battery, electricity, cables..heeeellllppp

[Jack Eboat]

Dear ALL!


I hope you all have a nice evening or day !

Anyway i have a challege which is starting to get a bit frustrating. I came to the point where i have replace wiring on an Eboat. As i am exploring the uknown world of electricity there are tons of missing links and questions!

First of, i will be using

-vhf
-gps 10v
-navigation light
-speed/depth meter

does anybody know where i can get good and professional guidance from A to B?
I am sure its not that complicated but not having knowledge about it makes it.......

Ohhh....i was also thinking to add a solar pannel to the system in order to power the battery! As i was able to get some info based on this topic i was told that 100w solar pannel should do it for 12v 50a battery. This is also the batter that previous owner had and he said that he never had problems with it...or maybe i havent asked enough questions anyway there are tons of questions i have but lets see if anybody will hear my letters first


cant wait to strech her sails.....

[CharlzO]

My first thoughts, is that a 100w panel will normally be plenty to keep up that battery, and especially so depending on your usage of those devices.

You did say you were replacing wiring, so are there certain aspects you're keeping in place, or are you planning on redoing everything? As far as how-to's, it's really not as daunting as can be with what you propose you'll be using.

In short: Battery connects to your electric panel, which will branch your wiring to your devices. The Solar will connect to a controller, which gets wired to your battery to charge them. And...done. The hardest part, is going to be how you run your wiring to the devices. There are little things in there, of course, but that's the general idea behind it. Make sure you use proper wiring, and there is a LOT of good info on Maine Sail's website ( Compass Marine How To Articles Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com ).

There are different types of controllers for the solar, for example. There are also different options for wiring your devices. For example, you make want your GPS and depth on the same "instrument" circuit, in which case you may wish to go from the panel into a small buss bar that will allow you multiple wires to go out to each of them without having to piggyback wires together.

Make sure you use the proper wiring, and connectors, first and foremost. Also, imperative to be fused at the battery. From there, try to visualize where your wiring is going to go, to each device. Once you have a plan of attack, and even sketch it on a piece of paper where you will put things, you'll get a clearer vision. Just make sure you also plan for things like your buss bars, and fuse holders, and everything. Take your time, you have a pretty simple plan from what it sounds like. If you need a new panel, get one sized for all of them. If you're just adding onto your existing, you may just need to add a second one for the circuits you're adding. Not sure where you're starting with, but that hopefully helps, or at the least, gives you a little confidence going forward!

[Jack Eboat]

Dear CharlzO,


What a great set if information!!!

Much appreciated!

The link you forwarded to me is indeed full of useful info, the best one so far. Been searching a lot but this one is a winner (so far ).

Another question, how do you salve a challenge when the coaxal cable is coming from the mast under the deck? If i ever want to remove my mast then the cable should be removed as well, i've seen a lot of connections etc. but splitting the cable somewhere in the middle might be a tricky think since the able is very sensitive. And to spice up things a bit i am using two cables one for vhf and one for gps.

Thanks

J,

[CharlzO]

I'm not too familiar with that particular mast setup, is it on a hinge/tabernacle, or is it a direct mount? On my boat, for example, the wiring was all inside the mast coming up from underneath. I added a hinge, so that I could go through canals and such without having to pay a yard to step and un-step the mast each trip. There are deck connectors for such a thing, like: Glomex RA105 Coax Deck Fitting Kit that work pretty well (I have one on mine - you would likely need two instead). But it depends on if your wiring from the cabin comes directly up into the mast, or if it's on the side, and then goes into the mast from there. On mine, I came up outside the mast, used that connector, and had my wire run through the mast and out through a fitting.



The blue boot is the cover for the VHF connector, the other is my mast wiring for the anchor and steaming lights. If it's coming up through the inside of the mast, so that you have to lift off the mast a few inches, reach in and unplug, there's no real easy one for that. You'd have to use a couple female connectors, and ideally a boot or cover around them both just to keep them from banging into each other, and possibly causing interference.

I guess it all depends on how yours is currently set up, and how you want it to be

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Jack Eboat

does anybody know where i can get good and professional guidance from A to B?
I am sure its not that complicated but not having knowledge about it makes it.......

Maine Sail's website is very good on the how to parts. For the Why To, they still write books:

Boatowner's Illustrated Electrical Handbook: Charlie Wing: 9780071446440: Amazon.com: Books

[Jack Eboat]

Thank you very much again for the reply also to you Stu Jackson. Anyway since i live in Europe shipping costs are gonna be expensive..have to find an alternative for this but a very good option. And yes my connectors will have to come on the side as well preferably infront of the mast. I already have one connector there for the navigation lights on top of the mast.

