[Rhodes22-list] steaming light fun .... mystery partially solved ... curiouser & curiouser

[Mike Cheung]

Easier said than done unfortunately, well at least with the mast down and
pulled forward so I could reach the masthead.  I was thinking of at least
pulling the bulbs one at a time and checking for continuity (through one
bulb at a time) from the mast base plug.  I guess I could pull a 12 V
battery out of something and use it to supply power to the mast base plug. 
Or even a dinky 9 V I suppose; with the bulbs out there shouldn't be any
current draw.  There's the ticket .... will try that next.

Mike


Hank-5 wrote:
> 
> Pull the bulb out and use your multimeter to check for power in the light
> socket.
> 
> Hank
> 
> On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 10:38 AM, Mike Cheung <mikecheung at att.net> wrote:
> 
>>
>> Lowered the mast, both bulbs in the masthead are fine.  They're wired
>> together at the bottom and there is power there.  I'm confused.  Gonna
>> pull
>> the masthead light assembly and see if something has come loose there.
>>  Mike
>>
>>
>>
>> Mike Cheung wrote:
>> >
>> > Aha .... pulled the cable end of the connector apart at the base of the
>> > mast and found that the two bulbs at the top of the mast share the same
>> > connection.  They are wired separately, but are stuffed into the same
>> pin
>> > on the connector.  So, Muireann cannot show the forward masthead light
>> > separately from the aft masthead light.  May need to rewire that in the
>> > future.  The upshot is that it pretty much has be to a problem at the
>> > masthead for the forward light, either the bulb or a crappy connection.
>> > Next step is to drop the mast and get to the masthead fixture for a
>> look
>> > see.
>> >
>> > Still planning on a Chesapeake run this Friday through next Wednesday.
>> > The weather for the early part is not encouraging, but looks better
>> from
>> > Monday on.
>> >
>> > Sketchy plans still:
>> >
>> > Friday, launch in or near the Magothy, overnight nearby; probably on
>> the
>> > hook
>> > Saturday, Annapolis for the afternoon, dinner and overnight; probably
>> on
>> a
>> > mooring if we can get one
>> > Sunday through Tuesday .... cruise the Chesapeake roughly between Rock
>> > Hall (to the North) and the Choptank (to the South); we'd like to hit
>> Rock
>> > Hall, St Michaels, and maybe Kent Narrows enroute between them, but the
>> > wind and weather will have a lot of say in when we end up where.
>> > Wednesday, back to our launch point, haul out, and head back to Ohio.
>> >
>> > Will firm things up a bit if I can after looking over the cruising
>> guides
>> > piled on my work table and maybe connect with some of you Chesapeake
>> > Rhodies (Mary Lou and the Crab Alley Rhodie esp.) if things work out.
>> >
>> > For the Chesapeake Rhodies ... a question or two .... It sure looks
>> like
>> > in most places in the cruising range we're planning to use that we
>> should
>> > be able to cross the Chesapeake in about an hour or two.  Is that
>> pretty
>> > much your experience?  It also looks like St Michaels to Rock Hall (or
>> > vice versa) should be easily done in a day of sailing.  Is that
>> > reasonable?
>> >
>> > We'll probably dry provision Muireann and plan to take dinners ashore
>> most
>> > nights.  It's our first long cruise and I don't want it to be too much
>> > like camping for my Admiral.  I'm thinking that of the five nights we
>> > won't spend more than two on the hook, but since I'm not making marina
>> > reservations, that could be an underestimate.
>> >
>> > Muireann is sporting her new sails so she'll be a red hulled R22 with
>> > black Sunbrella on the sails.  She's got her hull number (113) on her
>> > genoa.
>> >
>> > Mike Cheung
>> > s/v Muireann
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Mike Cheung wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I'm troubleshooting a recalcitrant steaming/anchor light and am
>> slightly
>> >> perplexed.  The forward masthead/anchor light, which is also the
>> steaming
>> >> or running light, has not been lighting so far this season.  I finally
>> >> carried a multimeter up to Muireann and checked things out more
>> >> quantitatively.  As you know there are four pins on the mast wiring
>> >> harness for lights.  The one at 10 o'clock appears to be the ground.
>>  The
>> >> next one clockwise at 2 o'clock or so appears to be the aft anchor
>> light
>> >> and is working when the anchor light switch is on.  One would expect
>> that
>> >> another pin would also be energized then for the front anchor light /
>> >> steaming light, but it is not.  Okay, maybe that's the problem because
>> >> the front light is not lit when running light is selected either. 
>> But,
>> a
>> >> check of continuity shows continuity only between the ground pin and
>> the
>> >> aft anchor light pin.  This implies that both the foward anchor light
>> /
>> >> steaming light bulb is out (hence not continuity) and that there is a
>> >> problem getting power to whatever pin it is connected to on the four
>> pin
>> >> harness.  Since the probability of this is the product of the
>> individual
>> >> failure probabilities, I'm suspicious.  Anything I"m missing here?
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>> --
>> View this message in context:
>> http://www.nabble.com/steaming-light-fun-....-tp23513874p23523073.html
>> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>
>> __________________________________________________
>> To subscribe/unsubscribe or for help with using the mailing list go to
>> http://www.rhodes22.org/list
>> __________________________________________________
>>
> __________________________________________________
> To subscribe/unsubscribe or for help with using the mailing list go to
> http://www.rhodes22.org/list
> __________________________________________________
> 
> 

-- 
View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/steaming-light-fun-....-tp23513874p23526667.html
Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.