Cabin light failure

Doryman · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:06 pm Post subject: Cabin light failure

Two of the cabin lights in my TC have either never worked or have stopped working. One is in the berth and the other is in the head. I did the obvious, swapped light bulbs and the one in the berth (which had worked before) worked for a little while and then failed again. The one in the head has not worked at all.

Being electromechanically challenged, are there any simple checks/fixes that I can do before turning it over to the high priests of the repair shop?

Thanks,
Warren

drjohn71a · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:16 pm Post subject:

Well, Warren,

Here is a possibility - those conical shaped end contacts and the weak copper electrical contact arms in the sockets caused me some problems early on. At one point, we hit a large wake from a passing ship and the white, all around light went out. The jolt had moved it out of position just enough to lose the needed power to light up. I also had to bend the copper arms of the sockets on a couple of lights to get them to hold the bulb tight enough to work.

You should check that electricity is flowing in the sockets with one of those light continuity checkers or a meter.

The head and bunk lights on my TomCat are on different fuses and there are four bunk lights so if those others are working you probably have power.

Good luck,

John

thataway · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:17 pm Post subject:

Agree, take out the digital volt meter and check for the 12 volts at the contacts. Other possibilities are, the springs behind the contacts stick--I will peroidcally CRC electronics grease. Also the switches have been known to fail. The final possibility is the crimp at the pigtails from the lamp fixture to the power wires. Occasionally these are defective. So a little detective work is going to have to take place.