Guys,
I disconnected my battery a couple of months ago.
I am reconnecting the new one.
My wiring is not labelled. Any idiot help?
I have a bad case of C.R.S.
There is a red wire and two white wires.
I assumed the red is the positive and the the others negative.
I connected, no power, no smoke.....fuses are good.
Any help?
I am imagining this is stock wiring .
Thanks,
Fred
Well, no fire and/or smoke is a good thing. Sounds like you might want to consider a rewire or at least trace things back and label everything. Where do the white wires go? In Don Casey's "Sailboat Electrics" book, either yellow or black are recommended for the negative. Why yours is white, I cannot say. But if it works, go for it. I highly recommend this book. A call to Compac may be in order.
Don't, I repeat, don't cut corners on the electrical system for your boat. A fire on board is not a pretty thing.
Bob23
I second what Bob said. Wiring isn't a huge task and I just finished rewiring most of my boat.
I added a lot of bus bars into the boat. I did three negative bus bars and 3 positive bus bars. The route from the battery was from the battery to a selector switch (1 or off). From the selector switch to a positive bus bar. The bus bar then distributes two wires that make the two fuse panels hot (I wired in a second fuse panel). The switches that have a lot of things wired in to them go to a bus bar and all the components are wired into the bus bar.
Negative runs from the battery to the large negative bus bar.
You're OK. Compac uses white as the common negative back to the battery from whatever switch/buss/breaker panel they used at the time, at least that is according to the wiring diagram they supply. I would trace forward to your switch panel to verify and make your own diagram so you know what you have for any future additions.
Thank you all.
I'll let you know what happens.
Stay tuned,
FF
Oh:
Kinda non related and I'm sure you all know this: Keep at least one fire extinguisher on board so if things get ugly, you can cool down. 2 years ago at the BBB 2013, a 23 owner would have lost his boat if not for good chance timing. When running wires, think movement and possible abrasion. Don't let any wires touch anything they're not supposed to!
Bob23
On the CP-19 we have two terminal strips with screwed-on conductors eyes. Everything is soldered.
The terminal strips are screwed onto the backside of the wood used for the back of the quarter birth on the starboard side.
So the strips are between the bulkhead and the battery.
These are plastic covered as per Vessel Safety Check requirements so nothing can short out.
Only two wires go to the battery terminals. One black and one red. Can't screw that up! I think.
skip.
On my 1992 Compac 23/V I just discovered that my cabin lights are wired backwards. Black is negative and switched and white is positive. I am wondering how this happened?
I bought LED bulbs and they would not work and then discovered the circuits have reverse polarity.
On another question, reading Don Caey's Sailboat Electrics Simplified, has anyone grounded their mast for lightening protection? How did you do it?