Archive for the ‘Runabouts’ 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

Drinks are cold. Wires are hot.

February 22nd, 2012 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin,

I’d like to take my portable icemaker with me to the coast. I have a 22 foot cabin cruiser with a 90 hp Honda and two series 24 batteries – and need your help figuring out the boat wiring.

The icemaker draws 2 amps at 230 watts, so it won’t be suitable for a small inverter plugged into my cigarette lighter….will it? I thought about just adding a larger wire to the cigarette lighter, but that wouldn’t help the plug itself. Dometic Ice Maker

The inverter says it should be wired straight to the batteries if the appliance is over 180 watts. Wouldn’t it be better just to put in another circuit on my circuit board with size 12 or so wire and a 5 amp fuse/breaker?

Thanks,

Henry

Hi Henry,

I would recommend running the new inverter wires directly to the battery.

Your existing DC system was not designed to carry the additional current that your inverter will draw. You may have excessive voltage drop or even wires overheating.

Please send pictures of your final install,

Kevin

Posted in Battery, Battery cables, Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Galley, Ice Maker, Invertor, Marine Electrical, Runabouts, Sailboats, Voltage Drop | No Comments »

Bigger Breaker

February 13th, 2012 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin,

When replacing my factory installed circuit breakers, I noticed the breaker for the bilge pump is only rated at 4 amps.

My Rule bilge pump, (also factory installed) is labeled “12 Volt 6 amp fuse”. The specifications I found on line say this pump draws 3.3A at 12 volts and 5.0 amps at 13.6 volts. I assume the boat wiring size used is typical for bilge pump installation. (appears to be 14-16 Ga.?) Carling breaker

Should I install a larger circuit breaker with this set-up? I am thinking a 7 Amp would be sufficient?

The boat is a 2002 Sea Pro 235 WA with two batteries.

Thank You

Shonna

Hi Shonna,

I would go with the 7 amp breaker.

7 amps will not exceed the current carrying capacity of your wire, will help reduce nuisance tripping of the breaker under full load, but will trip under a locked rotar condition.

Thanks

Kevin

Posted in Bilge Pumps, Boat Wiring, Breakers, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Sailboats | Comments Off

AC System Ground

December 19th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin,

Your Easy Add AC – Marine Shore Power looks fantastic. Just what I need to plug and play!

I need some advice on the green ground wire. I have a DC system. No engine on my sailboat. Want to add your AC shore power system.

Your instructions state to connect to my DC negative which in turn on most boats is connected to the engine which provides ground. How do I accomplish grounding without an engine? Seacock, ground plate?

Thank you,

JR

Hi JR,

I’m glad that you like our system. As you said, we designed it to be truly “plug and play”.

As for your question…

The green AC ground wiring should be connected to the negative side of your DC system. This provides a low resistant path to ground in the event of an AC to DC fault. Even though the 5 mA GFCI on the panel will trip long before the 30 dock main, we still need to have the green AC grounding wire to keep our friends at the USCG happy.

Hope this helps,Shock Warning Sign

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for the prompt reply.

I’m still confused. Is it ok that the DC is not connected to an engine (no engine on my sailboat)? Do I need to connect my DC bus to a seacock or external ground plate?

Thanks,

JR

Hi JR,

If you have a grounding system on your boat wiring (ground plate, seacock, etc), it should be connected to the DC negative system. The AC grounding wire from your AC system should connect here as well.

This will help prevent your seacock from being energized by 110v AC with no low resistance path to ground.

Kevin

Kevin,

Just to get it straight —the seacock and the AC green and the DC negative all connected to the DC neg bus? The seacock which is is on the water side provides the low resistance path ?

Thanks in advance for your tolerance. BTW you make it an easy choice to purchase from your boat wiring store with such great tech advice!!

JR

Hi John,

The wire that connects the AC grounding wire between the AC panel and your boat’s grounding system provides the low resistance path to ground that will trip the breaker on the dock. Without this, in theory, an AC wire can accidentally come in contact with the seacock on your boat. Since there is so much resistance the water, the dock breaker will not trip due to the low current the seacock path to ground (through the water) is inducing.

If a swimmer comes near the seacock, they become a lower resistance path to ground (the bottom of the marina) and then become paralyzed by AC voltage present in the water.

The main GFCI on our panel protects far beyond what the main dock breaker can do.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in ABYC, AC Wiring, Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Galvanic Corrosion, Ground Issues, Marine Electrical, Runabouts, Sailboats, Shore Power, Shore Station | Comments Off

Three questions

October 24th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Hello KevinYow.

