209 nav lights

[Atc235]

I went to change out the nav lights and upgrade to LED. BOTH wires are black? I’m going to trace down further next time at the boat. Anyone else notice this. Thanks

 

[seasick]

Both what wires were black? The wires in the hull or the wires from the new lights. What was wired on the old lights? the light fixture.

 

[Atc235]

The red and green fixtures had only black wires coming off them. But they had a water tight plug on the end that snapped into the wire harness. So I’m going to bet this is original Grady equipment. I didn’t look at the harness itself yet. There wasn’t enough slack to pull it out and look. I think there is a strap holding it back. The next time I go out I’ll have more time. I was thinking of bringing a tester with me and using it to find the red wire. The wire harness that runs through the boat should have red and black wires right lol just want to make sure. This way I have what I need when I go back. Thanks

 

[SkunkBoat]

Nav light (bow light)wire should be Gray not red. Standard in the industry.

The incandescent fixtures often had two black wires because polarity doesn't matter. LED fixtures usually have a black and a white (sometimes a black and a red).

 

[Hookup1]

Put a voltmeter on it to determine positive lead. Meter will read +12 volts with red meter lead on positive terminal. Otherwise a -12 volts reading is reversed - swap leads.

LEDs, being diodes, will only allow current to flow in one direction. And when there's no current-flow, there's no light. Luckily, this also means that you can't break an LED by plugging it in backwards. Rather, it just won't work. If it doesn't work one way try the other.