LED lighting breaker pops

Dandsconnelly

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Trying to figure out why the LED accent/speaker lighting keeps popping the breaker on the helm. I've noticed if the brightness is turned up all the way, it'll pop after 30 seconds - a few minutes. This is with the motor running as well. IF I turn down the brightness, it'll stay on fine. Took it to the dealer and they said they ran it for 1.5 hrs none stop without issues. Why would it do it while the engine is running? Maybe Bennington put wrong sized breaker in? They are LED so the shouldn't be pulling THAT much amperage so now I'm scratching my head over here... I've looked under the helm and all the wiring looks fine, no lose connections.


Any help would be appreciated as always!
 
I had a similar issue. Not all LED lights are the same amps. I have 6 amp LED lights on the outside, under the deck, as opposed to the 2.5 amps under seat LED lights. I had to swap out the 5amp OEM circuit breaker to a higher amp one. They are cheap and generally all the same size.
 
I dropped boat off at dealer last night for service, they're going to look at them again. OF course, last time they looked at them they stayed on for 50 mins... They pop when motor is running, so not sure why that would make a difference but it does.
 
I had a similar issue. Not all LED lights are the same amps. I have 6 amp LED lights on the outside, under the deck, as opposed to the 2.5 amps under seat LED lights. I had to swap out the 5amp OEM circuit breaker to a higher amp one. They are cheap and generally all the same size.

I was having the same problem with the LED lights I installed on the outside of my boat. I wired them to an unused rocker switch on my console. They would always come on instantly but would pop the breaker after several minutes. This is the third set of exterior LED strip lights I have installed (twice on my old boat and this time on my new-to me boat) and I learned a few things along the way. I thought I did a professional installation using heat shrink butt connectors, a dedicated crimping tool, wire loom, dabs of silicone where I thought I would get water spray, etc. I was racking my brain trying to figure out where water was getting to my wiring causing a short. I was planning to live with it until I hauled the boat in the Fall and could go over everything on the trailer.

However, you sir, Mr. James Lilly, caused an imaginary light bulb to come on over my head. I knew LED's drew a relatively small amount of current but I never bothered to check how much two 16 foot strips would draw. I took a look and discovered I had chosen a rocker switch protected by a 5 amp circuit breaker. A quick Google of the part number on an adjacent (in use) 10 amp circuit breaker led me to the Spemco Switches website where I purchased an identical 10 amp circuit breaker for $8.09 including shipping. I installed it a couple of weeks ago and haven't had a circuit breaker pop since then.

Thank you, James Lilly!
 
I was having the same problem with the LED lights I installed on the outside of my boat. I wired them to an unused rocker switch on my console. They would always come on instantly but would pop the breaker after several minutes. This is the third set of exterior LED strip lights I have installed (twice on my old boat and this time on my new-to me boat) and I learned a few things along the way. I thought I did a professional installation using heat shrink butt connectors, a dedicated crimping tool, wire loom, dabs of silicone where I thought I would get water spray, etc. I was racking my brain trying to figure out where water was getting to my wiring causing a short. I was planning to live with it until I hauled the boat in the Fall and could go over everything on the trailer.

However, you sir, Mr. James Lilly, caused an imaginary light bulb to come on over my head. I knew LED's drew a relatively small amount of current but I never bothered to check how much two 16 foot strips would draw. I took a look and discovered I had chosen a rocker switch protected by a 5 amp circuit breaker. A quick Google of the part number on an adjacent (in use) 10 amp circuit breaker led me to the Spemco Switches website where I purchased an identical 10 amp circuit breaker for $8.09 including shipping. I installed it a couple of weeks ago and haven't had a circuit breaker pop since then.

Thank you, James Lilly!

Sweet, I'm going to try that route next. Of course, dealer had the boat for a week and it worked fine. I get out on the water and "pop" it goes again... Grrrr
 
Can someone take a picture of the breaker for me so I know what it looks like? I have the same problem and not sure what the breaker looks like or how to switch it back on. Thanks
 
Can someone take a picture of the breaker for me so I know what it looks like? I have the same problem and not sure what the breaker looks like or how to switch it back on. Thanks

It’s the black buttons located below the switches.
 
I was having the same problem with the LED lights I installed on the outside of my boat. I wired them to an unused rocker switch on my console. They would always come on instantly but would pop the breaker after several minutes. This is the third set of exterior LED strip lights I have installed (twice on my old boat and this time on my new-to me boat) and I learned a few things along the way. I thought I did a professional installation using heat shrink butt connectors, a dedicated crimping tool, wire loom, dabs of silicone where I thought I would get water spray, etc. I was racking my brain trying to figure out where water was getting to my wiring causing a short. I was planning to live with it until I hauled the boat in the Fall and could go over everything on the trailer.

However, you sir, Mr. James Lilly, caused an imaginary light bulb to come on over my head. I knew LED's drew a relatively small amount of current but I never bothered to check how much two 16 foot strips would draw. I took a look and discovered I had chosen a rocker switch protected by a 5 amp circuit breaker. A quick Google of the part number on an adjacent (in use) 10 amp circuit breaker led me to the Spemco Switches website where I purchased an identical 10 amp circuit breaker for $8.09 including shipping. I installed it a couple of weeks ago and haven't had a circuit breaker pop since then.

How do you replace the breaker? Does it just pull out?
 
Can someone take a picture of the breaker for me so I know what it looks like? I have the same problem and not sure what the breaker looks like or how to switch it back on. Thanks

I just looked and the pic I took under my helm is blurry. But here is a link to the exact 10 amp breaker I bought from Spemco. Several pics there.

(And I'm happy to report, this totally fixed my problem. Not a single breaker trip since the replacement.)

https://spemco.com/1480-303-100-g1-...-breaker-10-amp-black-button-spade-terminals/
 
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