Wiring/lightng question- 110volt to 12volt AC... is this Hatteras Normal?

[Hat4Shay]

Hey guys,

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but you can't search the forum and after looking thru 10 pages (and getting really distracted) I don't see a post about this.

I have a 1981 61' MY model (now 70') and I am trying to swap everything to LED and the craziest thing... I have 110 volt switches but the power in the fixtures are 12volt AC (not DC) and I talked to another 61' CPMY owner and they said theirs is like that too.

I really want to change out these HOT halogens for LED, but I can't find a 12v AC bulb.

And, nothing in the hatteras owners manual about the fact they step down like that. So, is this normal Hatt design or did someone do something cockamamy on the boat?

Shay

[Captain Ralph]

You have transformers scattered thru the boat.
The switches and dimmers supply power to the step down transformers that provide the 12 (24v?) to the light outlets.
This is normal.

[Pascal]

I ve replaced about 300 halogens with these in the 116. They’re pretty good and work with our dimmers as well as Lutron

https://a.co/d/awPmR4h

[rwaldrop13]

I ve replaced about 300 halogens with these in the 116. They’re pretty good and work with our dimmers as well as Lutron

https://a.co/d/awPmR4h

Thanks for posting - I wondered about these. We had separate 120v AC, and 24v DC light fixtures on separate circuits on Pau Hana. We had the flat "12-32V LED" flower looking push-ins, and 2 of them exploded in our 24V fixtures (we inherited them from PO). I swapped back to hot halogens, because I couldn't find anything I trusted. At the same time, a Marlowe in our marina had the same ones we had, and they actually had a fire start in their overhead from them. Consensus between myself, the Marlowe owner, the marina dockmaster and the vendor is that "multiple voltage rated" means "how soon do you want it to catch fire". Knowing these are trustworthy is helpful...

[Hat4Shay]

I bought those exact lights... and they didn't light up... I think the issue is my fixtures are only getting 7 volts in the fixtures. Not sure how the 12v halogens are lighting up on that, either though lol

Ed and Flo tried some and they blew up on them. Not sure what brand they were.

I guess I'll live with what I've got until I replace the headliner and all the fixtures.

Thanks, Ralph, for the reply. Were those transformers put in by Hatteras or the old owner?

Shay

[Captain Ralph]

I bought those exact lights... and they didn't light up... I think the issue is my fixtures are only getting 7 volts in the fixtures. Not sure how the 12v halogens are lighting up on that, either though lol

Ed and Flo tried some and they blew up on them. Not sure what brand they were.

I guess I'll live with what I've got until I replace the headliner and all the fixtures.

Thanks, Ralph, for the reply. Were those transformers put in by Hatteras or the old owner?

Shay

Factory transformers scattered everywhere.
Hopefully you have the print-sets for your boat that will describe the locations.
On your boat, start under the dinette seats to get a look at a few of them to understand what they look like.

7v ?? Dimmers on??
Some AC/DCv LEDs don't dimm. If they do, they may overheat.
The most correct way to do this is replace the transformers with LED power supplies.
Tap on https://www.drsa.com/

[SKYCHENEY]

Some of the 90's boats had relay boards for the lights. On a 65MY I was on, we found one behind the pilothouse seat. It showed on the prints. But that didn't tell us where it was located.

[SeaEric]

Bear in mind that some LED bulbs are polarity specific.

[rwaldrop13]

It occurred to me that we may misunderstand the real question regarding the light switches. Our light switches for both the 110/120V AC lights, and the 24V DC lights were off-the-shelf light switches from Lowes or Home Depot. I never noticed any issues with the lights as far as switches went. Should I have been looking for a different light switch? We looked at several boats before Pau Hana and all of them had conventional switches regardless of which system the lights were on.

[cww]

I know this isn't what you asked, but there have been a lot of boat fires from those ceiling-mounted halogen lights, especially if you have a padded headliner. They sure do look pretty when they're lit up, but I wouldn't be real comfortable leaving them unattended for very long. They get very hot.