Based on this picture, if you found this on your dock:

  1. How safe would you believe this boat wiring to be?
  2. Would you complain to the marina about it?
  3. Would the marina’s insurance company accept its usage?

Mickey

Hi Mickey,

I would recommend having a qualified electrician check it out – unless you decide to simply finish chopping it into even smaller pieces and throwing it in the garbage.

Kevin

Posted in ABYC, AC Wiring, Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Marine Electrical, Quality-Control, Runabouts, Sailboats, Shore Power, Shore Station | Comments Off

There she blows

August 29th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin

I have a 2002 Rinker Captiva 232 BR.

My transom light assembly blew and popped the breaker on the dash navigation light switch.

I reset the breaker and have nothing. In fact, nothing on that panel works including the radio! I still have the bilge blower and ignition. The rules of navigation lights for your boat wiring project.

Are there fuses somewhere or a main breaker that I could be missing?

Thanks!!

Justin

Hi Justin,

Your boat wiring should have a main feed breaker at the battery switch panel that provides the main power.

It is possible that your transom light tripped this breaker also. Some Rinkers used the ignition feed to power the blower. This would explain when the blower and ignition work, but nothing else does.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Anchor Lights, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Runabouts | Comments Off

Switch switches

July 11th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Hey Kevin,

I am trying to replace the original ignition switch with a spare that I happened to have in my garage.

However, I am trying to go from a 5-prong to a 4. The original switch had: (part #54211)

  • B – yellow wire

    • Key switch

  • Unmarked terminal – orange wire
  • A – red wire
  • D – two soldered black wires
  • GF – two soldered white wires

The new switch has Acc/Batt/S/Ign.

I would really like to be able to use what I have and not spend anything on the old boat, I would think this is feasible, but I am no boat wiring expert.

Any feedback appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

Hi Steve,

The spare switch that you found is for an inboard engine. It will not work on your Mercury outboard engine.

Sorry,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Wiring, Ignition Switch, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Sailboats, Switch Panels | Comments Off

Turn it up. Radio.

June 27th, 2011 by Marine Ac/Dc

Kevin,

I have a 1995 Mercruiser 5.7L 350.

The boat wiring problem I’m having is that when I am running the boat and have the stereo on, it will cut out when my navigation lights, blower, or bilge pump are turned on. I had issues with the gauges reading erratically too.

So, I cleaned all battery terminals, cleaned the two main grounds into the block. I also ran a daisy chain ground from the gauges to the negative on the battery to bypass the existing ground just to check that ground.

Everything was running great, with the stereo blasting (stock marine unit, no amp), until I turned on any of the above mentioned accessories. Then the stereo cuts out, voltage drops on the gauge, and the other gauges act up a little.

I do not have a ground bus under the dash. All the wires seem to just disappear down each side of the boat.

I tested the alternator with a multimeter (read was 14.5). The stereo will come back on after the accessory remains on.

Any suggestions would be helpful. alpine stereo

Sheri

Hi Sheri,

You are dealing with a voltage drop issue. The more current that passes through a wire, the more voltage drop is induced. You don’t notice it when your navigation lights get slightly dimmer when your blower is turned on, but it is obvious when the stereo shuts down.

The solutions are to either increase the size of the wire that supplies power to the helm and its ground or run a separate power and ground for your stereo back to your battery or bus system. Please remember to install circuit protection at the battery end of the new power lead.

This will solve your problem,

Kevin

Posted in Bilge Pumps, Boat Batteries, Boat Wiring, Ground Issues, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Runabouts, Signaling Devices, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Diode Does It

June 13th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Hello,

I am looking for a schematic on the proper boat wiring for the navigation /anchor light switch on my 1990 Sea Ray.

I have a five wire posts, three posts on one side and two on the other. The center post carries the power and the other four post on each corner is for what???

Barrel diodeMy situations is that the boat navigation lights in the front come on along with the dash lights and switch light, but no stern light.Then I switch to anchor lights and the back light comes on, but the switch light does not come on.

I noticed a jumper wire from the post in one corner to the other corner of the same side that look like it was broken, so I replaced and now all the lights come on in both direction of the toggle switch. Is there a special jumper wire? Because when I cut out the jumper wire it was a solid wire with a “end keeper”, a small metal tip in the center of the wire.

Please help.

Thanks
Rich

Hi Rich,

The original jumper had a diode in it. It acts as a one way valve for the current to stern light when the forward lights are on, but block the flow when your only stern light is selected. You can buy HERE at Radio Shack.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Runabouts, Sailboats, Switch Panels | 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
« Older Entries