show me your distribution panels! ? think im going to just rewire anf fit a tiller!

[Norman_E]

A bloke from South Africa (Roger?) suggested I number all the cables for ID so I bought these on eBay. (One day when I have nothing to do I'll sit down and number them all.) ?


View attachment 91920

My Jeanneau has its wiring numbered with something like that, but all in yellow, generally 3 digits to a wire. I think it must have been done at factory though I don't have a list of numbers & functions, which would be nice.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Wire numbers should be on your wiring diagram if you have one

I used a set of these

Soft PVC Power Wire Number Marker Set No. 0 ~ 9 6976350813017 | eBay

And I still have lots left.

Reals of coloured numbers are better.

 

[coopec]

My Jeanneau has its wiring numbered with something like that, but all in yellow, generally 3 digits to a wire. I think it must have been done at factory though I don't have a list of numbers & functions, which would be nice.

There is a proper international system of colors for different parts of the wiring

 

[rogerthebodger]

There is a proper international system of colors for different parts of the wiring

View attachment 91950

In theory that OK but it would cost an excessive amount to buy a real of each colour combination in each wire size you need.

 

[PaulRainbow]

In theory that OK but it would cost an excessive amount to buy a real of each colour combination in each wire size you need.

I agree with Roger (had to happen one day )

I've never, ever, seen a boat wired with those colours, not even on £multi-million mobos.

 

[Birdseye]

Just think about tracing a fault in 10 years time or adding some extra wiring.

Why would you have a fault in just 10 yeasr. My boat is not 24 and I have never had a fault and dont expect one

 

[DownWest]

Ar least you guys didn't have the land based problem I did....
Multiple systems in one box. Complex I-R intruder system, auto gates with radio and key & code, but linked to video and the i-r system plus some others. I carefully labeled every wire (lots of) and relays and it all worked fine. Down the line (ok, pun..) I had to add some bits. So, opened the box.. Seems there was a slight gap by one of the many incoming conduits. A few little snails had found their way in, grown up a bit and eaten every single label (glue must have been tasty)

Once in a while I used to wake up at 3 am and worry about fixing a fault there

I spose sea snails might be a prob, but not heard of it..

Apart from that, feeling good. Just had a 60 odd nm sea trip yesterday, blew the lockdown cobwebs out.

 

[lw395]

Why would you have a fault in just 10 yeasr. My boat is not 24 and I have never had a fault and dont expect one

It happens.
After 'n' years, you want to change the vhf or something. Open up the panel and stressing all that spaghetti breaks something.
I've also seen broken breakers, corroded switches, a few other things. Stuff goes wrong on boats.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Why would you have a fault in just 10 yeasr. My boat is not 24 and I have never had a fault and dont expect one

Lucky you s e wales maybe does not have the highly corrosive high sea salt ladened humidity we have around the Indian Ocean we and those around Perth OZ have

 

[Tammany]

This is mine. 6mm plywood panel with a custom printed layout on top. LED lighted switches wth push reset breakers. This is fed by the house batteries via a standard 12v cut-off switch. I also have a garage consumer unit nearby for mains input that has 2 x mcb's. 1 feeds a mains charger and the other a single 240v socket. Unless the boats in the yard for maintenance this is only used for 1 thing and thats a small electrical 800w heater. Don't really see the point of mains on board a boat, more or less everything you need to live comfortably can be had in 12v. They certainly shouldn't be wired together into one switch panel. I think they have to be kept in seperate conduits for boat regs?

The horn circuit was never wired but is now the feed for the diesel heater which I installed few months ago.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

A significant partial rewire during the refit, replaced old circuit breakers and moved the panelfrom companionway to the chart table. The old switch panel was a snakes nest of wires and complete mess. The new panel is a simple affair. The boat voltage is 24V but there are 12V consumers as well. You can see the split on the switch panel bus bars. The switch panel doors were made to match the doors running down the navigators bunk. I regret that decision as a wider drop down panel would have allowed more devices to be mounted. However, it is no big deal.

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

IMG_6944 by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

IMG_6948 by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

 

[coopec]

In theory that OK but it would cost an excessive amount to buy a real of each colour combination in each wire size you need.

Of course: it would only be relevant for manufacturers.

Before I started my wiring I thought I'd follow a basic color scheme but I found it impossible to buy, pink, purple, orange ect wiring. (I was given a Caterpillar wiring harness off a marine diesel and it was obvious they had followed the color coding)

 

[Travellingwithtoby]

A significant partial rewire during the refit, replaced old circuit breakers and moved the panelfrom companionway to the chart table. The old switch panel was a snakes nest of wires and complete mess. The new panel is a simple affair. The boat voltage is 24V but there are 12V consumers as well. You can see the split on the switch panel bus bars. The switch panel doors were made to match the doors running down the navigators bunk. I regret that decision as a wider drop down panel would have allowed more devices to be mounted. However, it is no big deal.

