Navigation light issues

[rparde]

I recently purchased my first boat, 1999 Bayliner Capri, that I have been going through to find out what does and does not work. I can not get either the front bow light or the rear pole light to turn on. The two lights are ran on different switches, just on and off. I have tested everything with a volt meter and it seems to work fine.

My electrical experience is limited so it would not surprise me if I am testing something wrong. When the switch is off no vots when I flip them on they read 12.2. The bulbs look fine and I even tried to replace them. The bulb in the front light seemed to not fit very well so I went ahead and bought a new fixture. No luck on the new fixture working either.

I did check the fuse box and everything looked to be fine there too. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pyrotek]

Re: Navigation light issues

So your measuring 12V at the switch. Do that same test at the light or the socket for the pole light. Remember to make sure your ground is connected correctly. No ground and you won't see +12V at the light, even if only the +12V side is connected.

I like doing a continuity test to check that I am sure I know where the wire runs back to the switches. Take a long wire to extend the length of your DVM leads.

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Navigation light issues

If you're showing 12v+ at both fixtures, I'm also betting that you're missing the 12v- ground.

 

[rparde]

Re: Navigation light issues

We have lights!!!

Thanks for the reply Pyrotek and Fireman. You were correct it was a ground issue. With the bulb out of the fixture it would read 12v but with the bulb installed it would go back to 0v. I followed the ground to the panel and moved it from one terminal to another and presto both lights worked immediately. Thanks for your help.