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

[Hank]

Mike,

Is the mast end of the plug male or female?  If it is female, take a piece
of wire and jump two sockets together.  You can then check for continuity at
the bulb socket. If they're male, you'll need a helper to hold a jumper wire
across the two pins.

Hank

On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 2:14 PM, Mike Cheung <mikecheung at att.net> wrote:

>
> 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:
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> >> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> >>
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> --
> View this message in context:
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>
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