Badbagger

Hoping for some thoughts on my electrical gremlin.

I checked my anchor and nav lights. Neither worked and they are on the same switch. I pulled the wires from the rocker switch and hit all the contacts with dielectric grease. I also hit the contacts in the Perko mounts on the boat. I got the nav light in the bow to work. The anchor/running light is a different story. I checked the Perko plug and there was no juice getting to it. I pulled the plug out of the hull, removed the panel from the stern of the hull and checked the connections which were fine. To go a step further, I pulled the plug wires from the Perko unit. There is no juice getting from the console to the bare ended wires at the stern at all.

No matter if I have the switch in the running light or anchor light mode, NO juice. The rocker switch is pretty much eliminated at this point. The connections are all solid at the rear of the switch. Still, no juice.

Aside from drop back and punt, any suggestions?

Rick1632

Dielectric grease is non conductive. If you loaded the terminals with it and the connection isn't tight enough to penetrate the grease no current will pass.

Badbagger

Thanks Rick. I just gave the terminals a light coating of it. The connections are all tight as a drum.

Aquasportfisher

Since you have power at the switch, check for continuity on the wires leading to the Perko socket. Check the ground wire- it's usually connected to a terminal block. Check the bulb- use your tester set on ohms. If the bulb is good, check again for continuity at the bottom contacts on the light mast. You've got a bad spot somewhere between the switch and bulb, process of elimination will find it.

Badbagger

Thanks. There is no power at all on the wires that connect to the light mast. I pulled everything out this afternoon. It has got to be a wiring issue somewhere between the wires that connect to the Perko socket and the wiring that comes out of the switch in the console panel. There is no power going into the mast at all. I checked the connectors on bare wire at the point they connect to the Perko socket. Nada power.

That's the stern running/anchor light mind you. The bow navigation light which is on the very same rocker switch works fine. Damn grelims!

Rick1632

It's on the same switch, but not on the same switch contacts.

1stchunt

Recently had a similar gremlin. Bow lights would work, all around light would work but all around light wouldn't work WITH the bow lights. New rocker switch was ultimately the answer. (Also used as an opportunity to switch to LED lights).