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Any electricians in the house?


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I am pre- wiring my t top to install on my center console and just hit a bump.  I connected my 2 low draw LED stern lights with 16 gauge wire and pigtailed them to my LED spotlight at the bow end that is on 14 gauge wire to create one circuit on a toggle switch.  Anyways, once I finished the splicing I connected it to my little portable 12v battery and only the spotlight worked.  When I disconnected just the spotlight using the quick disconnects I had wired in, the stern lights turned on. Is the reason because of the 2 different wires used or is the spotlight drawing too many amps leaving the others dry?  I have more 14 gauge wire I could rewire the stern lights with if need be but not sure if that would be a solution?  Any advice would be really appreciated so I can be up and running as soon as I can do the t top install.

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Definitely not the wire. LED'S must be wired in the proper polarity to work. An LED is basically a one way flow control valve for electrons. You can think of it as a ball check valve in a hydraulic system. In the case of an LED, electrons will move thru in one direction but if wired backwards they will not flow and therefore, no lighting. Electron flow in one direction and inhibit in the other is the basic property and purpose for a diode. A LED happens to be a Light Emitting Diode.
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If connected to power separately all the lights work but connected in- line just the spotlight works.  Before I left the house this morning I reversed the quick connects for the spotlight, positive to negative, and the spotlight turned off but the sterns turned on.  Later I will try reversing the pigtails to the stern lights instead and see if that works. Glad to hear I may not have to run new wire through the t top frame all over again. I’ll post later how I make out. Thanks so much.

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I ran them parallel I believe since I used butt connectors to connect the spotlight wires and stern lights to the main power wires. So 2 wires crimped in one end and the main on the other end. Did one like that for the positive and one for the negative.

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So I lugged the 60 lb battery down to the basement and crossed my fingers as I tightened the terminals down and all the lights came on! Thank you so much guys for working this out for me.  Now if you could all just pray for some warmer days we will all benefit from it and I can finish my boat projects and get out on the water

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