Replacing Electrical panel in 1995 CP19...HELP!

[mayrel]

I decided to replace the electrical panel on our 95' CP19.  Let me preface this, I'm not an electrician, partially color blind and wear bifocals, so I'm nearly blind too!  But thinking we have one battery, navigation, cabin and steaming light, how difficult can this be?  So I purchased a breaker type panel that lights up when you turn a switch on.  It has a + and - pole with a single ring connection to each bar, one on either side. Then there are four male spade connections down the middle; looks really simple.  When I pulled the panel off I found the wiring very confusing.  For example, black ground from battery becomes green.  Red positive from battery remains red.  Yellow is cabin light, Blue is mast head light and Green is red/green bow light/white stern light. This is based on the owners manual wiring schematic.  Based on this I "think" I can connect the hot lead(red) from the battery to the positive terminal on the new panel, the green(ground)from the existing wiring harness to the negative terminal on the new panel, then connect the blue and yellow to the new panel center terminals for the switches.  Here's my confusion.  There isn't a separate ground from the battery to the existing panel.  The ground wire is black off the battery, then there is a white wire to the stern light and bow navigation lights.  Then from the bow lights it returns to the panel as a green wire.  Shouldn't there be a separate black ground from the battery to the panel?  Looks like I should run a black wire from the battery to the negative terminal on the new panel and the existing green wire to one of the center male spade connectors.  The male spade connectors are to each switch on the new panel.  If I do this, looks like all the negative wires from each light is then connected to the center spade connectors, a positive wire to the hot side and a negative wire to the ground on the panel directly from the battery.
I can see from the schematic in the owners manual all the wires lead to the existing panel are negative except the red wire from the battery(hot/positive).  They ran the hot lead from the battery via connecting each switch using jumper wires.  The new panel uses a single bar on one side with a single pole for the hot lead which connects to the switches, the center spade terminals are the negative leads for each switch,  and the corresponding bar is where you connect the single ground wire. 
It looks like the existing ground comes off the battery as a black wire, then they spliced in a white wire to the stern light, a white wire to the bow light, two connecting white wires from the mast head and cabin lights back to a spliced in green wire to the old panel as the common ground.  On the new panel, if I connect this green(common ground)to a spade and then run a separate black ground wire to the common ground post on the new panel I will have essentially a double ground, will this work?  Early thanks, John

[Salty19]

It's tough to say for sure without know the full specs of your new panel.

The grounding bar on the panel might be for 1.) Grounding the switches themselves, likely for the LED lights on the switches.  or 2.) Designed for you to run all grounds back to the panel then one ground wire from panel to battery.   Or perhaps 3.) A combination of both.  Probably #3, but important to know for sure.


What kind of panel are you working with?

[mayrel]

I purhased a Blue Sea four position lighted panel with circuit breakers; not shown on the website.  I hooked it up today and it works, however if I switch more than two switches on the LED lights go out, but everything keeps working?  I think maybe you're correct; I need to run a ground wire from the battery to the panel.  I'll do that tomorrow.  I don't think this could be a faulty panel???  thanks for your response.

[mayrel]

I figured it out.  I needed a dedicated ground from the battery to the panel.  The panel has a post for that purpose, but I was told by a so-called electrician, the particular panel I have and the way the boat is wired, I didn't need a dedicated ground...wrong-O!!  I went down to the boat this evening, ran the ground and guess what....all the lights were brighter, the panel lights remained on with all switches on!  Amazing how simple this was, yet so complicated at the same time.  Two minor tasks yet to perform and we're ready to sail!  Again, thanks for your response....John