Mast light

[bobdevlin]

I had to disconnect my mast light post and remove it as I am installing radar and the base I am using has it's own mast. When I disconected the wires I noticed that there were three involved. One, the black, goes to a terminal and the other two just are joined to one feed line. This seems strange and can someone explain to me how the navigation light as well as the anchor lights operate off of this strange wiring setup. Many thanks....

 

[ElyseM]

not sure why you have two hot leads coming from the light. unless this is not oem and somebody replaced the light with a split one (two bulbs; one in front for running in conjunction with a stern light and the second (in rear) for anchor with both lights on). the hot lead for the light comes from the switch which controls anc/nav; so normally you only have one hot lead coming from the helm. ron

 

[ocnslr]

That light has TWO power leads because it can get power in either of TWO positions of the switch.

1 - Nav lights = light to the masthead element AND the port & stbd running lights.

2 - Anchored = light to the masthead element ONLY.

So, TWO power leads and ONE ground.

There are other ways to wire this so it works correctly. You have encountered one of them.

Best wishes on the radar installation.

Brian

 

[ElyseM]

i'm pretty sure the two power leads are at the switch. only one power and one ground FROM the light. at least that's the way mine are(were) wired. two power leads coming down from the same bulb doesn't sound quite right - if that is the case, i would check it out right up to the socket. unless there are two bulbs as i said for when the mast light is used in conjunction with a stern transom light. ron

 

[ocnslr]

i'm pretty sure the two power leads are at the switch. only one power and one ground FROM the light. at least that's the way mine are(were) wired. two power leads coming down from the same bulb doesn't sound quite right - if that is the case, i would check it out right up to the socket. unless there are two bulbs as i said for when the mast light is used in conjunction with a stern transom light. ron

Agree, and our masthead light only has two wires running to it.

The OP didn't identify his boat, or its age, or if the masthead light was OEM, or if it has dual elements for its two different tasks. So, most likely reason for the two different power leads that he actually encountered is the two different tasks that the light fixture has to meet.

It will be interesting if we get more info.

Brian

 

[Tucker]

My Escape had 3-wires going to it. The light had 2-bulbs, 1-for running, 2-for anchor. I gotta check my Coast Guard regs, but I don't think this is correct and it was a factory set-up. With the stock set up, when running there is no light to the stern. Some hot-rod boat can run right into you. I rewired it so the both bulbs came on when running.

 

[Fish Tank]

http://www.boatus.org/onlinecourse/revi ... info2c.htm

 

[uncljohn]

As was mentioned earlier, my switch panel has 2-position switched, upper position is Navigation lights and lower position is Anchor light. So a hot lead from each switch position goes to the mast light.