Bad weather has repeatedly interferred with progress. When I managed to get some decent weather this week, I started cleaning up the electrical system. The first thing I checked was compass lighting. Stated simply, it didn't work.
I checked the voltage at the pins to the light, and found not only zero volts, but a direct path to ground. Tracing this back, the compass light was in parallel with the internal lighting for a number of steam gauge instruments.
Removing the wires one by one, I discovered that the steam gauges lights were3 large consumers of current. Their parallel resistance was so low, that the dimmer that was to drive the compass light simply couldn't handle it. Since the steam gauges are already illuminated by other panel lighting, I removed them. I did tie them off, in case I decide I need the internal lighting at some future point.
This gave me 0-12 volts at the compass light. I then discovered that the bulb in the compass was burned out. Another is on order.
