Electrical wiring for beginners

[coopec]

But you previously said "I can say the batteries are getting charged when the isolator is OFF"

If the solar controller is wired after the isolator switch, this shouldn't be possible.

Do you have the solar just connected to the domestic side, or is there solar connected to the engine battery ?

Yes I can see your point. I'll have to check that I have installed the VSR correctly.
Thanks for your advice. (This is not a pressing problem as I am currently working on another part of the yacht but I expect to look at it next week)

 

[thinwater]

What do you think of the video in post #1 and the 2nd part (i'd skim them, so as not to get bored) ?

Yeah, he really got rolling with bad practices in part II. It's kind of nonstop and unnecessary. He almost looks for things to do wrong, like one of those kid's "can you spot the mistakes" books. And yet if you did not know differently, it all looks very competent. But not. I think the wrong terminal sizes "grab" me the most, because it is so silly.

You could buy the boat, it would mostly look good, and it would probably even last.

 

[thinwater]

My first "cruising boat" was sold to me with a new battery. About two days later the VHF died, followed by everything else. It seems he had done some rewiring and had connected the charging leads to opposite sides of the isolation switch. It wa the first marine 12V system I had worked on, but I remember saying WTF a lot, and finally disconnecting practically all of the wires and starting over (there were many connections that made no sense). I put it back together in what I reasoned was obvious order ... and everything worked, except the fried charger.

My PDQ ha a very small fire because the PO made a splice by stuffing a bare wire into a female quick connect, and sliding the mess under the mouse fur. He was an EE.

I'm always skeptical of PO work.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Yes. Back to the principles. The solar input should be connected to the "storage" - that is the battery. As you say the charge is dependent on the SOC of the battery. Presumably for your domestic circuits like your lights are controlled through a distribution panel connected to the battery with an isolator switch. When the isolator switch is on, the panel is live and the individual circuits are fused and switched from there. When you leave the boat that isolator is turned to off.

No direct connection between the lights and the solar.

There is if he has connected them that way!

 

[sailaboutvic]

i Think the entertainment is getting better by the day , good job too as there nothing on TV worth watching

 

[PaulRainbow]

Yeah, he really got rolling with bad practices in part II. It's kind of nonstop and unnecessary. He almost looks for things to do wrong, like one of those kid's "can you spot the mistakes" books. And yet if you did not know differently, it all looks very competent. But not. I think the wrong terminal sizes "grab" me the most, because it is so silly.

You could buy the boat, it would mostly look good, and it would probably even last.

One thing those videos demonstrate really well, if someone doesn't know how to do it they will watch that and think it's the correct way to do it. There are at least a couple of people in this thread that "found it helpful", no disrespect to anyone that did.

Same with Goggle, YouTube, Facebook and the internet in general. If you don't know how to do it, you don't know if it's correct or not.

This forum, and others like it, are a different kettle of fish. If someone posted that nonsense on here there would be a lot of people telling them it was wrong. Peer review at it's best (usually).

 

[Tranona]

There is if he has connected them that way!

But not in the way I described which is the whole point.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I'm wondering if as in the picture posted the lights are powered through the load connection on the solar controller? My Victron blue something or other has a controllable load out on it which I've toyed with in the past as it can be set to cut off at various voltages. My thoughts were to use it for non essential loads and have the cutoff voltage quite high but as it is not switched by the master it needs an independent isolation switch unless you're very brave. Not sure it would account for lights dimming though as mine is on or off regardless of solar output.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

I'm wondering if as in the picture posted the lights are powered through the load connection on the solar controller? My Victron blue something or other has a controllable load out on it which I've toyed with in the past as it can be set to cut off at various voltages. My thoughts were to use it for non essential loads and have the cutoff voltage quite high but as it is not switched by the master it needs an independent isolation switch unless you're very brave. Not sure it would account for lights dimming though as mine is on or off regardless of solar output.

He says not.

There is if he has connected them that way!

But not in the way I described which is the whole point.

Appreciate that.