electrician says vhf should go straight to battery

sjclewes said:
electrician says vhf should go straight to battery but i think i should wire it to the blue sea breaker panel what do you guys think ?
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My personal choice is to take nothing directly to the batteries. When I switch off I want it off.

There have been many occasions when I left the VHF switched on accidentally. These have been when I was aboard and there was no traffic. It might be a different matter if it was accidentally left on for a couple of weeks.
 
vyv_cox said:
My personal choice is to take nothing directly to the batteries. When I switch off I want it off.

There have been many occasions when I left the VHF switched on accidentally. These have been when I was aboard and there was no traffic. It might be a different matter if it was accidentally left on for a couple of weeks.
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so you turn off the bilge pump too :confused:
 
Yes direct feed was always recommended but that was probably in the days when one battery severed all functions.

I think if I had a dedicated domestic services battery with good heavy cables supplying the distribution panel I would not be so concerned. Remember though the VHF alone requires several amps when transmitting and its performance will be sensitive to any volts loss on the wiring.

If connected direct to the battery I would connect it after the isolation switch**, via a fuse to protect the wiring (in addition to any fuse at the radio).
An automatic bilge pump would be connected before the isolation switch and also via a fuse so that it ran even with the isolation switch off ......... the only exception.

** as per Vyvs requirement
 
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I had a electrical fire once, turned the master switch off and the fire went out with a bit of dry powder. If I then needed to call for help I would have had no radio. Now the radio is wired straight to the battery with a fused link.
 
From memory it is an MCA coding requirement to have an independent power supply for the VHF so that it is independent of the main house circuits. I have an "Always on" module on my boat used for automatic bilge pumps, memories in radios and VHFs. It is a requiremnt for Greek charter equivalent of coding to have a totally independent supply so on my Bavaria I have a second small battery just for tthe VHF. It is charged by a seperate battery to battery charger.
 
My view is that there are no "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts". There are different ways each with their own pros and cons. I prefer to have all but the bilge pump and navtex subject to the master switch, particularly as, if the GPS is off the DSC reminds me of the fact at regular intervals. My main reason, however, is my inherent forgetfullness and incompetence. I like to turn off the master switch and know that all save bilge pump and navtext are off and that I can have a high expectation of charged batteries when I return. If the installation is sound and well maintained you shouldn't be getting electrical fires and if you I did and turned off the master switch to sort, then I'd hope to trace the fault and fix or call for help using the hand held, flares or whatever as circumstances dictate.
 
the main reason for this post earlier today I was removing the vhf splitter when two wires crossed wire tuned red puff of black smoke even thou it was all turned off I’ve just had a look at the wiring no damage to any other wires but its wired straight onto live of main battery switch not by me I hasten to add this can’t be the right way surely
 
Are you sure that is what he meant?

Not sure that your electrician meant what you said? Especially if you have more than one battery.

I think best practice would be to wire it directly back to output of the battery switch via an in line fuse which is easy to get at.

VHF is thus available whenever either or both batteries switched on and is off when you switch batteries off when you go home and is protected by a fuse when supply is on.
 
sjclewes said:
the main reason for this post earlier today I was removing the vhf splitter when two wires crossed wire tuned red puff of black smoke even thou it was all turned off . . . . .
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Ahh, but did you get your tape-measure out and measure the smoke? People always seem to forget to measure the smoke! :D

Aside from joking, who ever fitted the RF splitter into your boat either forgot to use a fuse, or used a fuse with far too high a value in amperage.

A splitter should only draw about 300mA and if it had been fused, the fuse would have saved the wiring from glowing red hot and starting to melt the plastic coating which generated the smoke you forgot to measure! :D
 
tt65 said:
I think best practice would be to wire it directly back to output of the battery switch via an in line fuse which is easy to get at.

VHF is thus available whenever either or both batteries switched on and is off when you switch batteries off when you go home and is protected by a fuse when supply is on.
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This is just the different end of the same wire. The switch output goes to the panel!

Our bilge pump is wired directly to the house bank with a fuse. The radio is wired as part of the electrical panel and is off when the switch is off.

If you have a fire and your electrical system (house bank) is toast, it won't matter. Think it through. You'd have to switch wires to your reserve bank, in that case, wouldn't you.

Put it on the switch.

"It all depends on how its wired."
 
Currently the only thing I have connected directly to the battery is the bilge pump via an AUTO-OFF-ON switch. Everything else goes via the isolation switch and then a fused panel.

However, I've just bought a gas alarm and I'm not sure how to wire it. What would the forum suggest?
 
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