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Capt-Rick · 05-23-2021, 12:06 AM

I have a short in my ceiling lights in my 2002 sea breeze. I thought I had a bad light fixture so I took them out one by one and could not find any of them bad. I replaced the fuse on the fuse panel with all light fixtures removed and I kept blowing fuses. I remove the wiring block from the fuse panel and testing with an Ohm meter I should get an infinity reading but I get 3 ohms which tells me that I have a short between the blue and white wire somewhere. When I plug the wiring block back in the red led for F9 comes on and that indicates a problem on the cable. Does anyone know the routing of this blue wire to the ceiling? All the ceiling lights daisy chain off of this one blue wire. I have uploaded the distribution panel diagram but it does not tell you where the wires go. I'm looking for some kind of routing diagram that shows you where these wires go. Either the blue wire is shorted to the white wire or the blue wire is shorted to the chassis. HELP!

Karlos · 06-01-2021, 06:25 PM

Bummer about the wiring problem. You most likely identified the problem ... a short somewhere in the ceiling light circuit. My old rig was a 2000 SeaView with that same 12V distribution board, so I've been in it a couple times.

Troubleshooting. Pull the F9 fuse first. Then start mapping what loads are on that circuit. With fuse pulled, start turning on/off all lights and accessories. If they turn on, they are not on that circuit. I think that circuit has ceiling lights in the front cabin area, the galley area, hall and bedroom. I think the wall sconces by the booth and couch are on another circuit, as well as the bedroom reading lights. I think the bath lights are on another circuit also. But you should verify that.

Once you know what loads are on that circuit, you can guess at how the wiring run was installed. It will likely be a pair of wires (blue and white) fed from the 12V panel, up the wall into the ceiling, probably starting at the light nearest the windshield and then running straight down the ceiling from front to back, catching all the ceiling lights in parallel, one after another.

I would pull down that light fixture nearest the windshield and expose the wiring behind it. You should have a wire nut connecting the hot (12V) wire from the panel, a hot (12V) going to the next ceiling light, and a hot going to the light fixture. Similarly, there will be a second wire nut connecting a ground wire in, a ground wire going to the next fixture, and a ground wire going to the light fixture.

Disconnect the both wire nuts and remove the light fixture. Separate all the wires and plug in fuse F9. If it blows, your short is between the 12V panel and the first light. If it doesn't blow, the short is "downstream" of your hot feed. Temporarily wire the ceiling fixture to only the incoming hot and ground to see if the fixture has a short. If it works OK, pull F9 again, reattach all the wires like you found them.

Move on to the next fixtures downstream, one at a time, and repeat the above procedure until you find the problem area. Chances are, something is shorted at a connector, rather than in the wall.

Good luck on your hunt!

Karl

Capt-Rick · 06-01-2021, 11:45 PM

I thank you for your information. I'm not able to put a fuse back in F9 as every time you put a fuse in it blows. I know the shorts not in one of the lights is I have removed them all and I still get the short. It also looks like the circuit starts in the bedroom and ends by the driver seat.

I don't know what the route is from the bedroom light back to the fuse panel. That's what I'm really looking for someone to tell me. It seems like I started having this problem when I hit a low hanging limb and demolished my TV antenna. All the other fixtures in the ceiling seem to work fine. It seems like the blue wire has been smashed into the metal of the chassis or into the white wire of the circuit somehow. Finding where the short occurs is going to be an issue.

Karlos · 06-02-2021, 09:01 AM

Got it. Maybe remove the F9 fuse first, then remove ALL the light fixtures on that circuit, just leaving the wires disconnected. Then put a good F9 fuse in and see if it blows.

If it doesn't blow, you can check each fixture location for a hot to find where the circuit starts. From there work down the circuit to isolate the short.

If it does blow with all fixtures disconnected, I'm not sure the next step.

Karl

Capt-Rick · 06-15-2021, 07:13 PM

Well I removed all of the lights. I have also disconnected the blue wire at the last light fixture location. I still get a red LED on the panel and if I put a fuse in F9 it blows. The lights start in the bedroom not at the front windshield. So I don't know how the circuit runs. There's no way to get to the cable if it comes up the back wall between the the bedroom and the fiberglass shell that covers the back. Does anybody know exactly how this blue and white wire gets to the ceiling from the fuse panel?