Deck Light Switch 2012 R27

[CaspersCruiser]

Neither the cockpit lights nor the walkway lights illuminate when the Deck Light switch at the helm is placed in the ON position. Both sets of lights function normally using the switch at the transom door.

Power is getting from the circuit breaker to the Deck Light switch. I bypassed the switch and tried hooking both power “out” spade connectors from the switch (one at a time) directly to the circuit breaker, but neither set of lights illuminated.

Is there an in-line fuse somewhere between the helm and the lights? I can’t imagine this has any bearing, but both downrigger fuses on the Power Distribution Panel have been removed.

 

[Larry H]

On my 2014 R-27 the deck light switch at the transom has two positions ( on-off-on). In one position, the deck lights come on. In the other position, the lights only come on if the dash switch is turned on. That way, you can control the lights from either the dash or the transom. If you set it right, you can turn the lights on from the dash, leave the boat and turn them off as you leave the transom, then, on return, turn them on at the transom, and later turn them off at the dash.

It took a while for me to figure this out. Try turning the dash switch on, then either position on the transom switch should put the lights on.

 

[knotflying]

My experience is that this is a three way switch at both ends, so just pulling wires and bypassing may not find your problem. One of the switches may have gone defective. My cockpit one has gone out twice and is most likely the culprit since it is exposed to the weather and outside elements.

 

[CaspersCruiser]

As usual, Mike Rizzo had the spot-on gouge about the DECKLIGHT switch conundrum. The failure was in the switch next to the transom door in the cockpit. In the troubleshooting process, I spent a lot of time brightening the blades on the back of the cockpit switch and I replaced the female spade connectors on the wiring to the switch with new. Both had a lot of corrosion. That didn’t fix the problem. The failure was internal to the cockpit switch. The cockpit switch is a Blue Sea Systems 8275. I purchased one from Hodges Marine, installed it and the cockpit lights work via both the DECKLIGHT switch at the helm and cockpit switch as intended.

 

[Boatdreamer]

Thank you guys, my switch just went bad and I was looking for the part number. Just ordered it from Amazon.

Tim
Gratitude

 

[scross]

My turn to have the cockpit courtesy light switch go out. Knew it's a 3way switch and just cruising the web wasn't much help. Back to tugnuts for a search.....

Found both the new Blue Sea 8275 switch here
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C ... UTF8&psc=1

and two new oval cockpit courtesy lights here
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J5 ... UTF8&psc=1

This forum is great! Thanks guys!

 

[max from alaska]

I read the prior posts and had some questions:

The 8275 switch is a DPDT (double pole double throw ON-ON) switch, which I understand has two circuits each with two throws. The wiring diagram in the O&M manual shows two SPDT (single pole double throw) switches in series, which I assume means one is at the helm panel and one at the transom. These would be ON-OFF-ON as mentioned in Larry H's post

The Blue Sea Systems has a Contra SPDT ON-OFF-ON switch which is model 8232

My boat is a 2014 R27

Can someone clarify which is the correct switch? (I'm not an electrician....)

Thanks!

 

[CAPTCRUNCH]

I just fixed the non-functioning cockpit light problem on my 2013 R27 by pushing out the cockpit switch and moving all three wires to the unused set of output pins on the switch. I don't know the part number, but I can confirm that it is a DPDT ON-ON switch. In this circuit, it's like having a spare switch built in.

 

[max from alaska]

I see. Maybe the DPDT switch used in a SPDT installation has three unused terminals that can be used when the other three aren't