Archive for the ‘Battery Charger’ Category

Marine electrical questions?

June 28th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula

Marine Ac/Dc attempts to answer your questions about boat wiring and marine electrical techniques, concepts, and products. We get lots of mail from folks in mid-project or who are just curious about their boat’s electrical setup.

There are loads of post already on the site which we hope you will browse through. If you’re trying to track down info about a more specific category, please use the search box in the upper right of this page or check out the list of various subjects farther down on this page.

If you aren’t able to find the info that you need to complete your particular boat wiring project, please send us an email at boatwiring@gmail.com.

Thank you for visiting. We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you will be able to come back often.

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Wiring, Bow Thruster, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Cruisers, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Runabouts, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing, Trolling Motors, Uncategorized, VSR, Wipers | Comments Off

Boat Wiring Colors

February 6th, 2012 by Marine Ac/Dc

Hello Kevin,

I am looking to find a boat wiring diagram to rewire my 1996 17 foot Key West boat. EzAcDc offers a full selection of boat wiring for your marine electrical project.

I will need the complete wiring schematics for this model. Do you have this information or can you tell me where I can find it online and print in order to start my repairs tomorrow?

Thanks for your help, I look forward to hearing back from you

Marco

Hi Marco,

I’m sorry, but we do not have a boat wiring diagram available for your boat and you will probably not find one.

But, this list of standard boat wiring colors for marine electrical should get you close. Most boat builders have been using this code or one very similar for over twenty years.

Kevin

Posted in ABYC, AC Wiring, Air Conditioning, Anchor Lights, Battery cables, Battery Charger, Bilge Pumps, Blower, Boat Lift, Boat Wiring, Bow Light, Bow Thruster, Compass, Courtesy Lights, Fuel Gauge, Fuel Sender, Galley, Harnesses, Ignition Switch, LED Lights, Marine Electrical, Masthead Lights, Mood Lights, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Refrigerator, Rope Lights, Sailboats, Shore Power, Shore Station, Signaling Devices | Comments Off

Extension or Outlet?

June 20th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Hello Kevin,

I’m considering getting one of the Easy Add AC Shore Power systems from EzAcDc.

Could you please suggest the best way to hook up the boat wiring for the battery charger which is mounted near the transom in that boat’s engine compartment?This complete shore power system arrives ready to install for your boat wiring project.

Should I run a 10 foot, 15 amp extension cord or use triplex boat wiring and put a plug end on it to plug into panel?

Thanks

Marc

Hi Marc,

There are two individual outlets on the back of the AC panel enclosure which I helped to design for our sister boat wiring site.

These are there to allow you to direct connect devices such as battery chargers and refrigerators. You can either run an “extension cord” from your charger to the panel or just mount one of the remote AC outlets in your engine room.

Please let me know if you have any questions,

Kevin

Posted in AC Wiring, Battery Charger, Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Galley, Marine Electrical, New Products, Refrigerator, Sailboats, Shore Power | Comments Off

Houseboat Grounding

May 31st, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I have questions on grounding both the 12 volt and 120 volt marine electrical on a houseboat. I have read the old threads regarding this matter but I am still thoroughly confused. Sorry that my post is long, but I am trying to explain clearly but simply:Boat Wiring Store has marine electrical products for your boat wiring project

Here is my set up:

The boat is 1976, steel hull. It has a shore power connection but because I am on a permanent mooring I do not connect to marina’s shore power.

Here are the original marine electrical systems and the boat wiring:

  1. 12 volt starting battery. Hot goes to engine starter and Negative cable on this battery is also landed at the engine. In looking how the engine is mounted, I don’t think that the engine (outboard) is isolated from the steel hull / frame.
  2. 12 volt house power: hot and negative battery cables go to marine electrical bus bars for each. These bus bars (hot and negative) then go to my 12 volt distribution panel, and to my 12 volt stereo/amp system. This 12 volt house system is not grounded anywhere that I can see. Question: Should it be grounded?
  3. 120 volt AC shore power system: Plug connection goes to a distribution panel. Typical 3 wire set up: Hot (black), Neutral (white), ground (green). I have not looked to see if the ground or neutral buses in this distribution panel are grounded anywhere on the boat. I don’t think it is, but I need to look again. Question: Should this be grounded? Because I am on a mooring, not in a slip, I never connect to actual land based shore power. When I do use this connection it is via my own portable generator on the boat. Fire up the genset, run a 30A shore power cord from gen. to shore power plug.
  4. New installation: I have connected a small 700W inverter from my 12 volt system just to run a few items (tool chargers, 120 volt rope lights, etc). The inverter has 2- 120V receptacles, no hard wire 120V. In the past I have plugged in an extension cord from the inverter to my rope lights. But, now I want to connect my rope lights through a permanently wired receptacle. I connected a 3-prong utility type cord (male plug on one end and open wires on the other). Intent to be to run this cord into a J-box where I could then run in conduit and wire to a switched receptacle for the rope lights. Funny thing is that when I checked the power coming from the 120V cord I get the following readings:
    • hot – ground: 110V
    • neutral to ground: 95 – 105V

    5. Is this correct? Shouldn’t this be 0 volts?

Everything works fine, but is this set up correct?
My biggest questions are: How should 12V system be grounded, How should 120V shore power be grounded (even though it doesn’t go to land based source), and is inverter power with current going through neutral correct?

