CONTINUOUSWAVE

[Another article found on this website on the topic of refurbishing power distribution was] very helpful.

Q1: What wire insulation color is appropriate to run to the [navigation lighting circuits]?

I [think I] would use gray for the positive and yellow for negative. I am not sure there is a duplex cable with that pairing.

I see some installers use daisy-chain wiring connections and others use home-run wiring for the [separate sidelight lamps] [as found, for example, on a Boston Whaler] Outrage.

Q2: is there a best practice?

Q3: same question for the pole lamps used for Masthead and Sternlight navigation lighting.

As for switches [for controlling navigation lighting] I'm guessing the forward navigation lights would be on a single switch and the console and stern pole lamps (all-arounds) would be on another switch together.

Q4: Is my guess correct?

I'm planning to install three bilge pumps. One for the forward fish box--that plug is difficult to reach--a second for the pump in the fuel tank cavity, and a third for the aft bait well pump.

Q5: should there be independent switches for these?

Q6: or should I just gang all three on one switch? Assuming the load is okay.

Q7: For the wire, [is] the Ancor three-conductor 16-AWG cable sufficient?

Q8: I notice in the original post a reference to Violet wire color but that insulation isn't available from Ancor. Should I change VIOLET to an existing insulation color?

Thanks--Sean

Spc337 wrote:Q1: What wire insulation color is appropriate to run to the [navigation lighting circuits]?

The circuits for the navigation lighting should be identified by having gray insulation for positive and black or yellow insulation for the negative. I don't know if there is a readily available paired duplex cable with gray and black, but many boat builders such as Boston Whaler use that sort of cable; it must be available somewhere. Paired cables are handy, but often you find them only in pairs like red-black or red-yellow. You can identify the circuit by adding the appropriate insulation color at the very end of the conductors using Scotch 35 color vinyl electrical tape.

In NAVIGATION LIGHTING there are some particular nomenclatures that must be properly used. The "light" refers to the illumination that will be seen by another vessel. "Light" does not refer to the lamp that produces the light. There are no "bow lights". In small boats it is common that a combined sidelights lamp is carried at the bow. Small boats often show a WHITE ALL-ROUND light produced by a pole lamp at the stern. Some larger boats show a single MASTHEAD light which is NOT an all-round light, but shows only in a particular designated arc. If a MASTHEAD light is shown then the STERNLIGHT is used, which again is not an all-round light but shows only in a particular designated arc.

Spc337 wrote:Q2: [between daisy-chain wiring of lamps and individual home-run wiring of lamps] is there a best practice?

Generally if each load on a circuit has its own power distribution wiring instead of being added on to another load's wiring, then circuit analysis when there is a problem will be easier.

In some installations the physical layout of the loads may dictate which wiring method is used. For example, if two loads that are part of a single circuit are only inches apart from each other but 20-feet from the distribution center, it would probably not make sense to give each load its own isolated wiring to the distribution center.

Spc337 wrote:Q3: same question for the pole lamps used for Masthead and Sternlight navigation lighting.

The same answer as given in Q2.

In the instance of two lamps that are quite far apart, I would use separate wiring from each lamp to the distribution center.

Nota bene: in many instances of small boats with a Masthead lamp and a Sternlight lamp, it is likely to VERY IMPORTANT to be able to control those lamps separately. That requirement will dictate that the lamps must have individual and isolated wiring.

Spe337 wrote:Q4: Is my guess [about how to best wire navigation lamps] correct?

I don't like the approach you have guessed might be best, and I have NEVER seen the method you propose actually used in a boat.

Typically navigation lamps are controlled by a single switch that has multiple positions that denote the nature of the light that the lamps will be displaying. For small recreational power boats there are typically only three possible instances of navigation lighting: no lighting, motor vessel underway, vessel at anchor. A three position switch is used and the switch positions are marked OFF, UNDERWAY, ANCHOR or something similar.

Many years ago I wrote a separate article on this topic. You should read that article for advice on wiring and switch configuration. See

Navigation Lamp Wiring
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/navLightSwitch.html

Note that often a specialized switch is available to provide control of navigation lighting; the switch has three positions.

I have been aboard a United States Coast Guard 41-foot response boat. The navigation lighting was controlled by a large switch that had several positions. Each position was described by the circumstances, that is: OFF, AT ANCHOR, UNDERWAY, UNDERWAY TOWING ASTERN, UNDERWAY TOWING ALONG SIDE, and so on. This is a much more functional way to control the individual lamps than to wire the lamps to individual switches and require that the proper switches be thrown in combination to create the proper lighting.

Spc337 wrote:Q5: should there be independent switches for [three pumps that are in different sump areas]?

Yes.

Spc337 wrote:Q6: or should I just gang all three on one switch?

No.

Spc337 wrote:Q7: For the wire, [is] the Ancor three-conductor 16-AWG cable sufficient?

One can never answer this question without knowing four essential elements that have not been provided:

--the maximum voltage drop that can be tolerated;

--the system voltage

--the maximum current in the circuit

--the length of the conductors

To better understand how to calculate appropriate conductor size for a particular system voltage, current, distance, and voltage drop, please read my article on that topic at

Conductor Size for Power Distribution
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/powerConductorSize.html

Spc337 wrote:Q8: I notice in the original post a reference to Violet wire color but that insulation isn't available from Ancor. Should I change VIOLET to an existing insulation color?

In electrical wiring wire insulation color called VIOLET has been used for perhaps a century. Boaters seem to be more familiar with PURPLE, which is the color of a crayon in a box of CRAYOLA crayons and has also been used in some outboard engine manuals written 50 years ago when the mechanics that repaired outboard engines in the 1960's had zero background in electrical practices, and is sometimes found in some wire color code listings going back to the middle of the last century.

ANCOR seems to be selling their wire into the boating market, so they apparently describe their VIOLET wire as PURPLE. Compare at

http://www.ancorproducts.com/en/184703

Regarding my use of "violet" in my article, if you follow the hyperlink I give in that article to the vendor I recommended for buying the "violet" wire, you will find that the vendor I recommend also uses the term "violet" to describe the insulation color of the wire that he is selling. So it would have been a bit confusing if I discussed "purple" wire and then linked to a vendor that sold "violet" wire.

That you have found a different vendor that uses the color "purple" to describe the wire insulation color he sells does not particularly cause me to abandon "violet" in the article I wrote about a different vendor.

For more about the colors violet and purple, see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple#Relationship_with_violet

In wire insulation colors, violet and purple are much like slate and gray. One name is used in certain industries and the other name used in other industries.