No cabin lights

[john26]

Hi,
I have a 26 ft 1966 flybridge.I have never seen another one like her.Everything works except my cabin lights have no power.I have no blown fuses and can not for the life of me find where the line originates.A wiring diagram would be great or a tip on where the cabin light main feed comes in from.I hate to drop the ceiling panels. I really need a diagram..
Thanks for any help you can give
John

[carl]

I am assuming you already checked the obvious, have you used a volt meter to determine if you in fact don't have any power at the light fixture(s), checked the bulb(s). If you have done this then remove one or more of your lights from their mounts but don't cut any wires just try to determine what color wire Marinette used in the cabin light circuit in 1966, it might benefit you to open them all so your absolutely certain of the color, you may have to pull them out a ways to get to the actual Marinette harness not to get confused with the color of the wiring on the light fixture itself. Then you'll need to stick your head into places with a bright flashlight and look for this color wire coming through a terminal strip or fuse block, sometimes the wiring could be secured to a terminal strip in one color on one side of the strip and the wire on the other side of the strip could be a whole different color, exact same circuit, two different colors, keep this in mind when you trace. If you find the fuse block test it too with your volt meter. Often something like this is a loose ground wire, check those as well. Could also be a main switch feeding this circuit is bad, because our boats are aluminum Marinette took the precautions to put switches in front of switches in the form of a circuit breaker. If you have a switch panel you should open it and look for loose or disconnected terminals. If you find what you believe is the hot source for your cabin light circuit you can perform a continuity check to test the integrity of the wiring from the hot source to your light fixture or fabricate a long length of wire with an alligator clip on each end, clip one end onto the source and the other to the light fixture, you can use this test lead on both sides of the circuit to determine if you have bad or shorted wire. If your not savvy with electrical troubleshooting or intimidated by it have someone help you that is knowledgeable. Electrical issues can seem bigger than they actually are. Hope this helps.

[ddependo]

Good advise by Carl. Also check for corrosion on fuse block. I use a wire tracer kit sometimes to trace wires.
As far as I know no one has any Factory wiring diagrams.
good luck
Wayne
http://www.all-spec.com/Catalog/Test-Me ... gQodchUIuw

[Rockit]

Cool. Can you post pictures of your 26' flybridge?

[john26]

Thanks to all for your input.I need to take a low res. pic of the boat , but I just cant get it to a small enough file.I have checked all fuses and its a very primitive system.I have no breaker/fuse box etc. area, one 50a fuse on the engine bulkhead and only a couple of fuses behind the upper and lower helm for blower ,bilge,lights.I have been around boats and old cars my whole life and am pretty fluid with electrical/mechanical environments.The fixtures all have yellow and white wires. I will get some pics up soon of wiring and boat.It seems very rare of a craft..Thanks for helping out guys.This is like pre standardized wiring.
A/C and D/C circuits using white and black randomly.

Thanks
John

[john26]

ddependo
Good idea. I should of thought of that.I have a tone generator....getting old..

[john26]

1966 26' flybridge
Single Screw 351

[john26]

Sending a tone down the wire did the trick.Cabin lights unmarket fuse upper helm yellow wire to black buss bar.Corroded,did a quick fuse spin and cabin lit up.Wife happy.
Thanks to all.Now onto why my white wires are being use as DC ground and black positive DC....LOL

[carl]

Good Work! I figured if you could track that yellow wire you would make your discovery. White is a common color for the 12v ground wires on a Marinette.