nav light wiring

I am having a problem with navigation lights on a used boat.

3 way switch provides juice to bow but not stern light, in any position.

Looked at back of switch...
Top posts 1 post has jumper to bottom, other connects black stern wire (or at
Least it could be black stern wire, its part of a pair of wires black and grey which look to go towards stern)
Middle post red wire which connects to reset switch below (like fuse reset)
Bottom post has jumperwire and the jumper wire has a daughter post which connects 2 wires one gray one green....I assume these go to bow but why 2 wires off 1 post for bow? Its a single bulb?

I'm guessing this isn't original....maybe some one futzed it up and didn't put it back right....switch looks original...its a 1998 smoker craft deck boat.

Any ideas on what it should look like?

Re: nav light wiring

Do you have a six terminal or a three terminal switch. A three terminal switch requires a diode. The six terminal requires a jumper. Here are diagarams for both. Black wires are ground and have no business being connected to a switch except in the case where the switch is illuminated. In that case the ground connection only applies to the internal light.

Re: nav light wiring

Deleted post as duplicate of above answer. - Grandad

Re: nav light wiring

SFixed. It was 3 terminal. It had clearly been futzed with the black ground was attached to the stern light terminal, and the gray stern light wire was hanging free. Moved ground to ground post, moved grey to its place and I'm solid. Wonder what led to it getting screwed up.

Thanks for the help!

Re: nav light wiring

I had the same problem on my NAV / ANC lights but both were dead. I started by checking for voltage at each of the light connectors. Stern light had voltage, but the socket pins were corroded. Replaced the socket and stern light works fine.

Moved to the bow - no power at the light connector and was prepared to run new wire (not an easy task). Checked the swwitch - 6 terminals with a bunch of jumpers and thought this doesn't make any sense! Found this thread and realized everything was wired correctly.

Swapped the bow and stern light terminals and now only the bow light works. Bad switch. Nothing at West Marine matched, but found an identical DPDT (double pole double throw) switch for about a 1/3 the price at Home Depot. Problem solved - thanks guys!

Re: nav light wiring

louiefl said:

Bad switch. Nothing at West Marine matched, but found an identical DPDT (double pole double throw) switch for about a 1/3 the price at Home Depot. Problem solved - thanks guys!

Click to expand...

Ya it was 1/3 the price cuz it's not a marine grade switch....that will rust up real quick.... just my .02