Watch out for those cabin floor lighting fixtures . . .

[tpenfield]

I have been doing quite a bit of electrical work on my boat recently. Yesterday I was going through the cabin, checking the lights, looking in various nooks and crannies. then all of a sudden, the lights in the cabin go into brown-out, then the circuit breaker trips. . . . I smell something burning

I checked the lights, etc, and it turned out that the forward floor light was 'hot' and seemed to be the source of the electrical odor. It turned out that the wiring behind the fixture plate had melted and shorted itself together . . .

I took the light apart . . . all burnt inside . . .




I got one of those new fangled LED fixtures to replace it.


It turned out that the wiring was run right up the the carpet and very little room for the wiring behind the fixture . . . just a 1" hole.

I was a bit surprised that the wiring did not come from behind the kickboard . . .



So, I had to drill out a deeper hole in the kickboard for the wiring to coil up behind the new fixture . . .



Looks OK . . . much brighter than the original. I think that I might switch over to LED bulbs/fixtures in the near future.

So, keep an eye on those floor fixtures . . . .

 

[brnschoneck]

Re: Watch out for those cabin floor lighting fixtures . . .

y led is the way to go good info they dont get as hot either !!! that coulda been a disaster wowwwa good thing u caught it !!

 

[brnschoneck]

Re: Watch out for those cabin floor lighting fixtures . . .

I have been doing quite a bit of electrical work on my boat recently. Yesterday I was going through the cabin, checking the lights, looking in various nooks and crannies. then all of a sudden, the lights in the cabin go into brown-out, then the circuit breaker trips. . . . I smell something burning

I checked the lights, etc, and it turned out that the forward floor light was 'hot' and seemed to be the source of the electrical odor. It turned out that the wiring behind the fixture plate had melted and shorted itself together . . .

I took the light apart . . . all burnt inside . . .

I got one of those new fangled LED fixtures to replace it.

It turned out that the wiring was run right up the the carpet and very little room for the wiring . . . just a 1" hole behind the fixture.

I was a bit surprised that the wiring did not come from behind the kickboard . . .

So, I had to drill out a deeper hole in the kickboard for the wiring to coil up behind the new fixture . . .

Looks OK . . . juch brighter than the original. I think that I might switch over to LED bulbs/fixtures in the near future.

So, keep an eye on those floor fixtures . . . .

thanks god u caught it coulda been a doozie nice boat !!!

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Watch out for those cabin floor lighting fixtures . . .

thanks god u caught it coulda been a doozie nice boat !!!

yup, it could have started a fire, since it was right on the carpeting.