Berth Reading lights

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AMCarter3
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Berth Reading lights

Post by AMCarter3 »

We want to replace the gooseneck reading lights in both berths. We have the 4 new lights. However, I ran into a snag when I started to remove the gooseneck lights -- I have not yet found where the 2 wires for each light go. There's only about 1" of wire visible from the berth. They obviously go through the head wall to somewhere, but I could not find them in either the battery compartment or the space between the two berths.

Anyone know how to get to the 12v wires that attach to the 4 berth reading lights? I plan to remove the entry steps to see if they can be found there.
Mac Carter
2006 34' PDQ PowerCat "All Heart"; MV 98; twin 100 HP Yanmars
Home Port: Bellingham WA 98229
deising
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Re: Berth Reading lights

Post by deising »

The wires servicing our berth lights run inside the battery compartment. You said you looked there, so it remains a mystery to me. Good luck.
Duane Ising
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2006 PDQ MV 34 - hull 91, 75HP, 3-blade
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AMCarter3
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Re: Berth Reading lights

Post by AMCarter3 »

I'll there again. Thanks.
Mac Carter
2006 34' PDQ PowerCat "All Heart"; MV 98; twin 100 HP Yanmars
Home Port: Bellingham WA 98229
Tom Green
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Re: Berth Reading lights

Post by Tom Green »

On mine the wires run through the space below the battery box where we have a diesel and hydronic heater. There is not much extra length on the wire so be carful when trying to change the lights!

Unfortunately we have been in that space recently because of a battery leaking acid. The battery box was clearly not water tight. The glass walls are very thin and some fasteners clearly had pierced the glass. The acid leaked into the space below and along the heating ducts into the sleeping spaces. It did a fair amount of damage. We now have a rebuilt battery box that is water tight and has a drain as well. Also went for the AGM BATTERIES. More expensive but I don’t ever want to deal with the acid again. New heaters and good to go.

Back to the lights. We thought about replacing the fixtures but instead just put in LED bulbs which don’t get so hot.
Tom & Nanci Green
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Re: Berth Reading lights

Post by deising »

Just adding a note about replacement of the original halogen bulbs with LEDS. What an amazing difference - lots of good light and no detectable heat, not to mention the savings in battery power. We kept all the original fixtures since they were in good shape.
Duane Ising
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2006 PDQ MV 34 - hull 91, 75HP, 3-blade
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Re: Berth Reading lights

Post by AMCarter3 »

We replaced the halogen lights with LED lights 2 years ago. It is a real improvement. The issue we have is the goose necks are slowly failing. They have been bent and re-bent a lot. A couple of them are almost falling off the base that screws to the wall. So, we bought some really nice, smaller and not-to-expensive rotating wall reading lamps with dimmable LED lights to replace them.

I just have to find the wires. I looked in the space between the berths below the battery box and did not see any light fixture wires there. And the fixtures appear to be mounted on the berth walls quite a ways higher UP from that space below the battery box. My challenge is to how to move the three 150 lb. AGM batteries in the battery box to see if the wires are visible in the box. I haven't tackled that yet and won't for another few weeks. (vacation time)
Mac Carter
2006 34' PDQ PowerCat "All Heart"; MV 98; twin 100 HP Yanmars
Home Port: Bellingham WA 98229
James Power
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Re: Berth Reading lights

Post by James Power »

The aft cabin reading light wiring should run just under the deck in the house battery compartment.

James
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