Nav lights to switch wiring help!!

[Neil81]

hey Guys,
Ive decided to wire up my 12 ft tinny for night fishing, ive installed a 12v bat and wired it to a 4 way switch board with fuses. first job was the fish finder/ sounder which works perfectly. Next job was the red/ green nav light, ive ran wire from each light meeting at the switch which i soldered + together then to a small peace of wire and soldered to position on fuse. I did same with negative then soldered small peace of wire to position on switch, this is the same way i installed the sounder which works fine but the nav lights wont work. If i disconnect the negative only and connect it to the negative from battery it works straight away but the minute i connect the neg back to switch it doesnt work. I even connect both + and - to the same switch as sounder and even though the sounder was working at the same time the nav light werent

I thought it may be a faulty switch board but the sounder works fine and im out of ideas and getting really frustrated. Any help and opinions on the matter would be fantastic as im sick of carrying all these portable lights/torches around and all fishing club outings are over night.


thanks guys, Neil

[finga]

Negative should not be going to a switch unless you've used a double pole switch.
Have a look here for a diagram


The main bit you want is the switch panel and negative busbar

[Noelm]

yep, correct, the negative goes nowhere near the switch (normaly) lets look at it in very simple non electrician view, you have a battery with a pos and a neg post OK, now we have a light with a black and a red wire, suppose we just hook the red to pos and black to neg, the light goes on, but you cannot turn it off, right? now suppose we cut the red wire (light is now off) and we put a switch between the two ends we now have where we cut it, we can now just flick the switch and the light comes on, flick again, light off, notice how the black (neg) wire has not been touched/switched? that is what you need to achieve in your dash, the negative is not connected to the switch (except in special circumstances)

[finga]

Well said old chap

[Neil81]

thanks very much Finga and Noelm. So what you saying is i cannot run the nav lights off the switch board i already have? because on it the positive bar connects to the fuse which i wired the positive to, then a wire goes from the fuse to the switch which is attached to the negative bar which according to the instructions is where i wire my negative to?
Ive attached the pictures of the switch board so you know what im talking about but what your saying sounds perfectly correct im just making sure i fully understand you lol. Where on this board do i solder the negative?

thanks guys, Neil


sorry guys couldnt attach pictures ive tried everything it just sez invalid

[Mark-P]

Try running your negetive straight to the battery !

Mark

[kitty_cat]

hey mate
just one question might help solve a few things

does the swith panel have led lights above switches?
if no- DO NOT PUT NEGITIVE TO SWITCH PANEL
if yes - place negititive on buzz as explained below (this neg is only to turn led lights on switchs, nothing else switches are power in power out ONLY)

best to run single wire from neg on battery upto sounder and navs, a few ways to join togeather after run from battery a buzz bar or power stud both can be brought from your local bcf , bias , or witworths

[Neil81]

kitty_cat- the switches are red with light inside them and have a fuse next to them. http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/p...31#Description

[Moffy]

hmm a novice with wiring (got to redo my whole boat soon - but need to get the hull able to float first..) - do you need to just run one negative from lights to the switch panel to power the leds for the switches (i.e is that the negative the panel calls for) - but for devices you are powering off the switches - run positives to the switches - battery to switch and then other side of switch to device and then negative for device staight from battery to device (via bus bar)???

[Mark-P]

If the device your wiring has its own on/off, then negative goes straight to the battery. Light & bilge pumps require a on/off , hence the positive from these go
to the switch & negative to the battery ! But the switch panel still requires a earth ...
All electronics are hard wired to the battery, through the 4way battery switch on my boat.

Mark

[finga]

hmm a novice with wiring (got to redo my whole boat soon - but need to get the hull able to float first..) - do you need to just run one negative from lights to the switch panel to power the leds for the switches (i.e is that the negative the panel calls for) - but for devices you are powering off the switches - run positives to the switches - battery to switch and then other side of switch to device and then negative for device staight from battery to device (via bus bar)???

Look at the link I put in above.
There's a pretty good diagram there to follow


Good call kitty-cat.
Well done I reckon

[Neil81]

all sorted out and working now thanks for everything fella's. When they made the switch board they decided to make the positive wires black which is where i was getting confuses.

I dont have an earth wired mark and didnt think i needed one is this true? all the diagrams for wiring i checked out didnt have a mention of an earth either, the one finga posted above doesnt show earth and mine is wired the same except no bus bar and its not wired to the outboard as its manual pull start.

thanks guys

[finga]

No earths or equipotential bonding in most pleasure boats.

[Mark-P]

all sorted out and working now thanks for everything fella's. When they made the switch board they decided to make the positive wires black which is where i was getting confuses.

I dont have an earth wired mark and didnt think i needed one is this true? all the diagrams for wiring i checked out didnt have a mention of an earth either, the one finga posted above doesnt show earth and mine is wired the same except no bus bar and its not wired to the outboard as its manual pull start.

thanks guys

The only diagram i could fine is borrowed !
I meant, negative not earth !
The black colour in steed of red is to do with colour coding
in most engine wiring i think .....

But if its not required then i stand corrected

[preso]

This helps me out a lot. thanks fellas