SO 40.3 Steaming light / deck light wiring problem

[gowell101]

Hi,
Need some help, please.

Fitted a Forespar steaming light/deck light today. Boat in the water.

Steaming light works OK but deck light when switched on, trips the breaker.
Have seperate switches for each light.

3 wires out of mast to lights.
Brown = common neg White = Steaming pos Yellow = decklight pos.

Forespar light has 2 pos wires and a common ground.

No doubt a short somewhere? But where?

Could it be in the deck connectors? Or one of the wires?
If I need to run new wires in the mast, is there conduit/s inside the mast?

Thanks in advance.
Bill

[Trevor]

Hi Bill,

At the base of the mast under the deck is there a connection block that can be accessed by removing a ceiling cover? I would disconnect at that point and see if it still trips the breaker. If it does, work back towards the switchboard. If not, work towards the mast. My boat has a conduit inside the mast. A bit extreme to replace the wire and I would think very rare to require that. I would suspect it is at the fitting up on the front of the mast. Sorry, what an awful job getting up there and checking the wiring again.

Regards,

Trevor

[gowell101]

Trevor,
Many thanks for advice.
Found the problem, the 3 core cable that runs up the mast has deteriorated badly, causing the short.

Used 2 test lamps on the connector block to verify cabin side of the circuit.

Also found water within the 3 cores, just a slight drip.

This 3 core cable was not tinned copper wire either.

All we need now is another trip up the mast to mouse new cable down.

Thanks again,
Bill