My spreader switch in the dome light stopped working on my 2004 sailfish 282. It seems relatively simple to rewire this to one of the unused rocker panel switches through the hard top tube. Is this a good idea? Why weren't they wired this way originally as opposed to the dome light? Are there any issues with having the spreaders wired to the rocker panel? With all the problems folks have had with the dome light switch I don't understand why people aren't simply going off the rocker panel. Any ideas?
Wiring Spreaders to Rocker panel?
- Thread starter Sjoyce15
- Start date
Why not just change the switch in the dome light and save the hassle of rewiring to the console? But to answer your question, you most definitely can power your spreader lights from the console switch panel. Grady sourced the power for the spreader lights from the dome light to save one run of wires to the same area of the top.
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Unfortunately, I broke the dome light plastic housing when I removed it! The screws were just spinning and when I tried to remove the housing it cracked. So, I now need to replace the dome light as well but I did not find any online with a switch for the spreaders.
I ran the wire this morning from the box to the switch panel and this was surprisingly easy, took about 15 minutes. The empty rocker switch breaker I plugged into was marked with a "5" which I assume is 5 amp. The fuse in the overhead box was 10 amp. The spreaders came on without a problem. Question, will this breaker likely start to trip?
Maybe. It depends on the draw of the spreaders. If the draw is more than 4 amps, the breaker will probably trip if lit for extended periods of time. If the draw is less than 4 amps, you should be fine
Fishtales
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Fishtales
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Thanks for the help everyone. So, this little project that started with a bad switch grew a bit! I decided to replace the spreaders with new LED lights to reduce the drain on the batteries - I went with the Caprera-LT 1,000 Lumen floods which worked great - the brackets fit into the very same mounting holes of the original spreaders and they throw more light. I replaced the dome light with an Advanced LED #PN 1077SRW which also fit perfectly and has both a red and white light option. And, as I mentioned wiring to the rocker panel was easy. The spreader cost me $160 for the pair, the dome light $45. This likely could have been done cheaper with other lights but these were very easy to swap out and they look and work great.