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elecrical service light E38 1981

e38 owner

Member III
I checked on the boat today and found that the service light was flickering as opposed to being on steady. Nothing felt warm and although it flickered less if I turned everything off it still flickered. Items plugged into the outlets seem to work fine as well as the battery charger

Does anyone know what could be causing this and what the fix is.
Is it dangerous?

thanks
 
Last edited:

e38 owner

Member III
I thought I might check again to see if anyone had any thoughts regarding the ac service light
Thanks

The boats are in the water. The blue and white cover is the ericson 38
www.blyc.net we shrink wrap ourselves and I made the cover for the ericson
 

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
Could be a loose ground somewhere? Can you plug your boat into another outlet say another piling to see if its there also. You may also try plugging in a power strip with a light and see if that flickers on the pilings and determine if its the boat or the dock?
 

hodo

Member III
service light

I was concerned about the same issue on mine, talked with a guy at Boat Electric, he said its common on the older boats. It has to do with the light being neon [Ithink thats what he said]. As they age I guess they break down a little bit, like the rest of us. His suggestion was to change them out with the newer LED lamps. Hope that's what you wanted. I haven't done anything to mine, and after the rewire, they didn't change any. Harold :devil:
 

footrope

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
I've seen something similar on my 1980

I have seen simultaneous flickering of several "on" indicator lamps (LEDs?) on my DC panel. I doubt that's the same condition that you've seen. It doesn't happen all the time. My electrical panels are both after market mods (well executed in 1995) that the PO installed. I have not seen the AC service lamp flicker, though, that I can recall.

Ted's suggestions were pretty good. Many marina fingers have grounding problems and unless you compare with other fingers or can put an oscilloscope or some other AC analyzer on the power source, it may be hard to figure out what is going on. When I was in the salt water at Shilshole I went through zincs in 4-6 months. I even dangled a grounded zinc plate over the side all the time in the dock.

In the brackish water of the Duwamish River mouth I go through zincs much more slowly, 8 months or more per set. How fast do you go through zincs?

When I get back from this trip Saturday and recover from this crud I picked up (and get over the Seahawk game on Sunday) maybe I'll have some more ideas.

Hope you can figure it out, but it's hard to tell if it's serious at this point. Are your neighbors reporting anything? You might also ask the marina maintenance people about it. There could be a temporary, or a new, power condition that has nothing to do with the finger or slip you're in.
 
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