Help identify mast wires

[turbulicity]

My boat is fairly new to me. Today, I got around to check if masthead lights were working. Of course they weren't. I checked the mast step and sure enough, all the wire ends coming out from the mast are loose. There are:

(2) two line wires. One I already found out to be the anchor light. It works.
(1) Coax cable. Assuming VHF antenna.
(1) Six line wire.

I can't get the tri-color to work. I am assuming it must be the other two-line wire but maybe the bulb(s) is out. I have no idea about the six-line wire. It has red, green, yellow, black, white and bare lines with a string in the middle. This can't be for the tri-color can it? As far as I know, there is nothing else up the mast.

[tommays]

Could be anything as there is no official color code i know of

for example i have a 5 wire in my mast

1 ground and 1 hot for anchor light on top

1 ground and 2 hot going to combo deck/steaming light

On all of my old boats the mast wire was NO longer able to carry power due to corrosion

the only cure i can think of is going up the mast seeing whats connected and checking the bulbs and if power is getting there

[CorvetteGuy]

6 wires would probably be for instermentation the tri light would be the other set of 2 wires, if you have a multi meter you can check for resistance on the 2 wire, if there is continuity then that means the bulbs are working or you have a short in the mast

[Tempest]

You didn't mention your 225 degree steaming light..or (masthead light)..?

So does that mean you have 2 ..2 wire in addition to the steaming light......
the anchor light...and the possible tri-color?

The 6 wire could be a wind instrument like an ST 60.. but I believe mine was a 5 wire...the PO might have removed the instrument.

[capecodda]

Is the 6 wire cable full of thin little wires, or heavier gauge (like the anchor light wires). If they are thin little wires, it probably was or is wind instruments. If they are heavy gauge, they could be other lights.

Do you have a steaming light? Do you have spreader lights or other deck lights? Do you have wind instruments? What's the inventory of stuff when you look up?

If the lights aren't burnt out, an ohm meter should read some small resistance (continuity) between the pairs that are connected to the lights. There could be a common ground, so by pairs, their could be a single wire that pair's with many lights. If you get convinced that these are lights, not wind instrument wires, after finding the ones with continuity, you could try connecting a 12v source to the appropriate pairs and figure out what lights up.

Another clue would be if there is a terminal block near the mast base. If so, you can try your breaker panel switches and see which terminals produce 12 volts when you flip the switches. If someone was kind during initial installation, the wire colors might even match at the terminal block with your mast wires. But that would be lucky

I'd do all these easy experiments before sending someone up.

[Brucerobs2]

The easiest (and maybe fastest) solution might just pull the mast down, and rewire. Wiring the anchor,steaming,deck lights, and co ax is fairly inexpensive, straightforward, and you'll know exactly what you have. I went through a similar process. If you fix it right, you will likely eliminate problems with old wiring later.

[J36ZT]

As a minimum you should have an anchor light and a steaming light; and this should account for three wires (if they share a common ground) or four (if they don't).

Your Tri-colored may work by reversing the polarity on the anchor light. If so, then you should still have four wires (I'm guessing 18g or larger).

The coax obviously goes to the antenna.

The wire (really and insulation bundle) with 5 or 6 tiny wires inside probably goes to an electrical windex (wind sensing unit, wind transducer).

You said you have two main wires, a coax, and the "six line" wire. Minus the coax and the "six line"; I don't see how you could get an anchor light, a steaming light, and a Tri-color all out of two wires...unless someone used the mast itself as the common ground...and this would NOT be good. Sounds to me like you're missing at least one wire somewhere, probably two.

Hope this helps,

Skipper,
J/36 "Zero Tolerance"

[turbulicity]

Thanks all for the help. As far as I can tell, there are only:

- Tri-color
- Deck flood light (I don't really know difference between deck flood, anchor or steaming lights sorry. There is one white light located on the mast at spreaders' level pointing down)
- VHF antenna

The other two wire doesn't show continuity so I have two trips up the mast to do I guess. The six wire is a puzzle. I wish there was a wind instrument there but there isn't. There is only the standard wind vane, no cups. It has the thinner gauge wires (possibly 22 gauge). 5 has colored jackets, 1 is bare inside the main cord together with a string. More, I measure some large ohm (kilo ohms) range between these.

I will try to get in touch with the PO today.

[J36ZT]

Anchor light = visible 360 degrees, used when anchoring
Steaming light = visible forward 225 degrees, used when underway under engine power (10ft + up the mast)
Deck/flood = used to illuminate deck (points downward & not required for navigation, but could be used to illuminate sails)

By the way, an ohm meter won't do you much good if the lights are LEDs.

Hopefully the PO knows what's going on.

Skipper,
J/36 "Zero Tolerance"

[turbulicity]

I caught the PO to talk briefly. He said he had some kind of electronic switch to give me for the tri-color. He says that it is a new LED unit and has strobing. According to him, it is a nice $800 unit. So, not really helpful but maybe I am not going up the mast after all. That 6 wire thing is still a mystery though. I couldn't get an explanation for it as his cell dropped the call. Thanks for all for the help. I will update here once I learn more.