Nav Lights Wiring

Submitted by dshkipin on Tue, 2010-03-09 11:10


 


 


 


 


 



Before I close off the panel I wanted to see if anyone has done the OSR lights wiring before. To me this reads: +- wire from breaker 1 to masthead; +- wire from breaker 2 to bow; +- wire from breaker 3 to stern; two banks of batteries with a common wire from selector switch to breaker + bus. Any  input appreciated,


  


NOR A IV 6 "Emergency Navigation Lights and Power Source (OSR 3.27): A masthead tricolor is recommended for the primary navigation lights offshore due to its superior visibility by ships. When used in this manner the normal bow and stern lights will suffice for emergency navigation lights if of suitable power and if coupled with more than one battery and separate wiring. The common battery selection switch does not disqualify this arrangement."


 

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Comments

Nav light wiring

by skipper - 03/16/2010 - 07:06

My input on this is that the wiring described above does comply.  However 3 breakers (or switches) are not required.  One breaker controlling bow and stern plus one breaker controlling Masthead (or other navlights such as redundant bow and stern) through separate supply wires (meaning between breaker and lights) complies as long as the following is also true.  The breakers (or switches) can be powered by either (any) of the more than one batteries required.  This is the case if the power can be changed by moving battery cables, using jumpers, or through a "common battery selection switch" (also known as AB or 1,2, all).  There do not have to be multiple cable pairs (pair meaning +/-)from the Batteries or battery selector switch to the breaker panel.

If there is any doubt about your configuration, you should include enough suitable wire in your spares kit to effect a connection from either battery to either Nav LIght breaker (switch).

I hope this clarifies the issue.

Skip

we did it a little differently

by pineapple girl - 03/09/2010 - 14:18

We have breaker one to masthead tricolor and breaker two to bow and stern running lights.  rest is as you say.  This was an interesting topic at the last prep seminar as the inspector (skip I believe) said this was fine but the electric guy was saying you needed to have totally separate wiring to different batteries for the two sets of lights.  I did not hear Skip say "no you don't" but he didn't say "yeah that is correct" either.  The way I read NOR section you quoted, I think you and I have both set it up in an acceptable way and I look forward to someone official chiming in!

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by dshkipin - 03/12/2010 - 21:19

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Pineapple girl, I think it is perfectly correct to have the bow and stern on one circuit. This whole requirement is not new, so I am not sure why there is still confusion on what "independent wiring" means. Separate wiring sounds great, except how would one switch from standard source to emergency - once you add a battery switch, it is no longer "independent." I just dont think OSR people had thier coffee that day. The truth if electrical goes out, it is out - the most reliable in that case are battery operated nav lights.

 

Team Adventure Cats

It's unfortunate wording

by Webmaster - 03/15/2010 - 09:07

Dmitri is right, I think about the coffee.  I have a hard time endorsing those converted flashlight junk items.  However, if someone has finally made an LED portable light, well, then hooray.

"Independent wiring" means that you can power EITHER your masthead tri OR your deck-level lights (or whatever your two sets of lights are) through separate sets of wires.

Now, in the past, at prep seminars, racers have been advised that if the wiring is separate from the circuit panel to the light, and it is separate from the battery A/B switch to the battery, then the common bus from the A/B switch to the circuit panel would be acceptable. 

In other years, and I consider this better advice, racers were advised to make up a length of wire of adequate gauge, with clips on the ends, to jumper over that common bus, in case it somehow failed or was otherwise compromised.

The nice thing about the latter advice is that it, IMHO, meets the actual letter of the OSR's and also makes you carry a chunk o' wire that may be useful for other things, like being a vhf antenna (if short) or being an SSB antenna (if long) or powering your blender for margaritas (if sailing with Paul).

I'll put this to Skip to get an authoritative answer.

Michael