New 12 v DC only system

[mariner]

[thepartydog]

Answers as far as my knowledge extends.

1. Yup
2. If you have a bus bar for your ground and your starting motor for your outboard is connected to this, won't that make a ground for you?
3. Nope. I used that napkin to clean a spill. EE has one though.
4. I didn't use one, not sure of the official spec though.
5. Apology accepted, but not necessary.
6. Photos, we want photos. Already jealous of the switch panel.

BTW I ordered wire from a company in Atlanta, found them on ebay, I think. Good wire, great price.

[EmergencyExit]

partydog LOL at # 3. Napkin, huh ?

I have a diagram on EE's site but its a complex one with inverters and auto switches and AC/DC (post Bon Scot) circuits.

[Paul]

Everything on a vessel, even a steel one, grounds to the bus bar, which goes back to the negative terminal of the battery. It's not like an auto where you can ground to any piece of metal, which are hooked to other pieces of metal, which are hooked to the engine block.

I got real tempted - I'm re-wiring my mast - to run the hot wire to the masthead light and wind indicator light, and then just ground them back to the mast. WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!! This would have made a wonderful lightning rod! Yousers! For added insulation my innermast wires will be inside a loom. I've got lots of pointy screws holding my spreader bases on.

Paul

[mariner]

1. Generally, yes, a negative bus bar is a good way to go. The 4318 switch panel does not include an accessory negative bus (some distribution panels do, but the WeatherDeck series does not). The negative spade terminal on the 4318 provides a return path for the panel's LED lights, and is not meant to serve as a negative bus of any sort. If you do not currently have a negative bus in your system, you could take a look at our PN 2301. It provides ten 8-32 screws and two 1/4-20 studs as connection points, and is rated for 150A continuous current. If you require more than 150A, the next step up is PN 2105, which is rated for 250A continuous current. Rated even higher is PN 2104, which is able to handle 600A continuous current.

2. The main DC negative system of a boat (meaning all negative terminals of all batteries) should be common (usually connected through a main DC negative bus) and connected to both the engine negative terminal and the AC grounding system if one is present (meaning the green-wired safety ground of the AC system). If you do not have AC aboard your boat, you can disregard that rule. If you have an engine, however, you want to make sure its negative terminal is connected directly back to the DC negative bus via an appropriately sized dedicated wire. Or, in the case of an outboard motor, you might simply have a negative wire coming out of the engine casing (meaning no visible engine negative terminal), which should be connected to the DC negative bus. This wire both serves as a negative return for the engine's starting motor, and as a means of grounding your DC negative bus - the negative terminal (or negative return wire) from any engine should be internally tied to the prop shaft, and therefore grounded.

3. I have attached a diagram taken directly from ABYC's E-11 illustrating a typical outboard DC system. It's fairly straightforward, though it shows a panel with an accessory negative bus. It sounds like your system will likely not have the accessory negative bus, and will instead have only the main negative bus. In that case, the returns from the equipment being fed by your panel should simply go back to the main negative bus rather than to the accessory negative bus and then back to the main bus.

4. Yes, there should be a fuse in the feeder wire from your battery switch to your panel. It should be located within 7" of the battery switch, or 40" if the wire run up to the fuse is sheathed (meaning provided with some extra form of chafe protection beyond the wire's insulation). Fuse selection should be based on the ampacity of the feeder wire, since the fuse is there to protect the wire itself from overheating in case of a fault, and also on the capacity of your battery banks (in CCA). For proper wire sizing and selection of overcurrent protection, you can check out the Circuit Wizard available on our website:

http://beta.circuitwizard.bluesea.com/

The Circuit Wizard allows you to input several factors such as amperage requirements and battery CCA, and provides a recommended wire size as well as a chart listing recommended circuit protection devices for that wire size.

[mariner]

where can you get a wire "loom"? any other tips on keeping the wires from slapping around inside the mast ?

[clair hofmann]

You can get wire loom at NAPA or Mc master Carr. To keep your wires from slapping the inside of the mast put TY Wraps around the wire about every 8 inches, pull tight in random directions and don't cut off the tails. Thats a quick cheap fix that works.
Clair

[gregcrawford]

I purchase a lot of my marine wiring supplies from Del City. They have a $25.00 minimum order. They have tinned marine wire (much less expensive than Ancor), fuse holders, fuses, and several types of the plastic wire loom. For example, I bought 100 LF, (minimum order) of 5/8" wire loom for $13.00 or so. Lowe's gets $2.99 for six feet of 1/2" wire loom. Of course, I will never use up 100 ft. of wire loom, but I am trying. They also have the same waterproof fuse holder West Marine sells for $9.00 for around $3.00. And so on and so on. Greatdealz is the ebay seller in Georgia who sells marine wire. I have bought some things from them, too.

[tgentry]

This is a timely and informative discussion for us, as we're doing much the same thing. I have a couple questions of my own...

1) I want to be able to charge from my motor, a solar panel with controller and a charger when at the dock. How do I wire this so that my charging sources don't charge back into each other? Or is this not practical?

2) We're upgrading to a two battery system and I'd like to build something similar to RonC's under ladder battery box. RonC, if you're listening, do you have any tips?

[mariner]

Check out blue sea catalog, the pdf catalog has a lot of wiring diagrams in it...and the tech support is great!

[hotdot]

Re: multiple charge sources and dual battery banks.
I currently have a dual battery bank setup with the outboard, shore power battery charger, and two solar regulators connected. I use a Perko 1-all-2 switch so I can isolate or combine batteries and charging sources if necessary. Battery Bank 1 charges from outboard, and 1- 50 watt solar panel connected through a solar charger. It runs the cabin lights and autopilot. Battery Bank 2 charges from a separate solar charger powered by 2 - 50 watt panels. Bank 2's sole purpose is to run the refrigerator to keep the beer cold. All quality made solar panels have a schottky diode that prevents the electrons from a higher voltage/amperage charge source discharging into the lower source: i.e. a battery discharging at night through a solar panel. Solar Chargers also prevent discharging. One word of advice: always use a quality tinned marine wire sized for minimum voltage drop. It costs a little more initially but it lasts longer and it won't corrode and cause loss of charging ability. I hate it when the battery dies and the beer gets warm!

[lecker68]

Mariner always use a busbar for ground and fuse each circuitnear the switch if you do get a short you wont have something resembling burned spaghetti.