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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

Electrical help needed

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Bruce Baker
Captain

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USA
402 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/11/2002 : 22:24:43

When I bought my '83 C-25, the masthead light was smashed. I replaced it and soldered the red
and black wires to the red and black wires in the mast (they were in a grey sleeve, just the
two wires). From reading the manuals, I believe that this may be an after-market modification.

The mast was lying on the deck, so I did a bit of testing. The electical outlet on the deck
has three holes. I put the negative lead from my volt meter into the large hole and the
positive leads into each of the other two holes, in turn. It looks like my volt meter
registered 25 volts. I must confess that the scale on the VOM is poor, and the meter is a
cheapie from Radio Shack that's at least 10 years old. It should have registered 12 volts,
right?

Now I attached the juice to the male prongs. Negative to the big one and positive to each of
the small ones. In one instance, the steaming light lit up. In the other, neither light lit.
I was convinced that the wire in the mast must be broken. Only later did I put the juice to
the two small prongs, and lo and behold, the mast light lit. This was a mystery to me, as I
thought I was putting the juice to two positive leads.

My marina put the mast up and put the plug in the hole as configured. The steaming light works
but the masthead light does not.

My questions;
1. Is the configuration correct, or did the previous owner switch some leads?
2. Is is just a case of bad electrical contact? The contacts do not appear to be corroded. I
tried a bit of sandpaper to make the male prongs bright.

Edited by - on

luckystar
Navigator

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USA
236 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2002 : 02:26:50

When I bought my '82 four years ago, the electrical system was fried. I assumed all was bad and replaced everything: Anchor/masthead, steaming/deck light, replaced original triplex with heavy rubber coated four strand, and new deck plug (four prong). The wiring from the deck to the port side was stuck between the deck and ceiling liner, so I had to drill through same hole but at enough angle to come out in the head and strung it up that way. It was a pill, but well worth the peace of mind and zero problems. I did a quicky $25 boatus elec panel at that time, but this fall I am doing the whole rewire with new panels custom built by this guy I found on ebay for just about the cost of the breakers! He even threw in heavy duty bus bars! I know I may not have answered your question but have your tried using a multi-meter or continuity meter on the leads? Is is possible that the bulb got damaged or blew during the mast raising? Good luck!

Patrick Burnet, Little Rock, AR
S/V Lucky Star #2707 1982 SK/SR

Edited by - on

John Mason
Admiral

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USA
687 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2002 : 18:24:28

If you are truly registering 25 volts, the only way I can imagine that is if you have two batteries and they're wired in series. That would really be strange, but not impossible.

The best advice I can give is trace the wires (not a fun job) from the batteries to the panel and from the panel to the deck connector. Make sure the batteries' pos. leads are isolated from each other to the 1-both-2 switch (if you have two batteries and a 1-both-2 switch). Then, at the first opportunity, check the wiring in the mast. One pos. lead going to the steaming light, one going to the anchor (masthead) light, and one neg. going to both.

Bad electrical contact (corrosion) won't read 25 volts.
And there's a good chance that some leads got crossed.

Good luck and keep us posted.

John Mason - Ali Paroosa
1982 - FK/SR #3290

Edited by - on

dgabel
1st Mate

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USA
75 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2002 : 18:29:42

Mast wiring is a problem, based on my experience. I have had Walkure for three years, and over the past two winters I have been working with it. I have both the masthead light and the steaming light working.

If you have original wiring, there should be a green wire in the mast. That is the ground. You should find there is an almost short circuit (very low resistance on your Radio Shack volt-ohm meter) between green and either of the two other wires coming from the mast. That means the bulbs are intact, if you get that reading.

I built a little test jig that has the female mate to the male plug I use on the mast wiring, and power it with a 9-V battery. That way I can plug in the mast connecter and test to make sure the lights are working.

You should read 12 V at the deck connector. More must mean your batteries are connected in series, as a previous poster said.

Good luck.