[GrowleyMonster]

What he said.

I will add, don't try to go cheap on wire or cable. Line losses hit a 12vdc system hard.

A 100 watt panel is a good size for a simple setup. More solar and you would want a shunt type controller and a dummy load. What that does is sense when your Batts are topped up and automatically send the power to the dummy load. It could be a gang of resistors but usually it is a small water heater or other not quite essential but nice to have appliance that can run even when u don't really need it. A water maker works good for tthat. For 100 watts it's not a big issue. Same setup for a wind generator. Make sure u have diodes protecting solar and, wind from reverse current. Some controllers have them internally already. U said eboat. .. you mean electric propulsion?

Label stuff carefully. I hate working on something where the wires were labeled but the labels all fell off.

Make sure ur distribution box / breaker panel has plenty of spare breakers or at least spare spaces.

A separate battery for your backup emergency bilge pump is a great idea. Have a 10w panel set up just to trickle charge that battery.

[Jack Eboat]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

What he said.

I will add, don't try to go cheap on wire or cable. Line losses hit a 12vdc system hard.

A 100 watt panel is a good size for a simple setup. More solar and you would want a shunt type controller and a dummy load. What that does is sense when your Batts are topped up and automatically send the power to the dummy load. It could be a gang of resistors but usually it is a small water heater or other not quite essential but nice to have appliance that can run even when u don't really need it. A water maker works good for tthat. For 100 watts it's not a big issue. Same setup for a wind generator. Make sure u have diodes protecting solar and, wind from reverse current. Some controllers have them internally already. U said eboat. .. you mean electric propulsion?

Label stuff carefully. I hate working on something where the wires were labeled but the labels all fell off.

Make sure ur distribution box / breaker panel has plenty of spare breakers or at least spare spaces.

A separate battery for your backup emergency bilge pump is a great idea. Have a 10w panel set up just to trickle charge that battery.

Thanks for the reply,

All this sound quite advanced to me haha...

About the solar, thanks for the dummy hint..for sure keep it in mind! I will not use wind, at least not yet as i think using motors energy and solar should do it! I will only use the electricity for the essential things and try to avoid laptops etc.
Yes i figured that everybody is saying that i should get a good quality cables. BTW since i am writting another quick question...there is a ground that need to be placed on the boat, where exactly can i do that on my fiberglass boat?

Eboat...here is the link E•boat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

about the separate battery i do not use a bildge pump so there is no need for the separate battery.

Labeling of course..essential thing!!!


J

[Badsanta]

Buy several boat electrical books. Get more than one author. Read alot then ask questions. You don't want to do this twice.

[sailinglegend]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

.... More solar and you would want a shunt type controller and a dummy load. ....

No wonder the OP said 'this all sounds a bit advanced...' It is a bit confusing if the information is wrong.

Dummy loads are only needed on wind regulators, not solar. When the controller switches to float the batteries are still not fully charged so don't even think of trying to 'dump' it somewhere!

Badsanta's advice to the OP is good - 'buy LOTS of books...'. GrowleyMonster, I'm afraid you should do the same.

[Jack Eboat]

Thanks for the advise sailinglegend!

Books yes i am busy with that as well in addition do you have any advise which book is worth reading? This solar power is quite simple i am noticing but the decisions of what to purchase is rather overwhelming!

I found something that fits in my budget:

1 Mono-crystalline Solar Panel 80Wp


Specificaties80Wp panel:

- Size: 1200x550x30mm
- Weight: 8kg
- Nominal power: 80Wp
- Open circuit voltage: 21.3V
- Short circuit current: 5.20 A
- Max. power voltage: 17.5V
- Max. power current: 4.57 A
- Certifications: ISO 9001, CCC, CE, TUV
1 set of mounting angle supports black
1 LCD Solar charge controller for 12v-24v 10 Amp lead or gel cell batteries.
suitable for solar 18V DC - 36 VDC Digital Display


will this solar pannel suffice for my needs and assure that the battery is always full?

[denverd0n]

Here is a link to a lot of good, basic information...
HandyBob's Blog « Making off grid RV electrical systems work

There's a lot to digest there, but it is more succinct than any book I've seen. It is more than worth your while to spend whatever time it takes to go through his entire site. His comments are slanted somewhat towards the RV lifestyle, but they apply equally to any off-the-grid situation.