This chump is stumped....again :)

[Rookie]

Hi Friends,

had to take a detour away from my lovely 23 for a few months to earn some living. Now back at it..first thing I did was rewire the whole thing. Old wiring was a mess. and there were no masthear/steaming lights. So I ran a PVC pipe through the mast, pop riveted it to the mast, ran 2/12 cable to the top, installed a tri-color LED and windvane to the top and a steaming light near the spread (might proud of myself already )...also installed two deck conncetors to lead the lines inside. got all wires to lead aft to the switch panel..connected into toggle switched and fuses..connected cable from fuse side of the panel to + side of battery and switch side (ground) to (-) side of battery and threw the first switch....WALLA...NOTHING ....WHAT??

well...disconnected the line from the switch ...(the - line coming from cabin lights) and clamped it directly to battery (-)...light comes on..HMMMM, connected back to switch panel...NOTHING..AAAARGGGG

so here is my setup...

the switch panel has fuses on one side (each fuse has two tabs...I connected one (fuse) tab using jumper wire ...one to another and last one to battery (+) terminal..the second tab from the fuse side is connected to a tab (see below) on the toggle switch side.

My toggle switches has three tabs (labelled Power, ACC and Ground). I am connecting the jumper wire from fuse to the power tab, wire coming from the light (load) to the ACC tab and the ground tabs on all switches are jumpered together and than connected (crimped) to a 10 gauge wire ..back to the batter (-) terminal...

when i move the toggle switch to ON position, the switch lights up (it has led light inside) ...however the cabin light does NOT come on

I have tried to move the connections around a bit ,but dont see any changes.

What am I doing wrong here

Thanks in advance for your advise.

[jgsharpe]

Where are the - lines from each light connected?

[Rookie]

each load (light etc) has two lines, one is connected to a busbar that goes to (+) side of the battery and the other line is lead to the switch panel, where it is connected to ACC tab on the toggle switch.

[jgsharpe]

Ok, I think I know what's going on.  The + line from each light should attach to the ACC tab on each switch.  The - line from each light should all be connecetd to the neg term of the battery.  Everything else you've described sounds good.

One variation if you wish.  If you have all the GND tabs of the switches already tied to the Neg term on the battery, then you can tie the - line from each light to the GND tab on the switch.  It will work, but you become reliant on that connection at the switch for your lighting ground, not the most direct route.

[Rookie]

Hmmm....Shouldnt the Positive Line from each load (light) go to the "fuse' side of the panel (and not the switch side)?  the second tab on the fuse side is jumpered to the switch (to provide the power...hence connected to the power tab on the switch).

May be I need to provide a better explanation.

The positive line from load is connected to the fuse/breaker side on the swich panel. which in turn is connected to the + terminal on the battery. 
the - side of the load is connected to the ACC tab on the switch...

If I take the negative side off the switch and connect it directly to the battery (using Cabin light TURNS ON

But if i connect the same wire to the switch (ground or ACC tab does not matter...i have tried both), the Cabin light does NOT turn on.

[jgsharpe]

Yes, the clue here is that you can disconnect the - line from the switch and connect it to the - side of the battery and the light comes on.  I think you are trying to power both the + and - lines to the light with just +.  I'll try to sketch this and post

[jgsharpe]

[jgsharpe]

sorry so enormous..  anyway, you have brought power to the switch via the fuse.  with one lead from the light on ACC terminal and the other on the - term of battery, flipping the switch will complete the circuit and power the light.

[jgsharpe]

and when you tie the GND tab of the switch to the neg term of battery, the LED in the switch will light.

[Rookie]

Thank you soooo very much a diagram ( I was trying to upoad pictures but could not...need to figure that out). is lot better way to understand it.

However, in your diagram both lines from light are essentailly going to same (ground) side, one goes directly to battery neg (which is ground and the other one goes to ground tab on the switch (not sure what goes to acc tab here).

in my case I am going by the diagram on this page (http://newboatbuilders.com/pages/electricity4.html) I am posting a URL because I dont know how to add pictures to the post

On that page the first diagram shows that ONE side of the motor goes to + of the battery after passing through fuse/switch and other side goes to (-) neg of the battery (1st diagram)

In the second (more detailed diagram on the same page) essentially the same idea is repeated. All  lines for the (+) of the load go to + bus and connect to battery after passing through fuse and switch whereas all the lines from (-) side of the load go to - neg bus and connect to the  -neg side of the battery..

that is the source of my confusion. in your diagram the circuit completes only when the switch is turned to on position.

Thanks for all your help

[jgsharpe]

In my sketch I'm showing (trying to show) the light connecting to the ACC tab.  Nothing is shown connected to the GND tab.  So, closing the switch completes the circuit from + to - through the light.  In the diagram on your link it's exactly the same.  Power is supplied through the fuse to the switch (PWR tab).  The light connects to the other side of the switch (ACC tab) and the other lead from the light goes to the neg terminal of the battery (via a bus bar).  Same circuit.

[jgsharpe]

Here's the circuit from your link with some notes.  one side of the light on ACC, the other to Battery neg.

[Rookie]

Hey JG..

Sorry for the delayed response. As I said..I got it when you sent the first sketch..I couldnt wait and had to go to my boat to reconfigure the wiring and test...and BANG it worked..Thanks a bundle..I owe you a cold one..when (not if) we meet
Sean

[jgsharpe]

Excellent!  Sounds like a great project.

[moonlight]

Sorry I missed the early parts of this.
The lighted switch is a separate bulb; a separate circuit.
The ONLY function of the ground tab on the switch is to complete this "light" circuit internal to the switch (grounds the bulb to battery negative or preferably grounding bus).
Simple ABYC rules:
* no more than 4 connections to a battery post.  (I prefer only one).  Use bus bars for what they're intended for.  Positive and Negative.
* the positive leads must be fused within 7 inches of the source (battery AND bus) according to the wire's ampacity.  Use a big fuse commensurate with big wire off the positive battery terminal, to the switch panel.  It's then distributed through smaller fuses which protect smaller wires to switches and loads.
* the battery must be restrained so as to not move in any direction more than 1 inch.  Provision must be made for collection/retention of spilled electrolyte (tray or box).  Positive posts must be covered.
So again, the power leaves the battery, goes through a fuse, to a distribution panel, with fuses (or circuit breakers) to switches which lead to loads which goes back to battery negative bus.  IF there's a bulb in the switch you'd like to illuminate, then ground the switch.  Again, that's the sole purpose of a lighted switch.  It gets more complex w/ DPDT switches, but notice that they have seven terminals if lit; one ground, two lines, distributed to four possible loads.
Call or email with questions!