Wiring for boat lights help request

I have an aluminum 1961 Starcraft Viking and have lost my bow and stern light.
The wiring goes from the battery to a bus under the dash then to a toggle switch.
I have checked the bulbs and inline fuse and they are good.
When i tested the bus under the dash with a voltameter it is not getting any current.
The only thing i can think is it could be the toggle on the dash.
The bow light quit working but the stern light wokred for a while then it quit too.


Please leave me your thoughts.

If I can't figure it out I am going to have to rewire the entire system and would like to avoid doing that.
Thanks.

Re: Wiring for boat lights help request

capo said:

I have an aluminum 1961 Starcraft Viking and have lost my bow and stern light.
The wiring goes from the battery to a bus under the dash then to a toggle switch.
I have checked the bulbs and inline fuse and they are good.
When i tested the bus under the dash with a voltameter it is not getting any current.
The only thing i can think is it could be the toggle on the dash.
The bow light quit working but the stern light wokred for a while then it quit too.

Please leave me your thoughts.

If I can't figure it out I am going to have to rewire the entire system and would like to avoid doing that.
Thanks.

Click to expand...

Capo,

Based on your post it sounds like an open between your battery and the buss. I would remove the positive and negative wires going from the battery to the buss and perform a continuity check on them with your volt meter. It is not the toggle switch because the power is not getting to the buss which then feeds the switch. Put the meter to continuity and touch the leads together and you should hear a tone indicating there is continuity between the leads. Then touch a lead to both ends of the positive wire, again if you get a tone it is good. Now move to the negative and repeat the test. If the meter showes OL then it is saying that there is an open lead which means the wire is broken somewhere along its length. Good luck with the troubleshooting.

Re: Wiring for boat lights help request

If the stern light worked and the bow light didn't, then the original problem could not have been an open between the battery and the buss. If there was, the stern light would work either. The fact that the stern light now fails to work says you may have two problems. The original problem was somewhere between the switch and light. The new problem may be between the battery and the buss. A voltmeter is your friend. If there is no power at the buss, there should be a fuse in positive lead close to the battery. Check that fuse. If it's popped, you need to figure out why. The first step is to get power to the buss. There are only two wires involved -- one red and one black that go back to the battery. If you have a +12 volt buss there must also be a ground buss. You won't measure voltage on the +12 volt buss if you are placing the voltmeter ground lead on the ground buss and the lead going back to the battery is open or if there is a bad connection at either end. Once you have power and ground restored at the buss, then move on to the switch. +12 volts INTO the switch. Turn the switch ON and measure at the OUTPUT (load side) of the switch. If present, move to the lights. If not, you have a bad switch. Again, don't be replacing a switch if you haven't restored power to the buss. Just like any device, the lights require solid +12 volt and ground connections for them to operate.