need help with wiring to battery

[ljcatman]

i need help connecting my wires on my boat. i put the two wires with the fuses on the positive post and two other two with no fuses to the negative post. but the bow lights work but not the sten light theres a two toggle switches but both work with the bow light only. i know one for the bow lihgt and the other for the stern light. but when i turn one switch on the bow lihgt comes on and then turn on the other switch the bow light comes on too. heres a picture of my wires someone please help me i'm a newbe to boating

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

one swtch for the bow and stern
one switch for stern only
stern light bulb bad

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

Hard to tell from what you show...but there are two stages of boat lighting.

'Running' includes both the bow, and the stern, light. 'Anchoring' is the stern light only.

My guess is that you have a seperate switch for each of these lights...and you need to trace them, to see what is what. You only need each light to have it's own switch...and you can throw one...or both...according to your needs.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

one swtch for the bow and stern
one switch for stern only
stern light bulb bad

That was my first thought, too...until I realized that he was getting the bow light from both switches! That is the opposite from what he needs, even if the stern bulb is the problem....

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

Sorry all I can see is a gangly mess of old brittle wire haphazardly thrown together with electrical tape connections, and two toggle switches, the boatmans checklist is a cool sticker though.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

Sorry all I can see is a gangly mess of old brittle wire haphazardly thrown together with electrical tape connections, and two toggle switches, the boatmans checklist is a cool sticker though.

Ditto!

If this was my rig...I would 'yank' out the lamp cords, and run new wires from each switch, to each light. And I would include an inline fuse for each light....

Where am I wrong?

 

[ljcatman]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

thanks i might just change the wires to all new and put new switches. but for now this was the way i got the wires attached like this. what gauge of wire do i need for the positive and the negative. i'm in freshwater only & do i need tinned connection

 

[john from md]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

I too would remove all the patch work and replace the wires. Two lights with two switches is not too hard. I will talk you through it using red and black for positive and ground. This wire is readliy available from home depot, Lowes, Pep Boys etc. For standard lights I would use a minimum of 18ga wire. The fuses would probably be 3 to 5 amp. ( there is a formula to determine fuse size but I am too tired to figure it out right now.

1. Two wires come from each light. The ground (black) can be tied together and routed to a common ground or the battery negative post.

2. A hot wire (red) comes from the battery or battery bus to a fuse. From the fuse, the wire goes to one side of the switch (sw1). A jumper wire connects that wire to the same contact on the other switch(sw2).

3. A hot wire is run from SW1 to a fuse and then to the bow light.

4. A hot wire is run from SW2 to a fuse and then to the stern light.

Activating each switch will turn on its respective light. A short in either light will blow its respective fuse protecting that circuit. A short in the main supply line will blow the fuse protecting the entire circuit.

Regards,

John

 

[ljcatman]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

That was my first thought, too...until I realized that he was getting the bow light from both switches! That is the opposite from what he needs, even if the stern bulb is the problem....

right on the head so is the wires crossed or something just need them now till i can get them rewired.

 

[ljcatman]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

thanks john for the info

 

[john from md]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

Since you are in fresh water, I would go with the standard crimp on connectors that you can buy from Pep Boys or Advance Auto. Just add a little vasiline to the terminal ends and they will last forever.

Regards,

John

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

right on the head so is the wires crossed or something just need them now till i can get them rewired.

You've stumped me...at least!

If I was standing next to you, and looking into the stern (and could see what was taking place at the back of each switch)...then I could probably tell you how to do a quick fix.

Actually...you could simply extend both wires from the respective lights, back to the battery (ignore the helm switches, for this)...and attach them to the positive, and negative, posts as needed. Not as handy as a toggle switch...but gets the job done. Radio Shack sells inline fuse holders, that you can include in both of the positive wires from the two lights.

This will get you onto the water....

