Help: How do I wire these switches on this panel?

[Southcoasting]

I bought this Tartan panel to retrofit it on my Tartan 34 Classic. The old wiring was connected to a fuse penal. I am trying to figure out how to wire this panel switches. Does it matter which connector it goes to (top or bottom?).

Any good diagrams out there for how to connect switches?

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Southcoasting

I bought this Tartan panel to retrofit it on my Tartan 34 Classic. The old wiring was connected to a fuse penal. I am trying to figure out how to wire this panel switches. Does it matter which connector it goes to (top or bottom?).

Any good diagrams out there for how to connect switches?

Those are not switches, they are circuit breakers.
Strongly suggest you hire someone qualified for the work.

[Southcoasting]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Those are not switches, they are circuit breakers.
Strongly suggest you hire someone qualified for the work.

Yes, meant circuit breakers. I am not looking for suggestions on wether to hire someone. I am looking for answers. Thanks for taking the time to reply though 😐

[HeywoodJ]

In the photos you can see that the top sides (as the picture is shown) are all joined together with a bus bar. This gets connected to the battery. There is already a red jumper to connect the two buses (sections).

Your load (lights, fridge, whatever) get connected to the bottom.

[Spot]

There are a couple other things missing too.
Maybe start with a picture of the other side of the new panel and some pics of the current setup.

[scherzoja]

Your panel has a negative bus, where you terminate our negative wires (circled yellow and labeled 'Neg').

Each row of breakers has the load side, were you attach the positive wires that go to your devices, circled red and labeled 'pos'

Attached is the edited picture.

Also attached is a basic diagram for a similar bank of breakers.

[GordMay]

See ➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/galler...r&imageuser=79

And ➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/galler...r&imageuser=79

[Southcoasting]

Ah yes! Now I understand how it’s setup!

All above posts were very clear. Thank you all for taking the time to explain it ��

Yeah, the main battery load was coming right into the ammeter gauge. Based on how it was setup, it appears this fed the rest of the breakers because the top right one you see in the pic is the “main” switch.

I don’t have a pic of front at the moment but will later on when I go back to boat.

[catalystcat]

One thing I would note is that the person who did this previously seems to have used the upper right hand breaker as the "Main" for the subpanel. The hot lead arrives at the breaker and voltage passed through is shared on the positive bus bars.
Also, you should consider how much amperage you are running through the panel and size the feed and ground wires accordingly. I can't tell the wire gauge from the photo, but it looks like it could use a bit larger wire. The grounds also look even more undersized, but there may be some other connection to system ground for the negative bus bar.

[catalystcat]

Oops - you posted the comment about the Main as I was typing. Sorry about that.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by Southcoasting

Ah yes! Now I understand how it’s setup!

All above posts were very clear. Thank you all for taking the time to explain it ��

Yeah, the main battery load was coming right into the ammeter gauge. Based on how it was setup, it appears this fed the rest of the breakers because the top right one you see in the pic is the “main” switch.

I don’t have a pic of front at the moment but will later on when I go back to boat.

Yeah, that main breaker is wired bass-ackwards from everything else to provide the all-off function on the 2 positive buss bars feeding the other breakers. It took me a couple tries to suss that out as well.

@GordMay, friendly question, would you have ran a separate fuse for the bilge pump going back to an always-on bussbar? As shown in the diagram a blown blower breaker/fuse takes out the pump.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Spot

... GordMay, friendly question, would you have ran a separate fuse for the bilge pump going back to an always-on bussbar? As shown in the diagram a blown blower breaker/fuse takes out the pump.

On my own boat, the bilge pump was wired 'always on', without short circuit protection. I probably wouldn't do this again, nor would I recommend it.
I also used #10AWG wire, to feed the ±8 Amp motor [oversized for the load & distance], so could have fused [cct breaker] the circuit at 30 Amps, eliminating nuisance trips [would only trip on short circuit]

If you look carefully at the ABYC diagram, you’ll note that the feed to the float switch [for automatic pump operation] comes from ahead of the switch, so ‘always on’, but protected.
I myself never noticed that, until just now.

[Spot]

Thanks GordMay, I should probably wait until third coffee and a go with some crayons before commenting on schematics...


Southcoating, all the best with the project!

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Southcoasting

Yes, meant circuit breakers. I am not looking for suggestions on wether to hire someone. I am looking for answers. Thanks for taking the time to reply though 😐

My suggestion is that you have a fire extinguisher close at hand before you apply power to this panel and have a phone nearby so you can dial 911.

Trying to do electrical work when you don't understand electricity is a recipe for disaster.

[Rumrace]

Take off one wire at a time. The wires are not factory. That’s a handyman Home Depot crimping tool. The terminals need cleaning and frankly from the green starting on your ground wires the wires need replacing.
Then grab a tube of dielectric grease and cover the mess. That green on the ground terminals is power going through a hot joint. As the copper wastes away the simple crimp becomes a hot spot. Can wear the relays out quick.