In article , tdw wrote:

It might be a tad hard to rewire. Depending on age of boat, but presuming
she is a few years old and plastic then the wiring may well be embedded in
the fibreglass which makes rewiring a bit hard. I reckon it's a connection
issue. Nav lights are so damn simple that about the only things that can
stop them completely are blown lamps (bulbs , light globes , call 'em what
you will) and bad connections. If you have dirty connections in the light
itself then while replacing them will solve your problem a good clean,
freshly stripped ends, maybe even a bit of solder on the tips will do just
as well for a lot less money. On the other hand if the bad connection is at
the board or in a junction box then nothing will be solved by new lights. In
the light itself the bad connection may even be a corroded terminal in the
lampholder itself.
Cheers
Andrew
"Harlan Lachman" wrote in message
...
In article , tdw wrote:

Quick question first - are we talking masthead lights , i.e port
,starboard
and all round in one unit up top ?

That might be a better solution. But no! I have deck lites for port and
starboard and about a third the way up the mast a white steaming light.

I have a white light hanging on the rail on the stern.

No anchor lite but a switch on the panel.

If so I'd reckon there are a couple of obvious areas to be looked at.
First
up you should check the size of the wiring up the mast. If it is
undersized
you will have severe voltage drop problems and this will contribute to
the
lack of reliability.

Secondly check all the terminals. It's quite possible
that connections are badly corroded and only occasionally making a
contact
of any sort. You should have a connection box somewhere near the mast
step.
If you rig up a test lamp and connect it to each connection in turn you
will
at least know whether the problem is at deck level or up top. If it is
the
connectors replace them with all brass units. Be careful cos amazingly
enough some brass connectors come with mild steel screws which of course
is
a recipe for disaster.
Regards
tdw

These are all good suggestions.

Maybe I should fix what I got but I was wondering if there was a
replacement strategy which was sure to work.

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

Thank you Andrew. I like the solder idea.

Someone else thought I could replace just the bulbs with LEDs. Any
thoughts about this?

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

Replace them with ones that use new LED
elements.

Any specific recommendations Bill?

None exactly. Take the bulbs to a local marine store and see what they've
got. If anything, use that as a cross-reference to what the bulbs are known
as from other vendors. You may be able to do a search online for your
bulb's part number and wander through the links to find the same info.
Then, armed with alternative part numbers and vendors, check for replacement
bulbs from other sources, auto parts suppliers being one choice.

My steaming light is a front only light only. Is there a battery
operated LED I can hoist up at anchor?

And the boat came without a 360 anchor light? Seems odd. Are you sure it's
just the forward light? As in, it's just a single forward-facing lens
assembly? Not a 360 unit that's got a problem with the rear bulb? But then
I'm no sailboat expert (by any stretch) so perhaps others with more specific
understanding might chime in.

What make/model is the vessel?

Harlan Lachman wrote:
It seems odd to me that you went a season without even looking into
this; are they that inaccessible? And did they really ship a boat
without an anchor light?

Actually, my yard looked at the lights a number of times and was unable
to fix the problem. Every time they checked, things "apparently" worked
fine.

This isn't rocket science - if your yard can't figure it out they're
not trying. Do they send a kid who flips the switch, or do they strip
it down and look for corrosion or cold solder?


And, yes, the boat shipped without an anchor lite.

You can get a Davis MegaLight. With the low power bulb it uses about
1 AH a night, and with the high power bulb it is as bright as a
standard anchor light. However, it is not certified, because its too
easy for someone to change the bulb! We use ours in addition to the
anchor, or in mooring fields where a light is needed, because
sometimes its easier to spot the light dangling 8 feet over the water
then at the masthead.

In article ,
"Bill Kearney" wrote:

Replace them with ones that use new LED
elements.

Any specific recommendations Bill?

None exactly. Take the bulbs to a local marine store and see what they've
got. If anything, use that as a cross-reference to what the bulbs are known
as from other vendors. You may be able to do a search online for your
bulb's part number and wander through the links to find the same info.
Then, armed with alternative part numbers and vendors, check for replacement
bulbs from other sources, auto parts suppliers being one choice.

My steaming light is a front only light only. Is there a battery
operated LED I can hoist up at anchor?

And the boat came without a 360 anchor light? Seems odd.

Agreed. There is even a panel switch. Just no light.

Are you sure it's
just the forward light?

Yes.

As in, it's just a single forward-facing lens
assembly? Not a 360 unit that's got a problem with the rear bulb? But then
I'm no sailboat expert (by any stretch) so perhaps others with more specific
understanding might chime in.

What make/model is the vessel?

J/100. J-Boats.

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

LED light sources for marine use have a lot going for them. The extremely
low power consumption is an obvious advantage, added to this is that the low
wattage of the led lamps means that voltage drop through the wiring is not
so much of a problem. The one area where you need to be careful with led
lamps is that some do not give an adequate spread for use as nav lights.
There are available led arrays that can be simply retrofitted (retrofitted ?
not sure I like the word but...) into existing bayonet or bipin lampholders.
By the way, I'm not trying to dissuade you from getting new nav lights. By
the sounds of things your old ones are way past there use by date and let's
face it nav lights are not the most expensive thing on your boat to replace.
My point has been that even crappy old nav lights will work if the
connections and wiring are good unless of course the lampholders themselves
are corroded beyond redemption.
My basic suggestion still stands. Rig up a test lampholder and starting at
the lights themselves see what happens. If nothing at the light itself then
work back until you get to the battery.
Cheers
Andrew

ps - Anyone thinking of replacing there cabin lights with LED lamps should
first try one out for the quality of the light. They are good for reading
and chart work perhaps but they are a very "unfriendly" light source. I'm
going LED for my nav and chart table lighting but sticking with incandescent
and halogen for everything else and that's because of the quality of the
light itself.

