Boat lights

[ssendek]

I have a question about the lights on my boat. I just got done rewiring the lights. New nav lights. I was wondering, just how bright should the rear light be. Like I said I bought mine new but it seems really dim. I double and triple checked the wiring and it seems fine.

Any help would be nice. Thanks in advance!

[hanson]

Your stern light should be plenty bright.

MN boating regulations require the stern light be visible from a distance of 2 miles.

Some of the new stern lights have an anti-glare design to them that appear dim when in the boat. If you stand up or get some distance between you and the boat, you'll notice the light is plenty bright.

[ssendek]

Thanks Hanson but even with the cover off the light seems dim. Any suggestions on what I did wrong or what I can change to make it brighter?

[JollyT]

I can think of three things that could cause this.

1. Long small gauge wire runs that have high resistance.

2. Poor connections, soldering that has high resistance.

3. Lights hooked up in series rather than parallel causing shared voltage drops and low voltage at each bulb.

[HaywardBound]

Quote:

---

3. Lights hooked up in series rather than parallel causing shared voltage drops and low voltage at each bulb.

---

Can you explain this further, I'm not following it?

[bwtrout]

This diagram is wired in series, the voltage is divided in half for each light.

This diagram is parallel, each light gets the full voltage.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Try wiring it directly to the battery with as little wire as possible. If its as dim as b-4 than I would suspect that the light may be defective. If it gets brighter than a quick double check of your work is probably in order.

[blueroof]

Quote:

---

I double and triple checked the wiring and it seems fine.

---

I would start by checking how much current is being drawn in the circuit with a digital multimeter. You should be able to get the current rating from the replacement bulb specs. I did a bit of quick searching and found that the perko wedge base stern bulbs are rated for .27 A. Find out your bulbs specs and go from there.

If you are drawing too little current, you have three places to check, the bulb itself, the fuse and the battery. The wiring could also be an issue, but less likely than the other three. Sometimes a slow blow fuse will allow a voltage differential, but be blown enough to not let all the current through.

LB

[ssendek]

I checked the wiring one more time. It was in series so I tried it out in parallel and the light was really bright. Thanks for the info guys!

[Jeremy airjer W]

JollT nailed it!! Nice work!