Sail Life - Rewiring the AC, RDC, MCB & cable clamps - DIY sailboat refit 

Did you upload this week's video in lower quality? At the moment it's only available in 360p for me (on mobile). Has anybody else the same issue?

You have given me a new respect for Danish people. I had a Grandfather who was from Denmark (Danmark?) and in the 18 years I new him I never heard him say anything, at least not to children. Based on a sample of one I developed the silly idea that the Danes were an extremely laconic people. You are an excllent representative of the Danish nation.

I have been seeing your videos more or less for a year. And then, I decided to go back!!! What a difference it shows. And thanks for the AC lesson.

Im an electrician and I want to compliment you on your great work on those cables. It's professional quality. Be very wary of getting a false positive while continuity testing cables. Many many loads transformers etc will ring the meter if theyre in the circuit! Assure a double positive by testing with the wires shorted and that opening them clears the short to be sure your test is good!

Mads, you get triple extra bonus OCD points for shrinking the labels after the cables are in place so the labels are aligned. Very well done Sir Mads!

OCD/AC/DC Your videos are so therapeutic and if I could rip out my boat and start again I have your model to follow. I only found your site a day or so ago but is now my regular morning coffee accompaniment. Good luck.

I realize this video is 3+ years old so my comment isn’t timely. Nonetheless, I just found your channel and I’m binging it during my recovery from a minor surgery. I’m enjoying it very much! Kudos! I’m hoping a future episode details the process of the using an Adreno to create a data log off of the flashing LED (related, in this case, to your energy usage). Again, thanks for producing really great content. Everything you do is “pretty dang spiffy” and as a bonus, you explain your processes with a hint of Mr. Rogers’ calm and peaceful demeanor. (Meant in the best way!) Cheers!

I am not a DIY'er by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to say that you've got me pretty dang excited about the cable management in that locker! Pretty dang spiffy indeed....peace & fair winds

Congratulations from a french electrician for you cable management ! It looks like art !

Best wishes from a new American subscriber. I just binge watched your last 50-ish videos. The boat has gone from small and dingy to bright and big as far as interior appearance. Your fastidious nature and well-developed work ethic promote obvious positive gains from video to video, the quality of the work ranges from very good to excellent, and almost every moment is a learning opportunity for someone on the same path. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Hey Mads, thought you'd be interested in hearing that my 9 year old son has become interested in your videos and we watch together every Sunday night now. I don't think he always understands what you're talking about (technical stuff), but he looks forward to watching none-the-less.

I'm sure glad you changed the orientation of that last shrink label before shrinking it. Great video as always. Thanks.

Just finished my tax and vat returns, so glad that I can relax with this vlog and an glass of fine whiskey!

Hi Mads -- check out paralleling inverters such as the victron multiplus. This would install between your AC selector switch and the distribution panel (probably before the breaker & meter, but maybe after the meter for accurate metering. The idea is that when you supply AC into the inverter, it shifts the output frequency of the inverter to match the input perfectly and then parallels the two sources. What this means is that if you have a smaller genset or are on a dock somewhere with lower amp power supply, or you just want to turn everything on at once, the inverter will boost the supplied AC (either genset or shore power). If you add a multi-control panel, you can turn a dial and input the exact maximum Amps you want to pull from the AC source and any extra power requirements will come out of your batteries. This system was a lifesaver on our boat when at a dock that only had 10A shore power when we normally use 50A. Obviously coudln't run everything but could run shorter term users like washing machine on top of water heater. Similarly, microwave could run without tripping the shore breaker all the time. Once the short load such as microwave stopped, the inverter took the extra amps left over and charged the batteries back up. For a bit of background, I am a Naval Architect/Marine Engineer and we sailed from US to New Zealand in 2009-2010 and then suffered a fire at the dock (battery charger failed), so I managed the refit, replacing all the AC electrical systems aboard. Made a lot of great improvements to the boat which is now in France sailing to scotland and ireland last year. At some point you will want to add a watermaker and an AC watermaker will be cheaper and produce more water faster than a DC system. With a big inverter, particularly a parallelling one so genset could be smaller, you can run the watermaker for a shorter time and get all the water you need towards the end of your battery charging cycle when the batteries won't take much power anyway. You can even build your own watermaker in which case an AC one is that much easier to get right. The victron multiplus inverters are a bit more expensive, but the added capability is well worth it and doubles as a pretty big battery charger too. Hope that helps and keep up the good work Gram

Hi, I have watched all your videos on Athena and I would like to say you really do like your DIY, I have subscribed as I want to follow you to see how you get on and to see her back in the water, the reason I'm sending this is I have been watching another family in their Oyster which has been taken out of the water for treatment, now before the treatment their boat was only in the water for 14th months, their videos show the hull, what it looked like when it was taken out, the treatment which was copper and why they decided to go this road, to me the videos are very informative and other sailors like yourself have said so, their of their name on RU-vid is SailingBritican, I just thought as you are spending so much money on the boat this might give you more choices, hope this helps on your quest, Mike from south UK, by the way love your videos, DIY etc. Keep up the great work.

