Bow light

Hi - IP35 here, Ivory Moon, that we bought in the Chesapeake and sailed back to Australia.

Recently the bow light has failed, not the bulb, but no volts at the wires at the bow. This suggests one or more wires failed, so I may have to pull the wires and replace them. Unfortunately I cannot see where the wires run, out of the lamp into the pulpit but where from there? The handbook diagram suggests around the sheerline, on the port side. I cannot see them there. Has anyone had this problem? How do I fix it?

Thanks for any comments,
Jeff

Ivory Moon wrote: Hi - IP35 here, Ivory Moon, that we bought in the Chesapeake and sailed back to Australia.

Recently the bow light has failed, not the bulb, but no volts at the wires at the bow. ... How do I fix it?

Thanks for any comments,
Jeff

You could start by checking the positive wire's continuity between the lamp and the panel with a digital volt meter.

Then make sure the negative wire really does have a good path to ground.

Thanks guy - I have checked the wires independently, pos to ground, neg to bat, and I get volts on the neg, nothing on the positive. Power to the light comes in a 2 core cable, and I can’t imagine how one wire in such a cable could fail and not the other one also? Is this thinking bad? If its correct, the fault is most likely to be in the connection at the switchboard, maybe?

Jeff

Ivory Moon wrote: Thanks guy - I have checked the wires independently, pos to ground, neg to bat, and I get volts on the neg, nothing on the positive. Power to the light comes in a 2 core cable, and I can’t imagine how one wire in such a cable could fail and not the other one also? Is this thinking bad? If its correct, the fault is most likely to be in the connection at the switchboard, maybe?

Jeff

"...pos to ground" seems odd. Your bow light's positive green wire should terminate at the DC panel's bow light switch, but there could be a connector at the mast base?

green=positive, black=negative, correct?

Doubtful the wire itself has failed, but a connection can easily corrode, or a mis-wired situation has developed somehow...

Definitely check panel/mast base connections.

Pg. 40, figure 6 has the schematic.