Lost a wire somehow

[jaschrumpf]

Here's a good one: I was cleaning up the terminals in my 12v fused panel and putting good ring or female clip terminals on all the leads that were just wires wrapped around a screw. Somehow in the process I've lost my steaming light wire!

I've reconnected every wire I had there previously, but now for some reason my steaming light doesn't come on. I know it's not just a burned out bulb, because I've accounted for every wire coming to the panel and all the fixtures work -- it's just that I no longer seem to have a wire that connects the steaming light!

If anyone has any knowledge of a Capitol Yachts Newport 28 wiring harness and knows what the steaming light wire should look like, I'd love to hear from them. I'll be spending part of my weekend crawling behind the panel to see if a wire's gotten away and hidden itself!!!

[boatpoker]

Sorry tp be the bearer pf bad news but you are dreaming if you think there was ever a "wiring harness" or that any two boats were wired the same or that they followed ABYC colour codes. You are going to have to trace it from the base of the mast.

[sailingdog]

Even most sister ships aren't wired exactly the same.

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Sorry tp be the bearer pf bad news but you are dreaming if you think there was ever a "wiring harness" or that any two boats were wired the same or that they followed ABYC colour codes. You are going to have to trace it from the base of the mast.

[jaschrumpf]

Eh, I thought as much. Still, that bebuggered wire was there not just a week ago, so it's still got to be around somewhere.

The idea that haunts me is that among the PO wiring abortions I discovered were several splices into wires that made no apparent sense, and that I now wonder if they were some kind of deranged workaround to make the lights come on.

Well, I guess I'll figure it all out, given enough time.

[artbyjody]

Look into the splices you mentioned. If your were tinkering aound then odds may be you dislocated one of the wires in the splice that corresponds to your steaming light. You st5ated you had all other things accounted for. If I was in your position - I would mount terminal strips or bus bars (which ever makes sense for you), and run the main wire from the fuse / circuit panel - and attach the wires in the splices with individual connectors to the strips / buses...Hopefully that makes sense - anytime you start a re-wire project its more complex than it was originally intended...

[justified]

jaschrumpf

I have a 78 newport 28 and I don't now if it will help I do have the original manuals with wiring diagrams I would be able to copy and email them on Monday if you think they might be a help. Also when I rewired my mast two yrs ago I now that at the mast it was just a three wire 2 hot and a groung goiing to the steaming light and the anchor light.
PM me or email pcarey zero two at snet dot net

Peter
"Justified"

[nickmerc]

It sounds like you may want to consider rewiring the boat. If you just replace the wires and not the panel, lights or other fixtures, it will not be too expensive. This way you know exactly what each wire does and where it goes. You should also draw a schematic for future reference.
________
Brittnii_Lynn

[timebandit]

Have you tried turning everything on to see if the missing wire is attached to something else?

[jaschrumpf]

Originally Posted by timebandit

Have you tried turning everything on to see if the missing wire is attached to something else?

Yeah, I did that one. No go. But I think the clue is in the above post from the '78 Newport 28 owner who said the wire from the mast is a two-hot, one ground lead. I do remember seeing an abominable splice into the wire that controls the mast light (which I took out), so I'll be taking a closer look at that next time I'm down at the boat.