Project #3 - Replacing the Compass on my 250 Fiesta Vee

wtmills

The fluid in my old Danforth has leaked out to the point that it is unusable.  I purchased a new Ritchie to replace it.  My old compass had one set of wires for a red night light.  My new compass has two lights and two sets of wires.  As I was preparing to solder my new light wires to my original wiring harness, I checked the polarity of the wires coming from the boat (they are both black so I can't tell which is neutral and which is positive just by looking) and noticed that I was only getting 6v to the wiring harness.  Is this normal?  I checked other known 12V sources on the boat and they are producing 12V.  Is the power source for the compass suppose to be 6V?

diggin2day1

If it is a normal incandescent light bulb(Non LED) polarity will not matter. As for the 6 volt  reading... does it pass through the dimmer switch? Is it possible that they use a lower voltage to keep the light dim(compass is high on the dashboard and a bright light will have nasty effects on night vision). 

wtmills

Thank you.  This is good information.  No, the light for the compass is not regulated by the dash dimmer.  This supports 6 volts by design.  I have checked, double checked, and triple checked and the output of the wiring harness for the compass light is definitely 6 volts.  When I get a chance I plan to test the new compass lights with a regulated DC power supply set at 6 volts to make sure it will work before I reconnect the wiring and put everything back together.  I'm not sure if the new lights are LED or not, the packaging does not say one way or the other.  I guess I will have to disassemble things far enough to see for myself.  I don't want to assume they are not LED just because there is nothing to say it is.

cmelt2003

Which compass did you use?