So I have a '95 Champion with accessory lights in the storage areas and on the deck, they came installed from the factory. I'm a little confused on whether mine are wired correctly or not...Hopefully someone can chime in. 

 

The lights come on with the main power switch, but is this correct? I would assume they should only come on via the nav light/anchor light switch? My graphs and other accessories run off the main power switch (of course) but this means the lights stay on for the entirety of the day while the power switch is ON. Is this how it's designed??? Or did a previous owner mess up the wiring somewhere along its lifetime?

 

To add to this, the gauge lights only come on via the nav/anchor light switch.

Are you sure there is not another switch just for the lights? Maybe it's located in or near one of the storage areas or around the dash?

59 minutes ago, pcakes55 said:

So I have a '95 Champion with accessory lights in the storage areas and on the deck, they came installed from the factory. I'm a little confused on whether mine are wired correctly or not...Hopefully someone can chime in. 

 

The lights come on with the main power switch, but is this correct? I would assume they should only come on via the nav light/anchor light switch? My graphs and other accessories run off the main power switch (of course) but this means the lights stay on for the entirety of the day while the power switch is ON. Is this how it's designed??? Or did a previous owner mess up the wiring somewhere along its lifetime?

 

To add to this, the gauge lights only come on via the nav/anchor light switch.

I would say someone had disconnected the gauges and acc wires at some point in time and reversed them when they reconnected them.The gauge lights should come on off the main power switch or off the ignition and the storage lights should be powered off an acc switch. If not the nav/anchor lights would be the next best place for them.   

The function of all gauges should run off the accessory side of the ignition switch.

Power to everything else should come off the POWER switch

Instrument lights should operate off the Nav light switch.  Now if you do a lot of night fishing, you may want to look at adding a dimmer to them.

Any lights inside the boat should have a separate, dedicated switch.  These can be powered through the NAV light switch so they only come on if NAV lights are on or you can power them off the main POWER switch so they can be turned on any time the power is on

Storage box lights  should also be on a separate, dedicated switch powered from the main POWER switch.

Sounds like they wired them up wrong, or there's another switch for them somewhere. Pretty easy fix, just find the wires, disconnect them from what they're hooked to, and then splice them into your nav or interior light circuit or run a new switch in between the main power and the lights so you can shut them off. 

If your Champion is like my 98 Champion the light is the switch. You rotate the lens to operate the switch. However it is powered through the main power switch. No need to repair, push on the corner of the lens, the light should go off.

3 hours ago, Al Wolbach said:

If your Champion is like my 98 Champion the light is the switch. You rotate the lens to operate the switch. However it is powered through the main power switch. No need to repair, push on the corner of the lens, the light should go off.

WOW...problem solved! Not sure how I missed that one, I even took the lights apart to check for shorts. Thanks!