Jedi new breaker/control panels progress.

[PerfectPirate]

Ooh, you make me jealous!

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Hartleyg

Nice! I assume those padeyes are how you're hoisting the whole thing into the overhead?



I foresee a LOT of cutting, stripping and crimping in your immediate future


Hartley
S/V Atsa

Yes, the back end with DIN rail gets a piano hinge so that the console drops down at the front. It’s gonna be too heavy to just let it drop down I am considering 1/8” Dyneema attached to gas springs or something fancy but may just use a cleat instead haha

Originally Posted by sailingunity

I love a clean electrical job. I'd love to see how you built those custom panels/where you sourced them from.

What are those blue sea blocks in the DIN rail photo, grounding blocks?

I designed these panels on the computer and had frontpanelexpress.com make them. They supply the CAD software for free.

The BlueSea Systems blocks you see are their dual busbars that I use for AC. If you are familiar with my diagrams: the leftmost one is the input bus, followed by bus 1, 2 and 3 (normally bus1 is out1 and bus2 is out2 of Multiplus and bus3 is a bypass breaker). All those are 240V L1 and L2 only. The last three are used on Autotransformer outputs that make new neutrals for 120V service. It’s where the distribution breakers get their power from.

[sailingunity]

Do you have an electrical schematic?

Just curious.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

Do you have an electrical schematic?

Just curious.

Here is the AC schematic. It is for US 120/240V powered boats. EU powered boats don’t have the autotransformers.

The two parallel inverter/chargers aren’t just for doubting the power; they can also be configured to do frequency conversion (one converts shore power to DC and the other takes that DC and makes AC for the boat.

The bypass breaker allows switching off the inverter/chargers like when you are not aboard but want to run a dehumidifier etc. You can also use it like the OUT2 on the Multiplus units, i.e. only get power when shore power or genset power is available. This allows full power output from a genset while the OUT2 ports of Multiplus units are limited.

Edit: the distribution switches are actually on the distribution panels and select which bus for that group of breakers. The breakers are spread strategically, i.e. water heater and A/C are all on one of them so that it makes it logical to use bus2 or bus3 for that group when on shore power.

[s/v Jedi]

Installing the overhead console…

First fit of the new console for all the switch panels: it fits! 😎 it’s being held up with a stack of books for now. Steve Dashew didn’t write enough books, I needed Jimmy Cornell and Jim Howard as well!

The whole console hinges at the back and the front comes down all the way to the navstation cabinets for easy access to the inside.

The other pictures show the space inside the clamshell construction. One of the four cable ducts is partly obstructed by the side of the console so we need to adjust the cutout a bit but that is minor. There is more than enough room even above the DIN rail and terminal blocks for guiding cables to the right spots and the DC negative and AC ground busbars.

Also, the inside of the hull was cleaned back to bare fiberglass, sanded and painted light gray. There will be Jatoba slats as the new hull lining and you see the fiberglass through the spaces between slats. The paint also keeps everything nice and clean.

The paint of the console is the same as the ceiling panels will be. The Jatoba trim in between the panels will get a satin varnish finish like all the Jatoba hardwood in the interior.

[team karst]

Panduit fills quickly. Mine is too full….

[BAD ORCA]

Jedi, it looks like you have a mix of thermal and magnetic breakers, is this correct? If so what are you using each type for?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by BAD ORCA

Jedi, it looks like you have a mix of thermal and magnetic breakers, is this correct? If so what are you using each type for?

Correct. The thermal breakers are push-to-reset so can’t be turned off and are for 24h ON circuits. I use them for all bilge and discharge pumps (which have a switch so can still be turned off but they have the ON-OFF-(ON) combination as all the bilge pump switches use) and for the navigation lights as well as panel power for LED’s in switches (those have a dimmer as well). Also, the control power for the 500A remote battery switches comes from the same breakers.

[rgleason]

Thank you for posting this with the photos. I gets me thinking...there must be some reasonable way to do something similar in a small boat. ...I am afraid one locker would have to be converted, but it's worthwhile looking at things differently.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Thank you for posting this with the photos. I gets me thinking...there must be some reasonable way to do something similar in a small boat. ...I am afraid one locker would have to be converted, but it's worthwhile looking at things differently.

I’m still looking at it thinking that I like it all through the boat but wondering what to do with it. Could be cabinet space with doors, for speakers, entertainment systems, nmea instrument displays etc.

The thing is, it was very easy and quick to make. It’s 1/4” plywood and I used the stitch and glue method, using blue tape for stitches and gel consistency CA glue for tacking it, then a quick epoxy fillet and fiberglass tape. The outside a single pass of fairing compound over the joints, sand and a couple coats of paint.
The design and mock-up with cardboard in the boat took much more time than making it and all the other ones would be the same…

[s/v Jedi]

Added padeyes and paracord stops for maximum opening. Also threaded rods for securing in fully closed position.

[Joli]

Looks good. Curious, did you consider digital switching, possibly c zone or another maker? If you did, why did you choose this route instead?
Thanks!

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Joli

Looks good. Curious, did you consider digital switching, possibly c zone or another maker? If you did, why did you choose this route instead?
Thanks!

There will be lots of digital switching. I even have a 16 channel dimmer module. That one gets one breaker labeled “lights”. You still need a breaker.