Colour of wiring

[GART]

I am trying to work out the wiring on my , I believe it is original, except I understand the factory upgrade the wiring harness to meet European regulations on boats shipped to Europe. I have looked at the wiring diagram in the manual, and my wiring seems to follow this except the wire colours seem wrong.
The convention in the UK is red is positive (+) and black is Negative (-). And on light bulbs the centre contact is wired to positive (+), with the outside negative (-). On my Mac 26X I have Red & Yellow wires from the battery, which I have put Red to positive, and Yellow to negative, these go to the fuse panel and are distributed, the radio, GPS and other equipment all work ok, at present the lights work ok, but with the centre contact negative (-). This became a problem when I tried LED bulbs as they need positive as the centre connection. I will switch them round, but do you use Yellow for negative in the US? Will I cause any problems with other electrical items if I swap the polarity of the lights

[Don T]

Hello,
Switch the light socket polarity, they are supposed to be that way. Here in the US marine code.

[Russ]

Most of the fixtures are wired at random. Since incandescence bulbs don't require polarity, the installers at the factory did not pay attention to polarity. I had to switch many when I went to LEDs.

[mastreb]

I switched to bayonet style LEDS and had no issues on my 2010 , so perhaps that issue has been resolved now.

You won't have any issues switching polarities to get LEDs working--they only work in the correct polarity irrespective of what the wire color indicates.

[Boblee]

Yeah the led globes are typically wired the correct way with positive to the centre contact but some of the Mac fittings are reversed so need changing, notice there are some led's that are dual polarity? must have a bit of extra circuitry but easy to change wiring.

[GART]

Thanks everybody, for answering my question so quickly.
Gaham

[mastreb]

Yeah the led globes are typically wired the correct way with positive to the centre contact but some of the Mac fittings are reversed so need changing, notice there are some led's that are dual polarity? must have a bit of extra circuitry but easy to change wiring.

LEDs that are dual polarity have a separate LED pointing in each direction. Usually this is done for color-change LEDs (RED in one direction, GREEN in the other, and YELLOW on AC, like you see on LED signs) but it could be used in LED lighting of the same color to eliminate polarity problems. Would be nearly twice the price though.

[Hamin' X]

Some LED lights have a bridge rectifier incorporated into their circuitry. This provides the correct polarity to the device, regardless of which way it it is wired. Works great with current driven devices, like LEDs; not so good with voltage driven stuff.

~Rich

[mastreb]

Some LED lights have a bridge rectifier incorporated into their circuitry. This provides the correct polarity to the device, regardless of which way it it is wired. Works great with current driven devices, like LEDs; not so good with voltage driven stuff.

~Rich

Ah right, a BR would be easy to build in and it make sense if the four diodes in a bridge are less expensive than the two diodes that emit light. With the high-power LEDs that's almost certainly the case.

[Boblee]

Was going to suggest a bridge rectifier but thought they may have something sneaky as some people like to make things complicated now, easy to change the wiring just irks a sparky who likes to keep things in order and to rules (240v) but it is only 12v dc so like most auto stuff seems to be disregarded, mind you if rules were observed it would save stress in all situations.
Interesting about using two led's, seems a waste especially if the output requires many led's but good idea for colour change where you could just use one control wire and switch polarity at source allowing use of existing fitting and wiring.
Been retired for a while so the brain is not up to what is happening today.

[Hamin' X]

Some folks use LEDs for anchor and steaming lights. By reversing the polarity of the lights, you can use the same, 2-wire deck plug and common wiring for both. Just use a double pole/double throw/center off switch to change the polarity to the plug. Only one light will work at a time.

~Rich

[mastreb]

Some folks use LEDs for anchor and steaming lights. By reversing the polarity of the lights, you can use the same, 2-wire deck plug and common wiring for both. Just use a double pole/double throw/center off switch to change the polarity to the plug. Only one light will work at a time.

~Rich

Or just reverse the plug on deck.

[Divecoz]

Hahahahaha and in another thread? We have some fellows wanting to Up The Cost of the boat a few thousand dollars.. I see we are back to pooping in bags ta save a dollar : )

Some folks use LEDs for anchor and steaming lights. By reversing the polarity of the lights, you can use the same, 2-wire deck plug and common wiring for both. Just use a double pole/double throw/center off switch to change the polarity to the plug. Only one light will work at a time.

~Rich

Or just reverse the plug on deck.