Steaming /Deck light

[suibhne]

Problem with Hella-Marine-combo-Lamp which appears to be fitted to most Bavaria Yachts of 2001/2006 vintage

I have identified and checked at the saloon end/mast separation junction

wire 4 blue and blue doubled
wire 1 brown black marked
wire 2 brown  with blue mark
wire 3 yellow/green

I take it that blue is the common earth because wires 1,2,3 give a healthy 12.5 volts when switched across the blue at the saloon end of junction
The mast is down and I made up and checked 4 core wire extension to link to mast bottom cables and checked that the cables gave exactly same readings as saloon end

Now the masthead navigation light works fine that is wires 1 and 4
However the Hella-Marine-combo lamps fail to light up
The LED bulbs work fine when removed and tested on a 12v battery.

My guess is that the mast wires to the combo unit  are the problem
Have they become detached or corroded?
The unit itself is pop riveted to the mast and I am reluctant to cut them to explore the problem further.
Perhaps I will have to!

Has anyone had to deal with this problem or has a circuit diagram showing Hella-Marine specific connections to a Bavaria Yacht colour coded wiring system?
I have been on the Hella-Marine website and they do not appear to have any circuit diagram or wire colour identification

[Yngmar]

Does this help?

[Salty]

"My guess is that the mast wires to the combo unit  are the problem
Have they become detached or corroded?"

Yes, I've had what I think was the very identical problem a few years ago. My steaming light would not light up despite that,
1. I had twelve volts measured at the lamp fitting, and
2. I had a working light bulb when tested at deck level.

You are right to enquire whether the wires had become corroded, as on my B36(2002) the wiring originally fitted by Bavaria was ordinary copper wire, not tinned copper wire, and the copper wires had corrosion on them throughout the length of wire used from the switch board through to the light fitting, and while some of the volts were able to get through, the current or amperes were not able to get through in sufficient quantity to cause the filament within the bulb to glow sufficiently brightly enough to light up the foredeck. I changed the wires for tinned copper versions, and have not looked back since.

[suibhne]

ThanksYngmar

 Nice sharp picture and is very similar to my setup.
But for some reason the steaming/deck light combo will not light up.
I fear I will have to remove pop-rivets on one side and tilt up unit to see how the wires from inside mast makes contact with each light bulb

[suibhne]

Thanks Salty

I have exactly the same boat and problem it seems.
Did you run the new wires directly to the bulbs or is there a junction connecting Hella unit wires to mast wires behind the unit?

[Salty]

I drilled out the old pop rivets and joined up the new wires to the Hella unit wires behind the fitting, then re-secured it with some new aluminium pop rivets. If you use stainless or Monel rivets it could be worth coating where they fit with something like Duralac to prevent corrosion between the dissimilar metals, and I always punch out the piece of metal left behind inside when the rivet breaks.

[suibhne]

Thanks for the very helpful comments

Drilled through two pop rivets lifted the light unit to reveal the problem - broken cables behind the unit (see attachment)

[blue-max]

I also have this problem - steaming light works but not deck light. I changed the choke block under the mast which was badly rusted  and current now flows but light still out. Is it necessary to remove the whole light fitting to  get to  the wiring or can one side remain fixed and unit bent sideways? I assume this problem arises because the weight of wire is carried at the exit point in the mast and this stresses the wire. 

[suibhne]

blue-max thats a good guess.

On my boat the wire to the unit was secured by a compression collet that must not have been strong enough to withstand the weight or perhaps the handling of the wire at the bottom of the mast when disconnected/reconnected to the saloon on mast removal/re-erection.
I did not have to pursue the problem further because both lights worked when reconnected.
As an additional  step I covered the wires under the unit with silicon adhesive before pop riveting the unit to the mast
.

[suibhne]

blue-max

I removed the pop rivets on one side only and bent the unit over to get access.
The unit material is quite flexible.