Dave Gabel
Walkure, Hull1484
Northpport, NY

Edited by - on

triley
Captain

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USA
251 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2002 : 20:39:18

I don't want to confuse anyine, but I have an '87 SK and when I plugged the mast into the deck nothing went on. I first figured that the electricity to the mast was fried, but switched the four prong connector ( yes 4) a 1/4 turn so that the big prong was attached to a little slot. Mirabile Dictu, the steamer and the anchor lights went on, both of them. Of course they were switched on in the first place. So--- a little fooling around with the multimeter and a little in head arithmetic logic, and I proceeded to change the wires so that they lined up and the steaming light actually goes on when the steaming light is turned on and the anchor light when it is turned on. It just took switching the wires around a little.

How come I have four wires and you guys have three and two?

Tom

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 07/12/2002 : 22:04:43

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
How come I have four wires and you guys have three and two?

Tom
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>
Tom: I have three wires at the plug because the two ground wires for the steaming and anchor lights are joined above the plug (indside the mast). Two won't cut it if you have both lights. (They should never both be on.)

Dave Bristle - 1985 C-25 #5032 SR-FK-Dinette "Passage" in SW CT

Edited by - on

swarchitect
1st Mate

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USA
41 Posts

Response Posted - 07/15/2002 : 19:26:07

Since I am dropping the mast to install the new roller furling and sail, I was going to address the fickle light problem as well. I was looking at West Marine, and Boat US for a replacement steaming light. I have been winched up the mast once this season already, cleaned contacts, replaced the bulb, and had a steaming light for about a day.

My 1982 has a little half-sphere round steaming light, mounted om a wooden block. I finally found a replacement in the catalogs, but was considering upgrading to either a combo deck/bow light, or just a better steaming light.

Question #1.
what would I find if I pried off the round wood block? Is changing to a vertical cylinder shaped light a major or minor fix? Is there a big whole back there? Has anyone done this?

Question #2
If I were to decide to install the combo deck/bow light, how have people wired it. I have no extra switches in my standard panel.

Scott Webb
LeHannah #3134

Edited by - on

dgabel
1st Mate

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USA
75 Posts

Response Posted - 07/19/2002 : 17:05:03

I can answer one of your questions.

There is a hole in the mast just large enough to get the wires for the steaming light through it. So you can replace that light easily with something new.

With a combo light, you'd need to run another pair of wires, (one feed, one ground)for the deck light. The ground you can tie in with the other grounds in the mast. The feed will have to go back to some kind of a switch in some kind of auxiliary switch panel.

Dave Gabel
Walkure, Hull # 1484

Edited by - on

Douglas
Master Marine Consultant

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1595 Posts

Response Posted - 07/19/2002 : 17:18:24

I put a cobo light on Wind Lass about 4 years ago. They are great. The light is visable a lot further than the old globe light. When Im on the foredeck after a night sail the deck light lights up the whole bow. One other good thing to note for night sailing. If there is a tanker comming in and you realy want to let him know where you are you can turn on the deck light and illuminate the headsail for a few minutes. I took the old wood block of. There was a 1/4" hole and two screw holes. I put the newer light on with the braket it came with. Just followed the simple instructions for aiming.

Doug&Ruth
Wind Lass
Tacoma Wa.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 07/19/2002 : 19:28:33

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
If there is a tanker comming in and you realy want to let him know where you are you can turn on the deck light and illuminate the headsail for a few minutes.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>
Hmmm... Doug: Why do you want or need to let a tanker know where you are? For right-of-way? (Hey! I'm on starboard over here!!) <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> Relative to a tanker, there's just about nothing you should be doing that he should have to be aware of.

Dave Bristle - 1985 C-25 #5032 SR-FK-Dinette "Passage" in SW CT

Edited by - on

goodone
1st Mate

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USA
48 Posts

Response Posted - 07/23/2002 : 21:43:18

Just a little info that might make the wiring job simpler....if you look at the "new" coast guard lighting regs, it appears that you can do away with the steaming light halfway up the mast, but you'll obviously need that all around light on top

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