 

[ljcatman]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

here's some pictures of the back of the switches. my bow lights are the ones with the clear plastic on it. the wire to the cigarette lighter is burned well looks like one. let me know what i need size of wire, fuse, inline fuse. and my stern light has two black wires don't know which one is positive. also theres a extension cord i guess you plug a fishfinder too. all the wires look brittle so want to change them all. my boats a 14ft aluminum sea nymph so how much wire do i need

 

[dan t.]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

if my eyes dont decieve me both switches are tied together at the pink so it looks like they both do the same thing. you can get the proper switch position1 stern only pos. 2 bow and stern

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

To start...your stern light doesn't 'care' which is positive, or negative...hence the two black wires. Can't screw it up!

18 GA wire will do just fine...I use marine all of the time, but I see about 50% salt water. You could probably just get by with plain old automotive wire. I would use marine grade crimp terminals, though...Ancor makes great heat shrink, and adhesive lined, ones.

Ditch the switches...and start with new ones (lighted, when on, are handy).

I'm still thinking about the rest...a simple wiring diagram would be awesome at this point. Let me look around!

 

[ljcatman]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

Ditch the switches...and start with new ones (lighted, when on, are handy).

can you put a picture of the ( lighted when on switches). and a simple wiring diagram if you can find one i try googling it but can't find anything. and you said 18ga wire can it be the same color like red i went to west marine and they have 18 GA in red, green, yellow, black and more different colors.

i'm ordering my parts from west marines website on line.i just need to know if red 18 ga will work for all the wiring cause there differnent colors.forgot to say how do you ground it too don't want make holes in my aluminium boat.

thanks very much to you's guys that helped me especially (ROCKY ROAD, JOHN FROM MD)


safe boating to you's

 

[john from md]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

I will try a simple diagram so but I don't know how it will turn out using a key board.


(light #1)
!!
!! SW1 FUSE 1 Battery
!!____________.-.__________.~._________l/l/l/_____
! ____________________________________________!

As you can see, the circuit is just a loop. Every light has two leads. Attach one to the line (usually red) going to the switch continue to the fuse and then to the + Pos side of the battery. The other wire from the bulb (usually black but green will do) goes directly to the - Neg side of the battery.

Since you have two lights, one bow and one stern, you can just make two simple circuits like this and it will work.

Another way of doing it, and using less wire, is to have one red wire coming from the battery, through a fuse and connecting to one side of one switch. Then you would make a jumper to go to the same side of the second switch. Then the red wires would run from the switches to their respective lights. The black (or green) wires from the lights can be connected somwhere and then one wire go back to the Neg side of the battery.

Hope this works for you,

John

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

Ditch the switches...and start with new ones (lighted, when on, are handy).

can you put a picture of the ( lighted when on switches). and a simple wiring diagram if you can find one i try googling it but can't find anything. and you said 18ga wire can it be the same color like red i went to west marine and they have 18 GA in red, green, yellow, black and more different colors.

i'm ordering my parts from west marines website on line.i just need to know if red 18 ga will work for all the wiring cause there differnent colors.forgot to say how do you ground it too don't want make holes in my aluminium boat.

thanks very much to you's guys that helped me especially (ROCKY ROAD, JOHN FROM MD)


safe boating to you's

I'll be answering this piecemeal...since you have numerous questions. John will (hopefully) keep helping!

First...about the wire colors. There is a marine industry standard (thank God!)...but this is not overly important, in your situation. You may want to follow this standard...if you care about how much trouble the next owner has, following the wireing.

http://www.panchdara.com/Panchdara/DCWiring.htm

If I were you, I would simply use two colors...red for positive, and black for negative.

Now for the lighted switch (great to remind you that you are using your battery up!)...the #35-090 should be a direct replacement for what you have. You don't have to buy these from this website...any marine store, and probably Radio Shack, should have them.

http://www.action-electronics.com/switches.htm#Lightedpad

 

[ljcatman]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

right on guys i got my stuff set to go thanks alot

 

[john from md]

Re: need help with wiring to battery

Good luck and happy boating.

John