Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
I need the check the anchor, motoring, and deck lights on my new-to-me 1995 C250 WB. I'll do this while my mast is (currently down so I can make repairs if needed. I see a four pin plug... 3 lights, 1 common I presume? I plan to just play with it until I find the common. Is it any more complicated than this? The boat isn't in the driveway, so thought I'd ask before I drive out to the lake.
You are correct, three lights and one common. I did exactly the same thing to determine the common.
You should do it in two parts - first check voltage supply to the receptacle (vs. common, of course), then check continuity on the plug. If you don't have continuity, then you've got either a burnt out bulb, corroded connector, broken wire, etc. Open up the connectors and check the little set screws. If things look corroded, you might even just buy a new connector now. I like the plastic one - you can find chrome ones, but they can corrode and the heavy hard plug might take a chunk out of your gelcoat.
Here's a very crude pinout diagram from my experiments, with wire color from my boat. The "V" is the little orientation notch in the connector. Yours might be different, but at least this might speed up your locating the common.
Looking down on deck receptacle:
G - com V W - Steam B - Deck R - Anchor
Looking down at plug:
W - Steam V G - Com R - Anchor B - Deck
Rick S., Swarthmore, PA PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor) New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)
I purchased a 4 pin deck connector from Catalina Direct and attached trailer wire to each end... it worked perfectly... I now test my lights every spring before stepping the mast. Here is a pic of the tester
My recollection was that the CD replacement had the common ground plug longer than the other wire plugs. Matching the colors were ridiculous. The manual had one set of colors, the boat had colors that were different. Trial, and much error...
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.