Fuses

[KREW2]

Don't forget the update

New plotter was put in last Friday.
I have been down every day, sometimes twice a day. I have been powering it up, and shutting down several times on my visits, as well as going out to have a play and put on my preferred display settings. Six days and all seems okay. That's 3 Raymarine units that have been replaced in 6 weeks. Two faulty AIS's and a plotter. On the bright side there has been no quibbling about changing them.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

New plotter was put in last Friday.
I have been down every day, sometimes twice a day. I have been powering it up, and shutting down several times on my visits, as well as going out to have a play and put on my preferred display settings. Six days and all seems okay. That's 3 Raymarine units that have been replaced in 6 weeks. Two faulty AIS's and a plotter. On the bright side there has been no quibbling about changing them.

Sounds good I am slightly surprised that a fault in the plotter was able to take out the fuse and not trip the breaker. However with a few years experience in the electrical world nothing completely surprises me. good luck!

 

[PaulRainbow]

Sounds good I am slightly surprised that a fault in the plotter was able to take out the fuse and not trip the breaker. However with a few years experience in the electrical world nothing completely surprises me. good luck!

Think you'll find there is only a fuse. That's how it should be, a fuse or a breaker.

 

[KREW2]

Think you'll find there is only a fuse. That's how it should be, a fuse or a breaker.

There is a thermal breaker which I have to push in first then there is fuse down line of it.

 

[PaulRainbow]

There is a thermal breaker which I have to push in first then there is fuse down line of it.

Should be one or the other.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Should be one or the other.

Paul, I think it was stated early on that the manufacturer recommended the 3 amp thermal breaker and the 5 amp fuse. Why??
Anyway now we know that the breaker was also tripping it makes more sense. See #34 where I refer to little bits of missing information!

 

[KREW2]

Paul, I think it was stated early on that the manufacturer recommended the 3 amp thermal breaker and the 5 amp fuse. Why??
Anyway now we know that the breaker was also tripping it makes more sense. See #34 where I refer to little bits of missing information!

As far as I am aware the breaker has never tripped, just the 5amp in line fuse blew. Below are the manuals installation guides.

The following in-line fuse and thermal breaker ratings apply to your product:
In-line fuse rating Thermal breaker rating
5Amp 3Amp

On reading it I suppose it could mean one or the other, or both are needed. I have both by the looks of it.

 

[PaulRainbow]

If just fitting a plotter, it's a fuse or a breaker, no need for both.

However, what can happen is that you want to switch more than one piece of equipment with a single switch. You fit a switch/circuit breaker rated for the combined current off all equipment, then fit individual fuses, rated for each piece of equipment, downstream of the switch/breaker.

The image in post #47 shows what look like ETA thermal circuit breakers, these can perform exactly as above.

Let's say you have a plotter, wind, depth and speed instruments. You could fit a 4-way blade fuse panel, with fuses individually rated for those instruments. You then run a wire from the switch/circuit breaker to the fuse board, the wire and the breaker have to be rated at least the combined current of the plotter/instruments. I much prefer this way of doing the fuses when you switch multiple devices with a single switch, rather than various types of inline fuse, it keeps everything together and only uses a single fuse style.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

If just fitting a plotter, it's a fuse or a breaker, no need for both.

However, what can happen is that you want to switch more than one piece of equipment with a single switch. You fit a switch/circuit breaker rated for the combined current off all equipment, then fit individual fuses, rated for each piece of equipment, downstream of the switch/breaker.

The image in post #47 shows what look like ETA thermal circuit breakers, these can perform exactly as above.

Let's say you have a plotter, wind, depth and speed instruments. You could fit a 4-way blade fuse panel, with fuses individually rated for those instruments. You then run a wire from the switch/circuit breaker to the fuse board, the wire and the breaker have to be rated at least the combined current of the plotter/instruments. I much prefer this way of doing the fuses when you switch multiple devices with a single switch, rather than various types of inline fuse, it keeps everything together and only uses a single fuse style.

Quite agree Paul, I think there is a modicum of confusion here as to what is where doing what. Could the OP be referring to the "Nav. Centre" Breaker which may or may not be supplying multiple devices and may or may not be 3 or 5 amp. Maybe his fuse for the plotter should be 3 amp ? I am afraid that from where I sit it is impossible to tell! He has had it installed professionally so we must assume that all is as should be.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Quite agree Paul, I think there is a modicum of confusion here as to what is where doing what. Could the OP be referring to the "Nav. Centre" Breaker which may or may not be supplying multiple devices and may or may not be 3 or 5 amp. Maybe his fuse for the plotter should be 3 amp ? I am afraid that from where I sit it is impossible to tell! He has had it installed professionally so we must assume that all is as should be.

I suspect the "Nav centre", but only guessing.

The fuse should be 5a. If it was a thermal circuit breaker (on it's own, just for the plotter), it would only need to be 3a.

Pretty sure the breakers are ETA 5700 series, anyones guess what rating, i suspect 10a or maybe even 15a.

 

[KREW2]

I suspect the "Nav centre", but only guessing.

The fuse should be 5a. If it was a thermal circuit breaker (on it's own, just for the plotter), it would only need to be 3a.

Pretty sure the breakers are ETA 5700 series, anyones guess what rating, i suspect 10a or maybe even 15a.

Gosh! I really seem to have opened a can of worms here.
Yes the one marked Nav Centre used to power up the C80 plotter which in turn powered the radar. Auto pilot also does depth and speed. VHF does only radio as it is wired straight to the batter. What powers up the AIS which is an addition I don't know. All this would have been installed by Seaward when the boat was built. Good news it was all working fine today.
As it is all new now, I suppose those breakers are not what they should be amp wise for what has been recently installed, so an inline fuse has been put in.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Gosh! I really seem to have opened a can of worms here.
Yes the one marked Nav Centre used to power up the C80 plotter which in turn powered the radar. Auto pilot also does depth and speed. VHF does only radio as it is wired straight to the batter. What powers up the AIS which is an addition I don't know. All this would have been installed by Seaward when the boat was built. Good news it was all working fine today.
As it is all new now, I suppose those breakers are not what they should be amp wise for what has been recently installed, so an inline fuse has been put in.

Don't worry, there is always a can of worms, sometimes in the middle of a swamp full of alligators! Some of that info. may have been useful in the beginning. However, I would say that 99.95% of posters asking for help with problems miss out the info. that could help. We all have our areas of expertise ( I haven't a clue about accountancy, City dealing or traffic calming in urban areas etc.) If posters understood their systems and installations they wouldn't have to ask in the first place. Sometimes it is what is not said that is important.
Sorry if blatting on a bit but this thread IMO is an example of what could have been included. Fully understand your position and don't wish to appear critical. Just glad you have a solution and pleased if we have been able to help