Simple/ dumb question

[zach103]

New to boating and still young so don't know too much bout wiring. Bought two small courtesy lights. and a toggle switch. but dont know how to connect everything.. HELP PLEASE!!

 

[jtexas]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

Get some 16 gauge wire. Marine grade tinned copper strand is best, but I've used automotive with good results. Get a good quality wire stripping and crimping tool, and some crimp-style terminal ends that will fit the posts on back of your switch. Also some terminals that fit your boat's fuse box, or if there's no fuse box, some ring terminals that fit the battery studs, some butt connectors, an inline fuse holder and 2-amp fuses.

One wire goes from battery positive to inline fuse holder (or fuse box) to toggle switch. Two wires go from the other toggle switch post, one to each light. Two wires go from the battery negative, one to each light. If using an inline fuse, put it within six inches of the battery.

If they are LEDs, the lights will have a negative and a positive connector; the wire from the switch has to connect to the positive, and the negative has to lead to the battery negative. If they're not LEDs, it doesn't matter which wire leads where.

 

[zach103]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

correct me if im wrong.. this is how im understanding this..

1 wire comes from the battery positive. connects to the fuse.. then to the switch. now the there should be 4 wires coming from the othr part of the switch... two to each neg wire on the lights and 2 to the battery neg.. than should i have two different wires going to the postive light wires into the switch???

i tried the connection the way you said. there are 2 posts on the toggle switch. no matter what way i put the wires on i keep the toggle on off. but when i connect the negative cable to the batter the lights turn on. but as soon as i flip the switch the fuse blows.. could i have the wrong size fuse? and now there is no power to anything else in the boat..i have one of the big power switches that connects to the battery. could that have somehting to do with it

told you guys im new.. what am i doing wrong?

Thanks

 

[zach103]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

they are the leds.
now how exactly do i connect these and fix the other power problem??

sorry for being such a pain in the butt

 

[jtexas]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

sorry for the ambiguity. You don't need wires from the switch to the battery, or from the switch to the negative post on the lights.

The switch has two posts. One post has a wire leading from the fuse.

The other post should have just two wires, one leading to each light's positive post.

The lights each have two posts. The positive post has the wire (mentioned above) leading from the switch. The other (negative) post should have a wire leading to the negative battery post.

That makes two wires at the battery negative.

These two wires can be spliced together at some convenient point, leaving just one at the battery negative.

 

[zach103]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

they work great.. im thinkin bout puttin in some more. does it matter how many go thru that switch?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

Here ya go! This should help. I added the little arrows so you can follow the current flow through the circuit. The red and black dots by the lights indicates a connection. It doesn't matter if you make that connection on the switch or splice the wires along the line. It all depends on where you mount the lights. If you are mounting them close to each other, splice them. If they are separated by some distance it might be better to connect the red wires at the switch and the black wires at the ground connection.

 

[zach103]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

thanks for all the help guyss. i still have the problem of nothing else getting power.. im going to try and charge both batterys tomorrow.. and see if thats the problem..

now if i want to add some more lights. can i run them thru the same switch or will it overload that circuit??

 

[jtexas]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

Pictures are way better than words.

With 16 gauge wire you generally want to keep it down around 4 amps. It takes maybe 65 to 80 of your typical illumination LEDs to pull 2 amps (each of your fixtures probably has several LEDs). Your typical automotive or marine 12V switch will handle way bigger loads.

If you overload the wire, it can get hot enough to melt the insulation and start a fire. Which explains why the fuse. All the activity on a boat, including a lot of shock and vibration in rough water, increases the likelihood of wires chafing and loosing insulation, then if a positive wire accidently contacts a ground wire, you get the situation you had earlier. Without a fuse things would have really heated up.

 

[jameskb2]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

thanks for all the help guyss. i still have the problem of nothing else getting power.. im going to try and charge both batterys tomorrow.. and see if thats the problem..

now if i want to add some more lights. can i run them thru the same switch or will it overload that circuit??

Zach,

If you had power before, check the battery's level with a volt meter. I bet you just blew a main fuse, or tripped the main breaker with your little light experiment. Look at the fuse panel or breaker panel, or check near the battery area for a large fuse holder first.

'Course, charging them up to full capacity won't hurt.

 

[zach103]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

alright im back.. the only uses that i can see are the ones next to the toggles. and the one right after the battery switch.. all are perfect. i tested the battery thats on there now and it read 12.26 . the other ones charging... but when i turned the main switch on and flipped teh switch for my nav lights nothign happend. neither when i hit it for accesories.. ill try and get some pictures up tomorrow cuz i know how much that helps.. but w/o the pics what do you guys think?? could there be another fuse somewhere?

 

[jtexas]

Re: Simple/ dumb question

12.26 is about 50% discharged, still you think you'd see some light from it.

With your volt meter, measure voltage from the (+) connection of each accessory to battery ground with the switch on. If you have 12V there, it's a ground problem. If not, back up to the switch and measure. And so on and so forth. Eventually you'll have light.