Logo
FULL SITE MENU

1997 Sea Ray SS - No Cockpit lights

3

390Express

Regular Contributor
Anyone have any advice as to where to start looking for trouble shooting no cockpit lights on the above captioned boat?

Lights were working at the beginning of the year, but stopped. Figured it was a bad bulb, but checked both back bulbs and they work fine. Definitely no power at the back bulb housings, as verified with meter. I can access the following areas:

1) Cockpit fuse box near the aft, where the battery switch is (no blown fuses, and no fuse that obviously controls the lights
2) fuse panel beneath the dash
3) switch panel

Switch has three wires, it did have one wire that fell off. I shoved it back on, no change. Not sure of the proper wiring for the switch. I will post a pic of the above three areas, and the back of the switch next time I'm down at the boat.

Question:
I did notice one light under the captains chair that I did not have an opportunity to pull the bulb out of, if that bulb is bad, would it kill power to the back two bulbs? Seems unusual, but figured I'd ask. It's the only quick issue/solution that makes sense. Nothing else has changed.

Another quick Q:
The boat has the late 90's rocker style switches. Some light up when they're "on" and some do not, is there a bulb that can be replaced to remedy this, or is this a replace the switch situation?
 
flying cloud said:
Several Reset buttons are describe here in the PDF, See page 18 for reset Button 19
Click to expand...

Thanks for the manual. Unfortunately, my boat being a 1997 is a significant departure from the 1998. Apparently they changed the seating from 1997 to 1998, causing a relocation of an electric panel. I wish the parts manual had a wiring diagram, but this is a start. I have some documentation on the boat, I will review it to see if I have an owners manual, with a wiring diagram.

I do have a reset button/breaker beneath the helm. The button is not tripped. I suppose the next step will be to pull that button out, check for 12v incoming, check for 12v outgoing, and check for 12v at the panel switch near the steering wheel, just above the foot locker breaker/buttons.
 
flying cloud said:
My Bad.
Will this work?
Click to expand...

Thanks, the 380 is a significantly different boat, but both of these had pieces of useful information.

I'll need to try to find a wiring diagram somewhere. I was able to test the switch, and the switch has power, and the switch is operating properly, but the 12v coming into the switch is a blue wire, and the 12v going out of the switch is a blue wire, but the wires at the cockpit light sockets are gray and black... So there must be a relay or distribution block/splice somewhere.

I need to bring an 8-10' piece of wire, so I can run a wire to the - side of the battery and see if I have a bad ground connection, or a bad 12v + connection.
 
If the sockets still have incandescent bulbs in them, use a test light (with a bulb) to test the switches (vs a DMM)...the bulbs draw much more current than the meter uses to make a resistance measurement...If the switch contacts are marginal, a DMM will show "good" but the bulb won't light...

It is very common for a multi-load circuit to have a 'junction block' where the switch (control) feeds the bulbs...and the same approach is used on the ground side as well...
 
makomark said:
If the sockets still have incandescent bulbs in them, use a test light (with a bulb) to test the switches (vs a DMM)...the bulbs draw much more current than the meter uses to make a resistance measurement...If the switch contacts are marginal, a DMM will show "good" but the bulb won't light...

It is very common for a multi-load circuit to have a 'junction block' where the switch (control) feeds the bulbs...and the same approach is used on the ground side as well...
Click to expand...

Thanks Mako...

I tested the 12v into and out of the switch. It has 12 at the blue wire coming in, and 12v at the blue wire coming out, tested using the black ground at the switch. Somewhere between the helm switch and the first socket, the wire switches from blue to gray. I have no 12v at the switch with the meter, haven't tried a test light, but the bulb looks good. I don't know if I have no + or no - at the socket, I didn't have a wire long enough to run a new ground directly to the battery to see if I have a good ground at the socket. I'm thinking that's my next move at this point - run a ground to the battery and test to see if I have 12v + at the socket.
 
390Express said:
Thanks, the 380 is a significantly different boat, but both of these had pieces of useful information.

I'll need to try to find a wiring diagram somewhere. I was able to test the switch, and the switch has power, and the switch is operating properly, but the 12v coming into the switch is a blue wire, and the 12v going out of the switch is a blue wire, but the wires at the cockpit light sockets are gray and black... So there must be a relay or distribution block/splice somewhere.

I need to bring an 8-10' piece of wire, so I can run a wire to the - side of the battery and see if I have a bad ground connection, or a bad 12v + connection.
Click to expand...

If you look at the dash wiring, you'll see a black wire at the ignition switch- if you measure 12VDC at the ignition switch when connecting the meter to the black wire and the red wire, your ground wire is good. If you see less than 12VDC with a fully charged battery, clean the battery terminals and battery switch, but that isn't the problem you're trying to solve- it's just a way of testing the ground wire.

The lights should have a fuse or breaker- follow the blue wire from where it enters the helm and reference that to the ground wire- at some point, the voltage will stop. Breakers & fuses fail, terminals and lights fail- did you remove the bulbs and measure continuity? The wires should be daisy-chained, but they reach one gauge first- you may need to remove the first ring terminal and bare the wire- if it's dark or green, moisture may have caused the problem.

Do the Bow and Anchor lights work?

 
Its also possible that the switch you are checking really isn't wired to the lights in question...Its also possible the the switch feeds a terminal block (or other multi-wire junction device) and the wiring color could change there...
 
Back
Top