anchor light
 

Guys,

What's the deal with the 3-pin perko base for the anchor/stern lights on Fountains? New boat didn't have a light, dropped by the store and bought one. It didn't work. Started looking before I ran home and got the voltage tester/ ripped stuff apart. The light pole has two pins (3 holes but only two have connectors in them). The boat has a 3-pin connector.

I looked on-line and could only find 2-pin pole lights, but saw several 3-pin bases:confused: What gives?

lights that only have 2 pin poles are the 360* lights....most commonly found on smaller boats when the light is mountd in the rear of the boat.....bigger boats that have the 3 pin poles have the light split in two sections with two bulbs.....the forward half is on during running and when you move the nav/anchor button to anchor the entire light lights up 360*

Some lights may just have the 3-pin base for alignment purposes...most of the ones ive seen have a small nub that fits into a slot on the side so the pole can only go in one way...

Wally,

I do understand the slot so the light only goes in one way.


For the 3-pin, are you talking about the front half is your nav lights (like what everyone has on the front of their boat red/green)? And the rear would be white? Additionally, I have a stern light mounted on the transom that's white. So, I need an anchor light (pole) that can be seen from 360°.

No no....some anchor lights are actually two lights in one unit.....its still all white but split into a front light and a rear light. My 30' scarab had this setup. the light was mounted mid-sip right infront of the windshield....when up on plane and with nav lights on only the front half of the light would be on.....by law you do need a 360* white light to be visible.....so thats there the transom light comes into play.....so when you see the boat coming at you you see the white light and as its passing you there will be a point where the anchor light will "turn off" so to speak and the white transom light will take over. Its set up this way so the driver is not blinded by the light.
If i wanted to anchor, i would flip the switch and the re/green lights along with the transom light would go off and both sides of the anchor light would be lit 360*

Make sense now?

looking thorugh the west marine catalog....i think they all may have 3-pins in the base....but its either gonna have 2 or 3 actuall electrical contacts depending on what kind of light you have.

I had something like the one below on my boat...you can see how its split onto a forward a rear section...each one had its own light

oopps....i had the 3rd one from the left (D) in the pic

Mine is mounted on a pole at the rear of the boat. Not one of the mid-ship ones I have seen. So the 2-pin light should function, correct? Maybe there is a problem with the boat wiring (doubt it), but I will check the pin outs.

I will grab a volt meter and start checking.

Yours should be the 2 lights in 1. More than likely 'D' in the above pic. The socket in your boat will be a 3 pin plug: forward facing light lead, rearward facing light lead, common ground.
Don't think you can mix and match.

Is this what every other Fountain is using? Or, is anyone using a 2-pin light pole? I will check power to a ground to determine which is the common. Not sure I can rewire the light to work...(if the pin outs indicate a 2-pin confiuration is actually plugging into both 12V leads for the 3-pin socket ie. no common). Anyone have a schematic?

And, when anchored, how does an oncoming boat see that light when it's so short? The anchor light socket is low on the starboard, port gunwale. It is supposed to be visible from 360°.