Hi Mads, another enjoyable video. Just watched it while eating my first dinner aboard my new boat, also my first night as a liveaboard so entirely appropriate that I watch a video from another liveaboard. All the best and keep up the excellent work!

I have been a Industrial electrician since 1974. In looking at your workmanship I say "Great job".

Very neat explanation of the planned organisation and great seeing what this translates to in terms of devices. Very practical, smart and tidy wiring indeed.

Wow. Really nice work on the cables. Work of art. Given its just so easy to bunch and zip tie them in a bundle, you took the extra time to do it the right way.

I am about to rewire my 30 foot Catalina. These videos are very helpful! Thanks

Sunday would not be complete without a beer in hand watching the progress aboard Athena. Just love the videos and the extra work it must take to produce them each week. Well done.

I have routed wiring before, on airplanes not sailboats but I would suggest putting some type of grommet where the cables pass through the closet walls. Over time the sharp edge of the cutouts will wear into the cables. Though not a sailor myself, I look forward each week to your videos. I enjoy them a great deal. Thanks for sharing. Another like.

Another brilliant video and the attention to detail is superb! Great work. Thanks for taking the time.

I really look forward to Sunday evening when I can find out about the latest advances in the project. Keep up the good work.

These videos always make my Sunday night. Thanks.

Great episode Mads! I've been thinking about redoing the electrical and this helps alot!

Very nice way to make everything look neat and be clean. Heat shrink tube labels are a great idea.

Sailing yacht DIY at its very best. Excellent content and expert editing. Keep up the great work

NICE job. The wiring looks VERY professional!!! I have one small suggestion. When yo use the terminal boards and/or make make connections where you can see the screws, give them a quick spray of a corrosion inhibitor. I use one that has a slight brown color to it, so I know it's been coated. I did not do that during my first wiring and after a couple of years cruising, even in compartments that never saw any salt water, I was getting corrosion.

Congratulations on 25K subscribers! Well deserved!

Mads, your cable management layout is B-E-A-UTIFUL! Very spiffy! I like it! A LOT!!

Very neat wiring mads, and as usual very good informative video. Cheers Mads.

wohooo, AC, luxury on your boat! Nicely done!

Love your DIY videos Mads! Just wish you had more time...two videos a week would be double the fun!

I have to say this to you. You would make a wonderful teacher. I really enjoy your videos. Roll on next week.

The move into the boatshed is a good one regarding the hull osmosis issue. I keep waiting for sanding to ensue yet again, but I will have to be patient!. While renovating my laundry room this week I found both of my missing rubber sanding blocks, and I thought of your varnishing conundrum.

Beautiful job on your AC cable management - A+

Great work as usual Mads. Nicest wiring Job I have ever seen.

As usual , great video. Love the wiring, neat an tidy, better then most professional.

Mads, congrats on 25k subs! I don't remember what you were at when I started to follow your adventure, but it was definitely in the 4 digit range. I love the clean install. It's very satisfying to look at and I can only imagine that it's infinitely more pleasing to have done yourself. I am still decently confused by the system that you plan to implement on your boat, but that's mostly from my gross ignorance for electrical systems in general. I've always found it very intimidating, but that along with the confidence that you inspire makes me want to learn more about it so that I can fix up my own boat's system. I guess I'll have to get my hands on that book that you keep talking about. Fair Winds.

I really like your decision to label your power cables. Good job!

Mads, You will NEVER regret choosing a shed and buying a diesel genset. You're also the greatest ocd geek on RU-vid! Whenever it's installed neatly, then it's more economaintainable and will last much longer than a ratnest. If you lived in America, i'd hire you to help me with refits. Please also remember whenever wire bundles are installed in flexible tubing longer than 61cm, then at least 60% of the cross-sectional area must remain unused (for cooling air). Hope this helps. Jack, aka electricalpowerguy

Great job making the complex understandable.

Thanks for explaining those two circuit breakers. And very nice job on the wiring. But we miss Jorkul ...

Great vid sir. Love the explanation of the electrical set up. The locker is looking sharp and the labels look like that came out perfect. Love the idea of using the tube labels. I don't know how many times i have had to trace cabling and had to do the guessing game on poorly labeled panels.

Awesome work, I like your attention to detail

You forgot to fill a hole behind one of the cable clamps. It's going to haunt you big time. :-D Great video. The Dymo is a time saving tool! Greeting from Norway!

I love the story of the "Angry Pixies". Wonderful channel--very thorough explanations and demonstrations. Found this channel two days ago and up to this episode already!

Exactly 25,000 subs as I watch this episode Mads. Congrats! Well deserved!