Thanks very much for any help or clarity you can provide.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Regarding each of your boat wiring questions:

  1. You are correct. The engine is not isolated.
  2. The negative from your house battery should be tied to negative on your starting battery.
  3. Your AC ground and DC ground need to be connected to give a low resistance path to ground in the event of a major fault.
  4. Should be 0 volts.  Neutral and ground should be tied together at the inverter.
  5. AC ground should be connected to DC ground.  You should have a voltage reading of 0 Volts between AC ground and AC neutral.

I hope that this is helpful.

Kevin

Posted in AC Wiring, Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Cruisers, Galvanic Corrosion, Generator, Ground Issues, Marine Electrical, Shore Power, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Twin Inboard Wiring

May 23rd, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Hello Kevin,

I’m trying to figure out my boat wiring and whether it is how it really should be wired.

It’s a twin inboard engine boat with two starter batteries and a house bank. The system includes a generator and Magnum inverter/charger. There’s also a Magnum Smart Battery Combiner wired in, as well as VSR smart battery switches on both starter batteries.

It appears that the house batteries only supply the inverter – all the 12 volt house load is on the starter batteries.A smart battery switch system takes a lot of confusion out of your marine electrical setup

There are also 3 battery on/off switches. One for each starter battery. The other is inline with the generator but I’m not sure which battery – I’m still investigating.

Given these components, how would you recommend that I hook everything up?

Thanks for your help!

Sang

Hi Sang,

My recommendation would be to either connect the 12 volt house loads to the house battery bank or add a second bank for your house and keep the inverter separate. My preference is to always have fresh starting batteries (or at least one).

If you add a bank, you can simply add another VSR smart battery switch between the house and inverter bank to allow all batteries to be charged while your engines are running.

Happy boat wiring,

Kevin

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Marine Electrical, Runabouts, VSR | Comments Off

Which Wire Where?

May 9th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I have a 2004 Trophy 2002 boat with dual batteries and a battery switch (off, 1, 2 both).Boat Wiring Store offers the internet's most complete line of battery cables.

I am confused with the boat wiring for the batteries.

  • The battery on the left facing the back of the boat has two wires. I assume red for positive and yellow is negative. I really can’t see where they are coming from.
  • The other battery  where the battery switch is located has a red wire coming from the battery switch which I assume is positive and a yellow coming from a grounding block (at least that what it looks like) which I assume is negative to the battery.

Then I have two more wires one black and one yellow. I assumed negative but not sure if I am correct and what they are for. Do you have any explanation if I connected these wires correctly or what those two extra wires are for?

Thanks,

Frank

Hi Frank,

Before making any assumptions on which wires connect to which posts on your battery, I strongly recommend tracing them to their origin.

In general, Red is battery positive and Black or Yellow is battery negative.

If you trace the red wires to a battery switch or distribution panel, you can assume these are the positive leads.

If you trace the yellow and black to a ground bus or engine negative terminal, you can assume these are the negative leads.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Galvanic Corrosion, Ground Issues, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Rectify This

February 7th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Hi Kevin,

I have a 1988 Carver 36′ Aft Cabin on which I just replaced the 12 volt batteries.

In the middle of this boat wiring project something didn’t seem right and I looked around the boat trying to figure out what. As it turned out, when all of the 12 volt batteries were disconnected (both negative and positive wires), turning on the house 110 volt AC resulted in the 12 volt bilge pump indicator lights up on the bridge to light up like a christmas tree (much brighter than usual). I also noticed a funny smell up on the bridge and turned everything off. The bilge pumps themselves did not turn on.Dometic Refrigeration

As I continued investigating I found that when I disconnected the negative starting wire to one of the engines and checked the voltage across that wire and the negative terminal of the battery my voltmeter read 0.00 V. However, as soon as I switched on the 110 AC power there was a voltage of 13.5 V (read on a DC scale). There was no battery charger plugged in.

I’m totally confused. Thinking that perhaps there is a short in the AC system going to the 12 V ground somehow. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Hans

Hi Hans,

My best guess would be the AC to DC rectifier(s) used for your refrigerator(s). I would turn off all AC breakers and then turn them on one at a time to determine which device is causing the problem.

