Compass Light question

[karista]

My Compass light stopped working, finally checked it out and found one wire totally broken off and the other badly corroded. Cut the wire where it was soldered to the feed wire coming up the binnacle.Spliced on new wires leading to the Compass light but found I had no voltage when turning on the running lights. I believe the Compass lights are wired into the running light wiring. Does anyone know exactly where the compass light wiring is spliced into the running light wiring?

[Ken Juul]

Don't know exactly, I would guess in the lazerette.  Time to pull the back wall of the aft berth and start tracing, I'd start looking around the aft end of the fuel tank.

[Dave Spencer]

Karista,
You may start by simply removing the fibreglass cover in the aft berth that gives you access to the bottom of the binnacle.  I've attached a picture with the cover removed that shows the binnacle light cable (the grey cable) exiting a cable run and running up the binnacle.  My boat is slightly newer than yours so it may be a little different.  Since you need to run a new cable to the compass light anyway, you could start by cutting the grey cable and seeing if you have voltage there.  Looking at the picture closely, it looks like there is a risk of chafe where the cable enters the lower binnacle plate so that might be where your problem is.  If not, you'll likely need to remove the aft wall and trace the cable run back.