ALL ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS ARE MECHANICAL

Island Packet is putting low profile, halogen light fixtures, controlled by dimmers, on the ceilings of current production boats. There is one on Charmed that has worked intermittently since the boat was new. At first it seemed the bulb was the issue. The bulbs are not robust. But after changing the $5.39 bulb several times and having “bad” bulbs light in other fixtures, it was thought to be something else.

There is a connection of two yellow wires and a white wire, and a connection of two red wires and a white wire at the light fixture. Simple enough. The light is in parallel with six others, that lighted properly. The white wires of the light just seemed to indicate the light was not polarity sensitive.

The mystery deepened when 12 volts was observed at the fixture when it was on, however no bulb, however new, would light. It was observed that there was 12 volts at the fixture when there was no bulb installed in the fixture and the light was on. When there was a bulb installed and the fixture was on, the voltage disappeared. The connections all seemed factory solid. The voltage drops across the connections were zero. The resistance of the connections was about 0.3 ohms and 1 ohm, respectively. No consultant had a clue.

So, out of desperation, clip, off come the factory connections. The 1 ohm connection was renewed first. Viola! Light. For preventative maintenance the second connection was renewed. It was hard to believe that the connection was the issue given the secure look and the measurements recorded, but what else could it have been?