With the batteries disconnected, the bilge pump switch light may have been able to receive a higher voltage across it from a leaky rectifier. When the cables are connected, the batteries become a filter for this higher voltage.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in AC Wiring, Battery Charger, Bilge Pumps, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Galley, Marine Electrical, Refrigerator | Comments Off

How many VSRs?

December 20th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I have a 1988 32′ Bayliner with two engines. There are four batteries on the boat: two for starting -one battery for each engine – and two batteries for the house.

I am considering the addition of a VSR smart battery switch to my marine electrical. How would I do the boat wiring for this? Would I need more than one VSR?1988 Bayliner 32

Also, I have two battery selector switches, one for each bank, shore power, and battery charger.

Bill

Hi Bill,

I would recommend two VSRs for your application. One between your port engine and house battery and another between your starboard engine and house battery.

Each VSR would be connected around your battery switches.

  • Run an 8 awg wire from one VSR terminal to the BAT1 post on your battery switch and another 8 awg wire from the other VSR terminal to the BAT2 post on your battery switch.
  • Bat 1 for each switch will be the respective engine battery and Bat 2 will be the house battery bank.
  • Under normal operation, put both battery switches in Pos1. The engine will charge its battery first and then charge the house battery bank.
  • If only one engine is running or only one alternator is working, once the house battery has charged above 13/7 volts, the VSR on the other engine will engage and charge the other engine battery.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Shore Power, VSR | Comments Off

Smart switching with two alternators?

December 6th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula

Hello,

I’m replacing all of the batteries and the battery charger on my marine electrical system.

I have two starters (one for each engine), and a house bank of batteries. I’m going to install a new two or three channel three-stage electronic charger for the batteries. Volvo Penta alternator

The one part I’m not clear on is what I need in between the two alternators (one per engine) and the starter and house batteries. Should I use just one VSR smart battery switch in between just one of the starter batteries and the house bank? Or, is there someway to wire all three together using multiple VSRs?

Thanks for the help,

Jason

Hi Jason,

I would recommend two VSRs for your boat wiring.

You will want one between your port engine and house battery and another between your starboard engine and house battery. Each VSR would be connected around your battery switches.

  • Run an 8 AWG wire from one VSR terminal to the BAT1 post on your battery switch
  • Run another 8 awg wire from the other VSR terminal to the BAT2 post on your battery switch
  • Bat 1 for each switch will be the respective engine battery and Bat 2 will be the house battery bank
  • Under normal operation, put both battery switches in Pos1. The engine will charge it’s battery first and then charge the house battery bank.
  • In an emergency situation, turn your battery switch to either BOTH to get your engine started.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Marine Electrical, Runabouts, VSR | Comments Off

Fuse placement and size

November 29th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I am fixing my marine electrical system and after a lot of reading and forum exchanges I came up with this boat wiring diagram.

The problem is, I can’t figure out the size of the fuses on the wires from the two banks to ACR and the boat battery switch. Currently there are no fuses at all, and the previous owners did not have any problems for many years. From the common on the switch power is used for navigation lights, cabin lights, anchor lights and stereo system. Nothing else.The boat wiring diagram

Is my diagram working? What size should the fuses be?

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Horia

Hi Horia,

All circuit protection should be as close as possible to the source of power.

With the marine electrical setup in your diagram, if you put the battery switch in the both position, the fuses in the leads between the battery switch and the battery with blow when you start the engine.

I would remove both of these fuses and use a minimum of 2 AWG between the boat batteries and the switch. I would use a minimum of 2 AWG for the ground wires between the batteries and the boat ground bus. If the ground bus is petite, I would run my common ground wire from battery negative to battery negative or increase the size of the bus.

There should be circuit protection in the lead that runs from the common on your battery switch to your distribution buses. This should be sized at either the load requirements of your distribution system or the maximum current carrying capacity of the components leading up to the load center. For example, if you panel board requires 100 amps, but it is fed by a 10 AWG 105C wire, I would feel safe with a maximum breaker size of no more than 50 amps.

The lead from your battery to your bilge pump and stereo power bus bar should also have circuit protection. The individual leads to your bilge pump and stereo should also have circuit protection. Determine the bus protection rating based on the total size of the loads and the individual lead protection based on the requirements of the components.

Here is a link to determine the size of the fuse required for your ACR.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Thank you very much.

I only have one question. The outboard is directly connected to Bank 1. Why do you say that the fuses between the batteries and main switch will blow if the switch is on C?

Best,

Horia

Hi Horia,

If the battery switch is in the both position, the batteries are connected in parallel. The engine will try to start from both batteries and blow the fuses.

Thanks

Kevin

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Ignition Switch, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Shore Power, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels | Comments Off
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