For someone like me who can’t tell the difference between electricity and plumbing, your lesson and explanation makes me feel like Thomas Edison. Thank you.
I like the hinges on the DC panel and immediately found myself wondering why my boat doesn't have them....I will definitely be adding some in the near future. Thank you James. Ken in St. Petersburg FL.
Jesus. There is no chance that I'm going to remember how to rewire a sailboat correctly. You do it perfectly and I'm jealous. You're on the east coast. I'm stuck in the "non-atom voyager" west coast.
Wow James, your work always looks amazing ! This video is excellent too , I've done many of the projects you have shown us how to do, I just wish mine looked anywhere near as pro as yours always do .
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and skills. In a couple of years I hope to put it all into practice myself when we get our retirement boat. In the meantime, keep up the great work!
Great video! I don’t have to rewrite my boat but definitely want to do some pruning of unnecessary wire and a clean up of necessary ones along with the addition of a few more. Well appreciated
The 6hp outboard motor alternator has very little output, only about 1.5 amps so does not need an external controller with a 420 AH battery bank. And the switch is there so you can just turn it off if not needed.
Hi James, I cannot thank you enough for the details you have put into this very instructive video. Second to none, I would say. I watched it so many times over that I lost count. One burning question is - what is the significance of the inverter remote switch? Why remote? Thank you once again.
Good to hear the video is helpful. It's optional to use the remote inverter switch. It came included and is just a convenience so you don't have to reach in a locker to turn it on and off. If the inverter is mounted exposed then no need to use it. Keep in mind these cheap modified sine wave inverters are a great value but will not power some electronics and may shorten the life of some. I've had good luck over the years with this model but realize that might not always be the case. Everything I've plugged into it seems to work fine except for one variable speed jig saw that wouldn't start. Another brand worked fine so there was something in the tools switch that would not take modified sine wave. Even my notebook PC power supply worked good for hours at a time. Other than the PC I haven't had things running on it long-term. If it's a concern to you then you should pay extra for pure sine wave type.
@@atomvoyager Thank you so much. Your generosity in sharing your wide knowledge is so evident. I am touched. You know, I may understand 50% of the video now but it is 100% perfect for me to take a step forward in finding out the things you put out that I don't understand or aware of. You certainly gave us tools to learn more on our own steam. In that, I am truly grateful and hold you in high esteem. When I know, I will share with others. Just like you.
I tend to prefer isolating batteries. On my home (Cal 33) I have 4 large batteries with two 1,2,BOTH,Off switches. I can have all or any combination active. Had cells go and take the whole bank down.
That's a good point to consider. On this boat we are trying to keep things simple and compact for the limited space available. If one battery goes bad we can disconnect it from the bank although it would be easier with multiple switches.
James, absolutely enjoy your videos and books(currently reading your Distant Seas (puts me to sleep at night). Anyway, on the shut off switch for the outboard alternator-can you explain that a bit please. Thx.
You could wire the outboard motor alternator direct to a fused line going to the batteries but I put a switch in line to isolate it so I can monitor current going into the batteries and to be able to disconnect the circuit for troubleshooting. And because the switch is normally off when anchored or sailing I don't have to worry about some fault leaking current back to the motor. Same for the solar panels.
This is a fantastic video and I am currently working on my 1960 Triton. I have a question on the Garmin depth sounder you mention, located forward, I think on the port side. Do you have any photos of the transducer from the outside of the hull? I am considering a shark bite into the bow keel but your install looks to be simpler, although I am not clear on any disadvantages. My GPS plotter supports both Chirp and ClearVu.
There are no photos of the transducer from outside because they do not penetrate the hull. The face of the transducer is epoxied inside the hull. About 10% of the range is lost when shooting thru the hull but it means one less hole to cut, no chance if leaks, and transducer can be replaced in water by knocking the old one off with hammer and chisel. I don't know if your transducer is compatible with inside hull mounting. Here is a link to a video of some other options: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZX5U0JmEwoM.html
Hi there James, I've watched this video many times and everytime I find something new. Indespencible. I've heard another youtuber mention leaving certain things "unswitched" including the alternator and solar on the idea that having your alternator switched off when it is generating power can wear it prematurely because of the resistance of the generated power having no where to go. Is this something to consider? I was also wondering about mounting the Hawk Eye transducer in the hull. Do you take care to make sure the transducer is level to the water line? When you Epoxy it in there, are you completely encapsulating it or just trying to get it to adhere? Thank you for your time.
