guage and dash lights

K

kg4vgh

New Member
Dec 30, 2006
144
Hampton Roads, VA
Boat Info
340 Sundancer
Ratheon Radar, SH 1200C, SH 3500S, AIS,
Engines
T-350's with V-drive
1990 310 Sundancer....has no dash or guage lights working.....Dash lights appeare to be the back light kind, BUT....no burned out bulbs or sockets to verify this...Both the guage and dash light intensity is controlled by a reostat (dimmer)...but it does not appear to work....
Is there a fuse for these that I am not seeing / finding ? Nav lights are working.....
I bought the boat last month...first evening / night run was last night...felt a bit funny using a flashlight to read the panel lol
I did inherit the geny/ AC system and radio, schematic, if anyone would like a copy of it....
Troubleshootnig ideas ?
Thanks in advance
Pete
 
There should be a fuse panel with fuses for everything in it, I don't know your boat so I cannot tell you where the panel is. Easy test, get a 12 volt test light and check for power at the switch, I think there should be a rocker switch to turn the panel lights on and then the dimmer to control the brightness. Once you are behind the dash you should be able to see the wiring and where it goes so you would know where to check for power at the switches. If power at the switches both in and out fuses ok, switches ok, power into switch but not out with switch on, bad switch, if fuse and switches good then look at wiring, bad wire, bad ground connection. Test other areas to be sure that you have the test light grounded and that it is working. You might go to the SeaRay website and download the parts manual and owners manual for your boat, I just checked and they are both available. Hope this helps a little.
 
I'll be paying attention to this one. Bought our AJ new. Fourth season or so, the dash/gauge lights decided to work when they felt like it. Ours has the dimmer control, but no on/off switch as the panel lights are controlled by the nav/anchor light switch. The nav/anchor lights have always worked fine. Bring it on! I'm all eyes and ears on this one!
 
update 4-1-07

Not able to jump past the reostat, as it is fed by a transformer...evidently the dash light are low voltage....have power to the transformer, but nothing out the other side....will try and find a replacement this week.....and try again......did get the parts manual downloaded thanks again for the tip...




Thanks Midway.....
There is no dash light switch...best I can tell is power comes from the Nav light switch, into the dimmer.....it appears.....the dimmer is the weak link....as there is power on the input side from the nav switch, but nothing on the other side....going to try and jump around it tomorrow.....
I have the owners manual, came with the boat...but no parts list...will try and download it tonight...thanks for the tip....will let you know what I find tomorrow.....and you to AJ.....
Cheers
 
Given my experience, the dimmer switch makes sense. We really don't boat much at night so the problem has never been at the top of my list. A few times when we have been out at night and the dash lights were out, cranking on the dimmer switch (you know, the "you lousy :smt013 *&?%$#@ piece of crap" attempt at a fix) has brought them to life! Please update with your progress!

Thanks
 
Glad I could be of some help.
 
yet another update....I spoke to SeaRay today....the quote Transformer....is NOT....it's an inverter....according to them, the panel lights are high voltage, not 12 volt...guage lights are still 12 volt....so that means there are now 2 problems...guage lights at 12 volt and panel lights at higher voltage....couldn't talk them into faxing the schematics either lol.....
They did say that the harness is an assembly (through them)...however through the vendor / supplier, I should be able to purchase just the inverter....
any ideas on who the supplier is ?
 
Pete, I put a schematic of my 1996 270 DA instrument panel wiring on line some time ago. You can click here and then scroll about halfway down. Find where I posted three pictures side by side, of the helm switch panel, instruments, and breaker panel. Click on the switch panel picture to bring up a diagram of the switch panel wiring.

There you will see that the dimmer is powered from the nav lighting switch, and that the inverter for the high voltage EL lighting for the switches is powered from the dimmer. So if the dimmer is bad, none of the panel lighting will work.

My lighting inverter is still bad, I have not found a replacement. If anyone knows of a replacement source, I would like to know about it.

This thread belongs in the electrical section.
 
Dave,

So you have power on both sides of the dimmer, power to the inverter but no output from the inverter?

Also, if the inverter is bad then the lights would be out for good? Not an "every now and then" problem like mine?

Just curious! Thanks
 
Yes, that is correct. I have power through the rheostat, and it does light the lighting in the instruments. I am fairly sure I took small pins, poked through the insulation into the wires at the input of the inverter, and measured there with a DMM and made sure I had power into the inverter.

If you look here at my diagram you will see a couple of wires shown in changing colors. I did that because the wiring behind the panel really does use different color wires for the same run. It is a bit untidy behind there.

If you have an intermittent problem, then is most likely a loose or broken wire, or connection inside the rheostat. Yours might have a bad connection where the wire to power the lights attaches to the Nav light switch. You need to do a good visual check. Tug on any wire connectors and make sure they are solid.
 
Awesome job Dave....thank you very much.....I see my weekend project....will keep you in the loop should I find an inverter source, or compatible replacement...
Pete
 
I posted some about this before.

In my boat the part is:
El Tech BLI060/ISW5165

It might be as easy as calling the Sea Ray dealer and asking for one, I just have not done that.
 
Thanks Dave, Great diagram. I'll be with "her" this weekend so I'll do some investigating behind the dash.

Thanks again!
 
Dave, I read the previous post and my problem involves both the helm switch lights and the instrument lights.....so it looks like the dimmer (or the feed to the dimmer).

Thanks again!
 
I recall on our '94 or '97 400EC that there were some kind of "luminous strips" that were taped to the backside of the rocker switches. The glue or tape was letting go and they were coming away from the switch descrpitions causing them to look burned out and dim. I just pressed them back up every once in a while. I seen this topic and just figured I'd relay my experience to see if it helps? I'm sure ya probably investigated them already but hey! :grin:
 
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