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

Thu May 14 10:09:57 EDT 2009

Yeah, I'll to watch that with the 'gators.  The clips I have available have
little rubber boots to help prevent that, but care is certainly required. 
The only two pins that are active are the ground and the +12V
anchor/masthead light circuit.  The other two are not connected to anything
at present.  Guess this means I could use one to rig the masthead light so
it could be used both for steaming and anchor, but I'll have to think about
how that would be wired.  Of course, I guess I could just wire them up
separately and *remember* that both the anchor and steaming circuits need
energized to have both masthead lights lit.  

Another idea I was kicking around was ditching the Perko that's up there in
favor of a Hella LED anchor/masthead light.  The little 10W Perko fig 71
"festoon" lamp in the masthead fixture really gets toasty.  It's 10W and
there's two of them.  The Hella is 2W for the whole deal.  Defender has the
Hella for $99.  We'll see I guess.

BTW ..... the Plan A : Chesapeake trip is looking iffy, the weather forecast
for there Fri through Sun isn't exactly compelling; looking at a Plan B :
shakedown off Cleveland Friday, boat chores on the trailer Saturday, cruise
the Lake Erie Islands Sun through Wed.  The forecast for Lake Erie is good
Fri, bad Sat, then good Sun onward. .... We'll see how the forecasts do the
next dozen hours of so.  Gotta admit having Muireann on the trailer does
give us a lot more options!

Mike, s/v Muireann

Hank-5 wrote:
> 
> Just make sure that the gator clips do not accidentally touch other pins.
> That's why I prefer someone actually holding it to gator clips.
> 
> Hank
> 
> On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 5:16 PM, Mike Cheung <mikecheung at att.net> wrote:
> 
>>
>> Hank,
>>
>> It's male and I can just use a 'gator clipped wire.  Honestly, I am so
>> damned slow some days .... lol
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> Hank-5 wrote:
>> >
>> > 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:
>> >> >>
>> http://www.nabble.com/steaming-light-fun-....-tp23513874p23523073.html
>> >> >> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>> >> >>
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