Dedicated Charging Station. Advice Needed!

[FlyingScot]

I've become more paranoid after having a friend almost lose his boat to something simple; a low amp induction based charging of a name brand marine rated product.

I'm looking to add a dedicated charging station for small electronics to our 2008 Leopard 40 Catamaran. There is a nice location very close to the DC breaker panel. We don't want to live without all these little items that sometimes use suspect quality batteries.

I plan to install a 12v fan just above to direct air over the items charging.
I will have two fire proof bags. One for storage, one for the items charging.

I have a 12cm x 14cm hole that I want to cover and install multiple 12v sockets, possibly USB ports and maybe a couple of Anderson Powerpole ports.

I'm already doing a lot of wiring, I have proper wire, crimpers, fuses, connectors, etc.

We only charge while someone is near by. No unattended charging.

What material would you recommend to mount the 12v sockets, USB ports and Powerpole items?

I want to buy very high quality items. Where can I find the best items?

[team karst]

Lots of ways to skin this cat. Here is my way:

Upside is your USBx fixed jacks dont go obsolete on the boat
And a steel broiler pan for a fireproof platform.

I have lost count on total devices. I have 3 cave divers on board with a light count of 5 each plus drones, laptops, phones, modem, inreach, ….u get the idea.

[AKA-None]

Don’t forget that a burning battery releases toxic fumes so careful where you vent your charging station

[Pete7]

Chris, we are slowly switching to the Blue Seas range of products. Not cheap but hopefully better quality. For example a cheap 100A circuit breaker can be had on Amazon for £12 and weighs 67g. The Blue Seas one I just fitted weighs 227g.

Have a browse of the catalogue and then start shopping around:

BlueSea Systems 2023 Catalog ? Page 24

This sort of stuff isn't something I want to be replacing very often particularly if its on display and matched to other items, so willing to pay extra hopefully for quality. Time will tell.

Pete

[FlyingScot]

Just to update: I'm hoping to do as much DC charging as possible. We will have a very robust AC system, but dual Mutliplus 3KVA supposedly use 40w just to be turn on in parallel. We hope we just power these up for galley operations or when there is plenty of extra sunshine.

I do love Blue Sea products, and I have recently installed a lot of them on our upgraded DC system. I'm about to install a mutliple ELCI breakers from them as well. Electric is not a place I want lower quality products.

[scherzoja]

FlyingScot

One thing you might do, depending on the cabinet or alcove you are using for the charging area, is paint the surfaces with intumescent paint. When burned, this paint swells up with a charred layer that prevents the underlying substrate from burning. There are many brands and it's not new technology, just maybe not used much in boats.

I used FireGuard E-84 to paint surfaces where all wires run, including the plywood backer board to which I fastened the main terminal blocks behind the DC and AC electric panels. Basically, where ever there is a wire run, the top, sides, and bottom surfaces are painted with this paint. You paint it on thick (30 mil), then top coat with whatever paint you want. It should be top coated because it smudges easily and doesn't clean, so I just used some white semi-gloss enamel. The paint does not self-level, so it's probably not a good choice for areas that in plain sight, unless you sand, repaint, sand, repaint to get the minimum 30 mils and a smooth surface to topcoat.

before painting, I tested it on some scrap and it is really interesting and effective. I put about 30 mils on a piece of scrap hardwood, on a piece of Aerocel insulation that I glued to all above-waterline hull and deck surfaces, and a piece of cardboard.

With a propane torch, I burned it and the paint swelled up to form a chard layer about 1/4" thick and the underlying test substrates never burned.

It's pretty interesting paint. Although it won't prevent fires, it will likely buy you some time to identify the ignition source and put out the fire.