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

IMG_6944 by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

IMG_6948 by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

Looks very neat and tidy! Where is it all fused? Or are the switches the breaker style?

Thanks again guys!

 

[Travellingwithtoby]

This is mine. 6mm plywood panel with a custom printed layout on top. LED lighted switches wth push reset breakers. This is fed by the house batteries via a standard 12v cut-off switch. I also have a garage consumer unit nearby for mains input that has 2 x mcb's. 1 feeds a mains charger and the other a single 240v socket. Unless the boats in the yard for maintenance this is only used for 1 thing and thats a small electrical 800w heater. Don't really see the point of mains on board a boat, more or less everything you need to live comfortably can be had in 12v. They certainly shouldn't be wired together into one switch panel. I think they have to be kept in seperate conduits for boat regs?

The horn circuit was never wired but is now the feed for the diesel heater which I installed few months ago.

View attachment 92007

Looks nice! Any chance of a pic inside?
Don't suppose you have a link to the push to reset breakers?

I especially like the rotary switch!

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Looks very neat and tidy! Where is it all fused? Or are the switches the breaker style?

Thanks again guys!

Switches are breakers and there is a small bank of bayonet fuses for individual consumers, where required, just to the right of the last picture above.

Untitled by Rival Sailor, on Flickr

 

[prv]

Here’s mine:



I’m still quite pleased with the front of the panel, but I’d do a much neater job of the wiring if I were to start again today:

/

I did labels with 6mm Brother Tz tape lengthways along the wire, then transparent heatshrink over the top.

All the fuses are here except for a handful where it wouldn’t have made sense to run a wire all the way across the boat and back (these items are all right next to the batteries, and two out of three need to consider volt-drop):



...but not everything is switched at this panel, because many things make more sense controlled from somewhere else. This is the main set of cockpit switches, for example:



And of course some things have switches built into them and don’t need a “master” switch at the chart table.

There’s some stuff I’d do better if there was ever a third boat, but broadly speaking I’m happy with this system.

Pete

 

[neil1967]

Pete, how did you wire your nav/anchor light switch. I'd like to do something similar - I like the simplicity of operation.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Pete' is very nice and I did a nav light switch similar to Pete

Mine Is marked
Off
Sail (Bow bi colour + stern)
Power (Bow bi colour + stern + steaming)
Tri colour ( Mast head)
Anchor (All round white)
Anchor Auto ( All round white with day light sensor)

I used 6 way 2 pole wafer switch as the switch like this

This is the best pic I have

I also included a diagram of the boat with the various lights indicator LED's

The top one just by the top fan blade.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

...but not everything is switched at this panel, because many things make more sense controlled from somewhere else. This is the main set of cockpit switches, for example:

View attachment 92079

I really liked the navigation light knob and remember you describing it on here and building a circuit with diodes to allow the muti-function knob to operate the light sequence. A great way of arranging light controls that eliminated sailing under power while at anchor!

 

[prv]

Pete, how did you wire your nav/anchor light switch. I'd like to do something similar - I like the simplicity of operation.

I designed a circuit with a series of inputs (one for each switch position), each of which runs to the appropriate set of outputs - including the windex bulb and the compass light for all the under-way positions. Where lights could be powered from more than one input (for example, bow bicolour on both "Sail low" and "Motor low"), diodes are used to prevent backfeeding. The lights are all LED with very low current draw, so the power can pass through a diode or two without any noticeable loss or need for hefty components.

The diode circuit is made up on veroboard and then potted in silicone - it's the thing in the behind-the-panel picture with the green screw-terminals all round the edge. If I made it today, it would be in a proper enclosure with glands, rather than gunked up in silicone and stuck to the board. The switch has a six-core cable (intended for trailer lights) running down to the board, and then the individual outputs are fused so that damage to one light causing a short doesn't take out the others. The fuse box also acts as a place to directly apply power to individual lights (via the spade terminals along the bottom) if I ever wanted to show an unusual combination or something went wrong with the switch or circuit-board.

This isn't my anchor light, incidentally, since I disapprove of anchor lights mounted up in the sky where it's hard to notice and doesn't indicate the position of the boat. There's an "All Round White" position on the switch because the light was already on the boat, but I basically never use it. My "anchor light" switch in reality is "Deck Sockets - Foredeck", where the daylight-sensing light that's integrated with the anchor ball plugs in.

Pete