Nav lights wiring

[jeff6898]

Not sure what forum this should be in none of my navigation lights work. THe wiring is a mess in the boat. I see there is a grey wire and black wire going to the lights. I have a toggle switch that operates them. I am going to just run new wires. Front and rear. Can anyone tell me where the wires go to?

 

[BMOLCHANY]

Re: Nav lights wiring

Start simple first. Check on the inline fuse first and if you know anything about elec then check the switch and the wireing using a multimeter.

 

[BMOLCHANY]

Re: Nav lights wiring

Another simple one is light bulbs.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: Nav lights wiring

each light will have two wires coming from it. one will be a ground (usually a black or green wire) the other will be a hot wire. Usually the nav lights are wired to a switch that one click will turn on the anchor light and the second click will turn on your bow light. You are not supposed to run a bow light when anchored. Some boats have different switches for each. The switch provides the 12v and the grounds are run to a buss bar or a common ground. You can trace the wires you have with a multimeter.

 

[jeff6898]

Re: Nav lights wiring

Looking at it the switched marked lights is a 2 prong toggle switch with just 2 wires hooked to it. I am guessing they are hooked up wrong? I have no idea how to use a multimeter or what it is I am looking for. Mabey I need to take it to a shop.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: Nav lights wiring

It's possible one of those wires runs to the 12 power and the other runs both lights at a junction down the line.

 

[bman1bpm]

Re: Nav lights wiring

usually the only wires hooked to the light switch are positive so theres no way to hook them up wrong really. there are normally 3 wires should be 1) bow light, 2) all-round light 3) power source

First thing I would do is change the bulbs, why bend in awkward positions trying to fix wires if you're not sure the bulbs are good. They're cheap

Be sure that your switch is connected to a power source

If things still don't work check your connections, trace the two wires, does one wire go to the bow light and the other to the all round light(stern light)?
If so you're good there.

Now at each light you should have two wires, a positve wire, and a negative(ground, usually but not always black) make sure one of these wires goes to the switch. The other wire should go to a good ground.

Check your connections for corrosion, if they look bad go ahead and rub them clean with some sand paper.

Test your switch.

If they still don't work and you're sure everything is hooked up right, change out your wires with new ones.

hope this helps, good luck.

 

[jeff6898]

Re: Nav lights wiring

All fixed now. THanks everyone for the advice. Turned out whoever did the wiring had it all meesed up. There was no power hook up from the toggle switch and the 2 grounds for some reason were but connected to each other.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Nav lights wiring

It it is a simple on-off switch with just two terminals it is definitely wired incorrectly. You need either a special NAV light switch that provides OFF, NAV, ANCHOR functions or a three position, center off switch with either six or three terminals. Here is the simplest way to wire it.

or this way

 

[bman1bpm]

Re: Nav lights wiring

glad you got it working again. make sure you coat all your wiring connections with liquid electrial tape or heat shrink to protect them from corrosion and shorting out