rewiring overhead lights in head...

[CliffA]

in my boat the overhead lights for the head are on the same circuit as the lights on the walls of the cabin....I have to energize the circuit with a rocker switch in order to turn on the lights in the head....this is a problem at night because we normally leave all of the wall lights on at night until we go to bed....before going to bed we use the rocker switch to de-energize the circuit thus turning off the wall lights in the cabin as well as the lights in the head...but when one of us needs to use the head in the middle of the night we cannot turn on the overhead light without turning on all of the cabin wall lights as well....

we currently have a small LED lamp in the head to use at night which is better than nothing but I was wondering if anyone with a similar set up had rewired the overhead lights in the head to be on the main DC power circuit so they can be operated independent of other lights anytime the main DC rocker switch is activated....

cliff

 

[JimG]

Electrically it will be simple... the challenge is getting a 12VDC wire from the DC panel to the head light switch. You could possibly come off your cabin rocker switch if it's closer.

 

[KevinC]

I have a similar issue on my 340SDA where I want to keep the reading lights on but not the overheads at the front v-berth. I am think about placing a small on/off switch near the overheads on the circuit so I could turn them off while leaving the circuit on - not sure if its going to work as I may need to add a bypass and I am not sure of the amount of access I will have.

-Kevin

 

[Third Edition]

For our head at night we use those LED candles as a nightlight. The looks please the Admiral, they provide just the right amount of light, and the battery lasts a long time.

 

[Boater420]

For our head at night we use those LED candles as a nightlight. The looks please the Admiral, they provide just the right amount of light, and the battery lasts a long time.

Same here

 

[fc3]

It's trivial. I think your boat is arranged the same as mine. I fixed mine in less than an hour pretty much within a few weeks of buying my boat. I believe your DC panel, like mine, is right behind the wall of the head compartment. All you need to do is fish a new wire into the head's light fixture.

• Remove the upper panel, which on my boat is the 120 VAC panel.
• Remove the 12 VDC panel
• The covers on the lighting fixture in the head snap on. Simply squeeze a little to remove the covers.
• Remove the screws that attach the fixture to the ceiling.
• Fish some dark blue wire up into the hole where the existing wiring runs. Try to angle the wire towards the panel.
• Reach into the space above the head and pull the wire back towards the panel.
• Strip and crimp a ring terminal onto the wire.
• Remove the existing blue wire from the lighting fixture and insulate the free end.
• Tape the old blue wire to the new wire and ground so it doesn't get lost.
• Attach the new blue wire to the fixture with a crimp connector.
• Attach the ring terminal to the lighting circuit breaker.
• Use wire ties to neatly bundle the new wire.
• Replace the fixture and panels

You can use an electrician's snake to pull the new blue wire into the head, but I didn't find it necessary. You should use dark blue wire of about 16ga. The official NMEA color code is blue for lighting on boats. I believe I added a Molex style quick disconnect so that I can remove the electric panel without having to cut or disconnect the new lighting wire, but that step is optional.

 

[CliffA]

Thanks for the replies and detailed instructions....

cliff

 

[Little Ducky]

That's interesting.

Someone must have had a bright idea to save $20 by eliminating a switch or two.

98 290 DA has switches everywhere you would expect a switch to be. One switch that took me a while to figure out was one in the cabin that works the floor level lighting above deck.