Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Re: Tricolor & Anchor light still not working…
Alexandre Uster von Baar
Dear Bill & Gary,
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Thanks again for your good help. Yesterday climb the mast Removed the masthead light. Clean the plugs (hole) where it connects. Did not improve. Dis-assemble the Masthead "base" Found lots of corrosion Anchor connector broke when I cleaned it. I will need to find a new masthead "base". Does it look like the same Series 40 AquaSignal you have? Thanks again. Sincerely Alexandre --------------------------------------------
On Sun, 2/1/15, amelliahona <no_reply@...> wrote:
Subject: Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Re: Tricolor & Anchor light still not working… To: amelyachtowners@... Date: Sunday, February 1, 2015, 12:25 AM Hi Alexandre: Here is what I think is going on. I am a bit uncertain because of two unknowns to me. The unknowns are:a) is the socket pin configuration at the mast head for the lamp such that the LED lamp can be installed in one of two polarities or just in one polarity, b) the exact circuitry of the LED lamps (they are seldom just LEDs alone and will often have some current limiting circuity). I believe that your Anchor light LED bulb is installed in the wrong polarity or it is faulty, possibly in a shorted failure mode. With it shorted, partially shorted of placed in the wrong polarity; when the Tricolor is turned on, current is back fed thru wire (4) to wire (2) thence to the Anchor LED at the panel and to ground, obviously with enough resistance to only allow a partial illumination of the yellow LED. With the Anchor lamp installed in the wrong polarity it acts as a blocking diode not allowing it to illuminate the Anchor "lamp" at the masthead, but allowing enough passage of current to back feed the Tricolor 24 volt panel Red LED at a lower current and voltage to account for it's dimness. I don't believe you have any wiring problem at all. I would be completely surprised if you find any fault in the wiring/sockets etc. I believe this is completely an LED lamp issue. To confirm this, when you go up the mast take a couple of incandescent bulbs, place those and see if everything works normally. I am convinced that you will find that all is normal. One the wiring is confirmed, then replace known good LED lamps and see what your findings are. I'll be anxiously awaiting the results, and do be careful going up the mast. My personal kit and method for going up the mast is to take some small diameter line to be able to raise and lower parts or tools that I might need and by way of safety precautions I take a handheld VHF radio (to call for help if needed), a knife to deal with emergency line entanglements, and I always go up with two halyards or a halyard and a prussic or ascender on a back up line (I did a fare amount of mountaineering/rock climbing in my younger years and never ever relied on a single piece of protective equipment). Also we never use a self tailing electric winch (remember the stuck on electric winch scenario that severely injured two folks at Jolly Harbor Antigua a few years ago), we only use a self tailed line on the windlass so that a stuck on windlass operation won't cause an un-controlled ascent/descent. All the best, Gary Silvers/v Liahona SM 335
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