nav light and docking light. - Maxum Boat Owners Club

pascavone · 06-12-2012, 01:15 AM

the dash has two rockers to turn on the nav lights, and one for the docking, but they both go on with the nav lights, so whats the other switch for?

mcoffey · 06-12-2012, 02:21 AM

You have 2 switches marked NAV Lights? On mine (which is older and smaller) I have 1 marked NAV Light and 1 marked Anchor Light. The Anchor Light switch is an ON/ON Rocker that feeds power only to Stern Light either from Source A (fuse block power) or Source B (feed from NAV Light switch). So when in the down ON position (which is Off for the On/Off switches, it is sourcing power from the NAV Light switch. So when you turn on NAV, it sends power to this switch which powers the light. When you flip the switch to up (which is On for the On/Off switches), it is sourcing power from the fuse block only and powers just the Stern light.

is this what you are talking about or am I way off base here?

pascavone · 06-12-2012, 11:49 AM

i think you got it right, so the anchor light burns, with the nav lights, and then without the nav switch when anchored powered directly....

ss3964spd · 06-12-2012, 02:10 PM

My 2004 2400 SC3 has but one switch for the nav and anchor lights. In the off (center) position neither work. In the up position only the nav lights work, and in the down position only the anchor light works.

I thought I read somewhere that you are not supposed to run with the anchor light on - just the nav lights. And you're not supposed to be at anchor with the nav lights on, just the anchor light.

shrew · 06-12-2012, 05:08 PM

There should be NAV Lights and ANCHOR light. No DOCKING lights.

NAV LIGHTS: Turns on NAV lights (Red and Green) AND the Anchor Light (White Light)

ANCHOR LIGHT: Turns on Anchor Light (White Light ONLY)

Anchor Light is for anchoring ONLY. NAV lights are for running in conditions of reduced visibility (Night or Fog)

pascavone · 06-13-2012, 01:46 AM

when i click my NAV lights switch, both the NAV and Anchor lights switch light on the dash, and they both come on on the boat, reguardless of the possion of the anchor switch.

When I just click the Anchor light switch with the NAV lights off nothing happens.

mcoffey · 06-13-2012, 02:20 AM

Could be a blown fuse on that seperate power feed. If you can get to the back of the switch you will see 3 wires on it. One is a jumper from the Nav Light switch. One goes to the Stern Light and the other should be 12v from fuse panel.

shrew · 06-13-2012, 05:44 PM

Yep, this tells me that your connection in the switch is bad. Keep in mind the switch should have 2 positive leads and a single ground. One positive is for the actual anchor light. The other positive is for the light on the switch. Since the light on the switch actuates when the NAV lights are on (this is by design) AND the anchor light itself works when the NAV switch is thrown, I'd suspect the connections on the switch are bad.

pascavone · 06-13-2012, 06:26 PM

i think when i change a blub last year a wire poped off, and i connected the leads backwards, so the power goes right to the light, and not to the switch.... i realy be smart sometimes...

i will pull the dash foward and break something else to fix it.

mcoffey · 06-13-2012, 10:23 PM

Hmmm, I don't know about that Shrew. Every lighted rocker I have seen uses the 12v feed for whatever it operates for the light. So in my best guess you should have 4 wires connected to the switch if it is a lighted rocker. This rocker "should" be a DPST On/On switch. So you should have 1 12v feed from the Nav light switch. So when the Nav switch is On, you should have 12v on this feed. When it is Off, you should have nothing on this feed. You should also have a 2nd 12v feed that is on all the time (this is the fuse block feed). When you flip the Anchor Light switch to the On position, it uses this feed to power the Stern Light. You will then have 1 wire that goes to the light itself. If you unplug this wire you will get 0v no matter what position the Nav switch or Anchor switch is in. And at last, you should have 1 ground wire (use an ohm meter to test for that). The light on the rocker needs this to iluminate. If not connected the rocker will function and turn on and off what it is supposed to (if it works) but the red light will not come on.

Now if it is not a lighted rocker than you will have 3 wires only. The 2 power feeds and the run to the light. No need for ground in this setup since the rocker is only switching power, nothing more.

pascavone · 07-09-2012, 11:37 PM

the nav light switch has six leads on the back of it, the anchor light has 3.

with all the leads pulled off the anchor switch rocker, the anchor light still came on.

this tells me that the anchor light leads must have been switch by accident and connected to the nav lights.

Nav should only light the red and green.

shrew · 07-10-2012, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pascavone

Nav should only light the red and green.

This is not completely accurate. The NAV lights should actuate the RED and GREEN running lights AND the all around white light. The Anchor Light should only light the all around white light. Otherwise, you would appear like a vessel underway when you're at anchor. OR you would be running REd and Green with no all around white light when underway. They wire it this way to ensure that you only need to either actuate the NAV lights for navigation or the Anchor light for anchoring. The switches are wired to actuate the appropriate lights and be CG compliant.

I'm almost certain that when you actuate the NAV light rocker, the light for the Anchor should come on as well, simply to inform you that both are currently on. When you actuate the anchor rocker, on the anchor light is lit. The same applies to the bilge pump. Watch closely, as I have confirmed this on my boat as well. When you actuate the bilge pump switch, it lights. When the float actuates the bilge pump the switch still lights even though the switch itself isn't activated. I belive that this is a done for safety/notification purposes so you can tell if the bilge pump is running on it's own.

Unless I'm mistaken, most of this sounds as though it is by design. That is how it works on my boat anyway.

pascavone · 07-10-2012, 09:18 PM

ok, makes sense.

three light on for movement, red, green, and white on top.

so the nav switch is correct, and it dose light up the rocker on the anchor switch.

so now i have to figure out whats the deal with the anchor switch.

i will use a jumper wire to see if its the switch...

thanks for the comparison.

Phillbo · 07-10-2012, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ss3964spd

I thought I read somewhere that you are not supposed to run with the anchor light on - just the nav lights. And you're not supposed to be at anchor with the nav lights on, just the anchor light.

That is not correct. Underway - Nav and Anchor lights. On the hook - Anchor only.

shrew · 07-10-2012, 10:36 PM

LOL, this is like an elctricians nightmare. So to clarify. The NAV switch properly lights the Red/Green AND the all around white light. It also lights the NAV and Anchor switches themselves. This is by design, otherwise BOTH of our boats are wired wrong, however I do believe this is correct. The Anchor switch lights the switch but NOT the all around white light alone. The Anchor switch is not supposed to light the Red/Green, so that should be all set.

If the Anchor switch light is coming on with either NAV or Anchor acutated, then the switch light is working. If the all around white light is coming on when you actuate NAV, but not Anchor, then the all around white light is also working. If all of this is true, the problem is in the Anchor switch or wiring to the switch itself.

Please correct me if I'm wrong with my synopsis.