I don't want anything unswitched on my boat as I want to be able to quickly isolate all electric input or output for troubleshooting or monitoring purposes without having to shut off main battery switch causing everything to shut down. Most small outboards don't have an alternator, just a magneto or rectifier type charger that won't be damaged by running switched off. But if you were unsure if that is the case you can always leave the switch on while motoring. Maybe have a "turn on switch" tag attached to the motor pull start to remind you. When I set the depth transducer into a glob of thickened epoxy I press it down so it is roughly level and not tight to the hull contour which means the epoxy ends up thicker on one end. I make sure the entire face of transducer is coated so no air bubble is trapped. The epoxy does not need to come up on the sides of the transducer. You want to be able to easily knock it off one day with chisel and hammer because these transducers don't work forever and will need likely replacing one day. That's why I like to have two independent depthsounders installed.
Hi! Like your work. I’m refitting my Hallberg-Rassy 24. About the hinges for the electrical panel allowing for the teak parts. Do you know where to find themor what they are called? Thanks!
Sorry for the late reply but yes it's holding up fine. Since prices of pure sine wave inverters in the 1000-1500 watt range have come down I now usually install them rather than the cheaper modified sine wave ones. Lithium batteries are also now more affordable and have a fairly good track record. I'll have an updated electrics video soon.
You gone over the crimping tools and I kinda wanted to ask why don't you solder everything and then go over the soldered ends with a double wall heat shrink tubing. I know it's a lot more work and time consuming but was wondering what was your thoughts on soldering verses crimping? I had a friend years ago that taught me about soldering and i'm not saying crimping is bad just would like your opinion?
I know there are old school people who still solder and that's fine but since a crimp is fast and perfectly good with heat shrink and tinned marine wire and crimps and especially if the wiring is in a dry location it's not worth the trouble to me. I think soldering was more important in the old days when tinned wire and heat shrink was less common.
Hey James, great video, thank you. I have a few questions, hope you don't mind. Regarding the boxes with lights and fans terminals (7:48)- I saw in two different marine electrical books that cabin lights were wired in parallel, either just one line(small boats) or two (port & stbd). How did you do the wiring, run a duplex for each lamp/fan? Does the same apply to the 12V outlets? Cheers!
While you can just run one duplex from the switch panel and parallel all wires to other lights and fans off that and size the wires for the extra voltage drop, I find it is a clumsy and awkward way to make and add future connections. That's why I add a terminal block each side amidships in a plastic enclosure and use that as a feed point for duplex wires to nearby lights and fans. If you had a smaller boat and a few less connections then it might make sense to eliminate the boxes to simplify it.
@@atomvoyager Thanks James. Could you describe your grounding system? Just about all info online starts with AC shore system grounding and engine negative bus connection, it's pretty complicated and I don't have either on my boat. I do have an inverter. Looking around the bilge area I haven't seen any keel bolts, copper plates or tape, so I'll have to built something from scratch. Any suggestions or pointers? Thanks.
@@horiapopa6341 Since this boat and my own don't have a shorepower AC system we don't have any extra grounding. We have inverters but they only need a green chassis ground wire to the 12v negative bus. If someone wanted shore power on these boats they can run an extension cord through the hatch to either say a portable battery charger, microwave, heater, air conditioner or other loads too great for the inverter and even though I do it all the time it is not recommended because of the chance of some ground fault in the appliance and an improper ground on the shore circuit causing an onboard shock hazard. Perhaps a circuit breaker or GFCI attached to the onboard end of the extension cord would help reduce the risk in certain situations of a fault but I expect the dockbox breaker to be adequate. You need to research it and make up your own mind as to the risks. If you are adding permanent shorepower then you should follow the guidelines available online in order to protect nearby swimmers from stray current if there is a fault in your ground or with the shore power line coming into the boat. The AC green ground is generally connected to the 12v negative bus and engine block, sometimes to a bronze grounding plate outside the hull. Here's discussion on it: www.boatdesign.net/threads/need-to-ground-12v-dc-system.22066/ And more detailed info here: www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Marine-Grounding-Systems
Hi James - great vid! What did you use to label the wires? At 21:10 min, I noticed you used numbers on your wires and I want to do something similar on my rewiring project. Thxs!
