Rewiring Boat

Beneteau381 said:
Ooh pretty! Are those 240 volt main breakers used as 12v?
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There are no breakers in the pic, they're just DIN rail terminal blocks, the left hand ones are fused with the mini blade fuses cars use, the blue ones are negative.
I quite like them because they're neat, and you can bridge them together to power multiple circuits from one breaker, say NMEA2K / GPS / VHF / AIS etc.
 
They seem to perform much the same function as the Wago connectors I have used which come in 2,3 or5 way. As you can see, I made up mini distribution boards by super gluing them to boards so that up to 4 circuits can come off one switch/breaker.
 
deep denial said:
any suggestions for such a labelling system?
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We used very small coloured cable ties in groups of three to generate a coded system. There are enough colours available to create a large number of codes, they are cheap and neat (if you cut the tails offs, once you have wrapped them around the wire)
 
Ceirwan said:
I probably went overkill.
Unfortunately its a slippery slope & now my OCD has though of a hundred ways to improve this already.

View attachment 144653

In my case the best mod was to remove the deck tank filler above that MG Yachts thoughtfully routed through the electrical cabinet.
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Tidy job, but.... you used blue cable on the DC negative and again on some of the positives. IMO, blue should only be used for AC neutral.
 
PaulRainbow said:
Tidy job, but.... you used blue cable on the DC negative and again on some of the positives. IMO, blue should only be used for AC neutral.
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I fixed that one in revision 2 :D
(The two negatives were replaced with 2.5mm wire, which seemed small, but over that short run they are more than capable of supporting the paltry requirements of my boat, the heater has a fused feed directly from the battery)

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Of course now I need to add the joinery onto my OCD to fix / improve list.
That's the issue with these jobs, once you do it you learn from it and can think of a better way.

Anyway, sorry to hijack the OPS topic.
On the subject of panels, I find most the eBay stuff and indeed most of the panels are quite flimsily built and use cheap switches, the Blue Sea one I have installed is a really high quality that has breakers built into the switches but they're rather expensive, I was lucky enough to get it from a closing out sale.
 
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Ceirwan said:
I fixed that one in revision 2 :D
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Well done (y)

On the subject of panels, I find most the eBay stuff and indeed most of the panels are quite flimsily built and use cheap switches, the Blue Sea one I have installed is a really high quality that has breakers built into the switches but they're rather expensive, I was lucky enough to get it from a closing out sale.
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Agree abut the Ebay ones in general and also that BlueSea are nice quality (if expensive).

For anyone wanting budget priced panels with quality switches and or breakers, make your own and fit Carling or ETA gear.
 
Rewiring my 12v distribution panel has become a priority.

Up until this afternoon I was finalising a wireless remote for our B and G autopilot. I really couldn't bring myself to connect it up without sorting out the mess left by previous owners or their suppliers of additional equipment connected in the distribution panel.

It's easy to spot any additions as on our Beneteau all 12v feeds are red and clearly numbered with fine print on the insulation.
All the common returns are black.
Most of the additions have been done with brown and blue 1mm flex.Some of them have even had inline fuses added to protect them. Two of them haven't and are connected to the permanent 12v feeds.

The worst modification found so far was addition of an automatic bilge float switch.
The 4mm feed cable to the bilge pump had been cut and a 0.5mm flat twin wired in line via the bilge float switch. Effectively I have a nice heating wire running to the bilge and back. Luckily I have a dry bilge.

I have spotted some mods that have been made to the factory wiring using yellow coloured through crimps. This is always a warning sign as this may lead to even more "heater wiring" More investigation and identification tomorrow.

Since I bought the boat my batteries have been fully isolated when I am not on board.

Do you do the same?
 
TSB240 said:
Rewiring my 12v distribution panel has become a priority.

Up until this afternoon I was finalising a wireless remote for our B and G autopilot. I really couldn't bring myself to connect it up without sorting out the mess left by previous owners or their suppliers of additional equipment connected in the distribution panel.

It's easy to spot any additions as on our Beneteau all 12v feeds are red and clearly numbered with fine print on the insulation.
All the common returns are black.
Most of the additions have been done with brown and blue 1mm flex.Some of them have even had inline fuses added to protect them. Two of them haven't and are connected to the permanent 12v feeds.

The worst modification found so far was addition of an automatic bilge float switch.
The 4mm feed cable to the bilge pump had been cut and a 0.5mm flat twin wired in line via the bilge float switch. Effectively I have a nice heating wire running to the bilge and back. Luckily I have a dry bilge.

I have spotted some mods that have been made to the factory wiring using yellow coloured through crimps. This is always a warning sign as this may lead to even more "heater wiring" More investigation and identification tomorrow.

Since I bought the boat my batteries have been fully isolated when I am not on board.

Do you do the same?
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I always have and do switch off when leaving the boat to come home, however the Victron solar controller is left on with the panels hinged down
 
Ceirwan said:
There are no breakers in the pic, they're just DIN rail terminal blocks, the left hand ones are fused with the mini blade fuses cars use, the blue ones are negative.
I quite like them because they're neat, and you can bridge them together to power multiple circuits from one breaker, say NMEA2K / GPS / VHF / AIS etc.
Click to expand...
Where did you get them (left hand-fused), please? So far I found only made by Phoenix, but £10 for each, which is expensive as I will need around 40.
 
Rafal said:
Where did you get them (left hand-fused), please? So far I found only made by Phoenix, but £10 for each, which is expensive as I will need around 40.
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Hi Rafal, Ceirwan may have a better source but if you Google Wago 2002-1681 the fuse terminals will come up. Wago 2002-1691 are the end plates also useful for dividing up the terminals in sections. Farnell have them for around £2.80 depending on quantity purchased.
 
Not difficult just a bit time consuming.
I used a BlueSea panel with custom made nav light selectors.
Keep to colour codes, split AC system from DC system and label every wire at each end with heat shrink printed labels (dymo).
Bundle it neatly with tie wraps and secure all the cables along their length (I found weld mount glue on bases to be the best option)
I also used Ancor double crimp terminals which I have found tend not to fall off when bounced around, unlike cheaper single crimp alternatives.
Solder joints tend to break when subject to vibration so I wouldn't recommend you do that.

Helps to be OCD, attention to detail is needed to prevent future failure!
Sabbatical refit 433.JPGSabbatical refit 456.JPG
 
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