A

"Harlan Lachman" wrote in message
...
In article , tdw wrote:

It might be a tad hard to rewire. Depending on age of boat, but presuming
she is a few years old and plastic then the wiring may well be embedded
in
the fibreglass which makes rewiring a bit hard. I reckon it's a
connection
issue. Nav lights are so damn simple that about the only things that can
stop them completely are blown lamps (bulbs , light globes , call 'em
what
you will) and bad connections. If you have dirty connections in the light
itself then while replacing them will solve your problem a good clean,
freshly stripped ends, maybe even a bit of solder on the tips will do
just
as well for a lot less money. On the other hand if the bad connection is
at
the board or in a junction box then nothing will be solved by new lights.
In
the light itself the bad connection may even be a corroded terminal in
the
lampholder itself.
Cheers
Andrew
"Harlan Lachman" wrote in message
...
In article , tdw wrote:

Quick question first - are we talking masthead lights , i.e port
,starboard
and all round in one unit up top ?

That might be a better solution. But no! I have deck lites for port and
starboard and about a third the way up the mast a white steaming light.

I have a white light hanging on the rail on the stern.

No anchor lite but a switch on the panel.

If so I'd reckon there are a couple of obvious areas to be looked at.
First
up you should check the size of the wiring up the mast. If it is
undersized
you will have severe voltage drop problems and this will contribute to
the
lack of reliability.

Secondly check all the terminals. It's quite possible
that connections are badly corroded and only occasionally making a
contact
of any sort. You should have a connection box somewhere near the mast
step.
If you rig up a test lamp and connect it to each connection in turn
you
will
at least know whether the problem is at deck level or up top. If it is
the
connectors replace them with all brass units. Be careful cos amazingly
enough some brass connectors come with mild steel screws which of
course
is
a recipe for disaster.
Regards
tdw

These are all good suggestions.

Maybe I should fix what I got but I was wondering if there was a
replacement strategy which was sure to work.

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

Thank you Andrew. I like the solder idea.

Someone else thought I could replace just the bulbs with LEDs. Any
thoughts about this?

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

Lets pretend for a moment that you are in the vicinity of 1030S and 130W
after being in a raft for four days. It's zero dark thirty in the morning
and while bailing water from your liferaft, you turn forward and look up and
see two red lights, in what appear to be in a horizontal formation. What
would you think and if you could think what would you do? Story follows, if
you wish.

tdw wrote:
First up you should check the size of the wiring up the mast. If it is undersized
you will have severe voltage drop problems and this will contribute to the
lack of reliability.

Undersized wiring with its associated voltage drop just means the
lights will glow less brightly, and may not meet Coast Guard
specifications for brightness. Incandescent bulbs *like* lower voltage
and last longer. Shouldn't affect reliability. Assuming it's not also
crappy wiring with compromised insulation, or ridiculously undersized,
like 22 gauge or smaller.

Corrosion at contact points is usually the problem; check switches,
fuse carriers, connections, bulb mounts, etc.

Poor wording by me. You are quite right regarding incandescent lamps, I
should have noted the comment related to halogen lamps. I also think it is
the least likely cause of his problems. Regarding the halogen lamps
undervoltage will not stop them working as such but will greatly shorten
lamp life.
One thing that intrigues me however is that Harlan refers to his boat as a
J100. Now I'm not being adamant about this but I was under the impression
that J100s have only been on the market a couple of years. If thats correct
it all seems a tad strange to me. To begin with the J100 brochure says that
they come with all necessary nav lights and given the age in which we live
I'd have thought that would have meant masthead installation, yet Harlan
says he stepped on his lights and that he does not even have an allround
white steaming/anchor light, working or not. That seems strange in a boat so
young.
My boat is nearly twenty years old and is only now beginning to have these
kind of problems with nav lights. Sadly mine is definitely a masthead
installation and the problems all appear to be around 13 metres above the
deck. Bugger !!
Cheers
Andrew

"Mark" wrote in message
ups.com...

tdw wrote:
First up you should check the size of the wiring up the mast. If it is
undersized
you will have severe voltage drop problems and this will contribute to
the
lack of reliability.

Undersized wiring with its associated voltage drop just means the
lights will glow less brightly, and may not meet Coast Guard
specifications for brightness. Incandescent bulbs *like* lower voltage
and last longer. Shouldn't affect reliability. Assuming it's not also
crappy wiring with compromised insulation, or ridiculously undersized,
like 22 gauge or smaller.

Corrosion at contact points is usually the problem; check switches,
fuse carriers, connections, bulb mounts, etc.

In article , tdw wrote:

One thing that intrigues me however is that Harlan refers to his boat as a
J100. Now I'm not being adamant about this but I was under the impression
that J100s have only been on the market a couple of years. If thats correct

Boat has been available for only three years. Most boats have not seen
two full seasons.

I thought it strange too. Stranger still that I have never had
intermittent Nav light problems on any of my previous boats (power or
sail -- and none in this boat's price range :-(

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

Harlan,
Given the relative youth of the boat have you spoken with J Boats themselves
? Just a thought.
I'm guessing here but I find it hard to believe the (presumably factory
fitted) wiring is to blame nor the main wiring panel. Maybe just really
crappy nav lights. Open one up and have a look inside.
Cheers
Andrew

"Harlan Lachman" wrote in message
...
In article , tdw wrote:

One thing that intrigues me however is that Harlan refers to his boat as
a
J100. Now I'm not being adamant about this but I was under the impression
that J100s have only been on the market a couple of years. If thats
correct

Boat has been available for only three years. Most boats have not seen
two full seasons.

I thought it strange too. Stranger still that I have never had
intermittent Nav light problems on any of my previous boats (power or
sail -- and none in this boat's price range :-(

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?