I used a wire marker book similar to this from Home Depot: www.homedepot.com/p/Ideal-Wire-Marker-Booklets-10-Pack-44-102/100118882?MERCH=REC-_-rv_gm_pip_rr-_-302444114-_-100118882-_-N
Please explain why an electrical 'shunt' is required. I've heard it described as a 'resistor' but you have fuses everywhere, so I'm at a loss to understand why it's needed and why on the negative post? Does it also only measure 1-2 amps, maximum?
The shunt is on the battery monitor and you only need it if you want the gauge that shows battery usage info. It measures current flow by tiny voltage drop across the shunt in the negative wire. It can handle well over 100 amps. More info on it at the link below. A resistor is something different and is commonly used to drop voltage, for example on a light dimmer or to control fan speed. theboatgalley.com/monitoring-the-batteries/
A shunt is a conductor with low, calibrated resistance, normally sized to handle substantial current. The resistance in the shunt produces a small voltage drop across it, and from the resistance and voltage drop you can determine how much current is flowing in amps. They're used for power monitoring, such as the charge rate to your batteries, and the power use from your batteries.
I like the CAFRAMO-Compact 757 2-Speed Cabin Fan. I place a rubber gasket between the bracket and bulkhead to cut down on vibration noise. In locations where I have a fiddle or bulkhead edge available I like to use the same fan with the CAFRAMO-Two-Speed Compact Fan Mounting Clamp which makes it able to move around to where you need it. For a small boat you might not need to mount one permanently on a bulkhead and just move one or two clip-on ones around. Make sure you have enough outlets near where you want to place them. I also use the Bora fans sometimes but the Caframo seem to move more air.
It was over two years ago when we installed the batteries and at the time these 100AH AGM batteries were available for $180 at Sams Club which was way cheaper than say the $900 battleBorn lithium. I wasn't willing to learn how to build my own lithiums from suspect Chinese components and risk bad cells or an unreliable BMS. SOK batteries are now at $570 each and since they are serviceable and the BMS can be replaced if it goes bad, I'll be using them soon on another boat. I'll probably have an AGM engine start battery in that boat to simplify the charging complications of lithium and provide some backup power if the lithium BMS goes out.
At 7:41 you see the terminal block where port side lights and fans come together and then only one duplex wire is needed to feed back from there to the main terminal block near the switch panel. Then the starboard side does the same thing and a few others from the aft cabin area come back directly to that also and one wire from there goes to the switch to power them all on one circuit. Somewhere in the video you see that I add jumper connectors to the terminal strips to link several wires together as needed.
@@atomvoyager are you one facebook messenger or something like that? would it be alright, because I might have some questions for you because you have more experience than me while I’m fixing up my 1974 Tanzer 22 and if I ask on here it might be delayed, you can add me on messenger at Collin Farrington
It's correct to be cautious using 5200 but in this case the wire jacket and paint are too slippery for less tenacious adhesives and the small amount used will come off easily if needed. Also the wire slips through the jacket.
Thanks for pointing that out. I forgot to mention there is a chance of damaging certain electronics with modified square wave. Since pure sine wave invertors were crazy expensive until recently, I've been using the others for over 20 years on my own boats and other boats and never had anything damaged. I did experience a couple times that something wouldn't operate because of the wave form but there was never any damage that resulted. Apparently in some case there can be damage from overheating if run a long time. Otherwise, it's generally not a problem. If you can afford it then pure wave is the way to go.
@@atomvoyager yeah I got a modified one based on pricing as well but I learned the difference between the two and cancelled the order because I didn’t want to take the risk
