Thread: What am I doing wrong?

Originally Posted by Whompus Cat

Bought a boat this week that was used for gigging at one time and the man had electrical outlet boxes in the front. I am trying to replace them and cant figure out what i'm doing wrong. I have a good size solid wire coming from a battery to the outlets. I am putting the positive on the brass screw and negative on the silver screw. Why am i not getting any light? When i touch the two wires together it sparks so i know i have power through the wires.

Light good? receptacle good? Got a meter or test light? Light bulbs (incandescent) don't care about polarity.

Fuse your power to the receptacle so you want catch your boat on fire. Fuse size based on conductor size.

bad plug git a weather proof box. john

Originally Posted by camo john

bad plug git a weather proof box. john

Yep. Left this one out. Prob corroded beyond help.

i am replacing them with the new weather proof boxes. I connected the wires straight from the battery to the outlet. I tested the light inside and it worked fine. I cleaned the wires good with sand paper.

Originally Posted by Whompus Cat

i am replacing them with the new weather proof boxes. I connected the wires straight from the battery to the outlet. I tested the light inside and it worked fine. I cleaned the wires good with sand paper.

Open circuit somewhere. got a meter or test light? What type plugs and receptacles you using?

no meter nor test light. Leaning towards doing away with them. I definatly dont want a fire hazard in the boat anyway.

Originally Posted by Whompus Cat

no meter nor test light. Leaning towards doing away with them. I definatly dont want a fire hazard in the boat anyway.

If you have power to the receptacle, and the light tests good, then you must have a poor or no connection where the receptacle/plug connects. Hard to see a "no connect" when things are plugged in. Plug the light in and wiggle the sheet out of the connections. Hard to fix these type probs without test equipment sometimes. If you were close, I would fix it for you.

Originally Posted by Cane Pole

Light good? receptacle good? Got a meter or test light? Light bulbs (incandescent) don't care about polarity.

Fuse your power to the receptacle so you want catch your boat on fire. Fuse size based on conductor size.

Are you using the 12V lights or 115V lights?????