessary and installed the new lens and cover from a new fixture that I'd purchased.  The screws holding the old base on still work out of the mast, but why complicate a simple project.

[BillG]

I change out all the wiring several years ago when I had the mast off.  My recollection is that a ground came down from the anchor light and then tied into the one ground shared by the deck and steaming light.  your problem might be at the junction.