You crack me up Madz. I think you have completely maxed out on your OCD bonus points with this last job.

I must admit, I do love your "OCD" cable management system. In my estimation if I can invest 5 minutes now to save myself hours later, those 5 minutes are well spent.

Absolutely no less than I was expecting on the cable management! Once again the OCD shines with an outstanding looking installation. As Powerelectronicsguy said earlier, its easier to troubleshoot down the road, and on top of that you can be very proud of a job well done!

Love your cable management style and attention to detail. It cost the same to do a bad job as it does a great job, just a little more time and detail, and you will be infinity happier with a great job. After all that's what its all about isn't it... Also I think your RDC is similar to our GFCI breakers here in the US. We mostly use one breaker or outlet on a circuit. It more common in Europe to have one breaker to control all circuits down stream and it works well there. We do use that system on 3 phase systems, like ski slope ski lift power and we are starting to use more systems like your RDC as time goes on...cheers.

Hej Mads! I just want to say you have really helped us on our venture towards becoming sailors, we are still very noobs, but there is nothing I like more than binge watch your quirky episodes (don't get me wrong, I love that part of the videos) and they are very well executed, sound is amazing, and we understand the hustle you have to go through to create the angles and cutting and editing. Thanks for doing this, and for being so good at releasing content on a weekly basis. We have a small Albin Vega that we are currently shaping up a bit (not a full refit). We are simply getting her into a way better condition than what we bought her in. She is Hull number 19, so very early build. She has Swedish flag but we have her down in Barcelona where we currently live. Thanks for spreading the inspiration! looking forward for the summer to come, and your works onboard athena to continue. Btw we are Swedish, and I'm sort of half danish :-) / Linus

Excellent Job with the cabling !!!! This will be very easy to trouble shoot issues if they happen.

After seeing this video I ordered one of those labeling doo-hickeys. I've always used the stickyback tape kind and I hate doing it that way. Now it will be a pleasure to label cables!

You've come a long way Mads!

Yet another great video. Inspires me to do better quality work on my own little boat refit. In fact, whenever I take some kind of shortcut I think "this isn't the way Mads would do it" ! :)

Another great update on this excellent project. I have no doubt the professional electrician who comes to finish and certify the circuits will be in awe of your OCD'ness.😀👍

Looks good as always Mads.

Loving the OCD it makes the install look real neat 👍🏼

Good skills and very neat installation, the wiring looks superb.

this guy is awesome. .he inspires quality work. .

Very Very Nice cable management! I wished I could get my computer and network cabinet to look even a 1/4 that good.

My boat has rats nests of cable in all sorts of hard to get at locations, I love the way you have things organised. I look forward to your videos each Monday morning here in Sydney. Best wishes mate.

Well done, looking forward to moisture level readings!

Man, a new Macbook pro and a cool set of glasses. I'm only a little bit jealous Excellent video as always. Keep up the awesome!

Greetings from Hong Kong. I for one am a vote to get a diesel generator. After recently rewiring my own sailboat I went a different way. I got a Victron 12 | 3000 | 120 Multiplus inverter charger. The benefit is the "power assist" feature which allows the inverter to assist during high loads. I.e starting a compressor or air conditioner. The extra expense of getting this Victron should be offest by the lower cost of a smaller generator. I have not installed the diesel generator yet so my current setup is a petrol Honda 2000EU and this small generator with the start assist of the victron can cope with the start loads of my 16000 BTU Air conditioner.

Beautiful work!

Nice job. My job is Marine electronics and i noticed that You should probably do some thing to make sure your battery charger cannot accidentaly be turned on while you AC source is the Inverter.. Greetings from Greece.

Based on your description an RCD is equivalent to a (US) Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI). They can be incorporated in to a circuit breaker or simply the first receptacle on a circuit. In US electrician "speak", the MCB is the "main" breaker/disconnect. Very important when working on your distribution panel.

Very detailed!!! You can tell how excited you are about those heat shrink labels👍🏻 new glasses? have you started your new job? Have a good week!

Nicely organized 👍

Spiffy video :) Ikke så veldig lenge siden jeg oppdaget denne kanalen, men må si den seiler opp som en klar favoritt.

Answer to the question on the door: Isolation transformers provide galvanic isolation and are used to protect against electric shock, to suppress electrical noise in sensitive devices, or to transfer power between two circuits which must not be connected. They are used to transfer electrical power from a source of alternating current (AC) power to some equipment or device while isolating the powered device from the power source for safety reasons. It is a transformer with identical windings on each side. AKA a 1:1 transformer.

I like your DIY videos very much - keep going I cross my fingers for you. There are 5 ways to get power on sailboat: - solar panels - works only when sun is shining, - wing generator - only when wind blowing - water generator - only when you are sailing - engine alternator - only when engine is on - external connection - only when stationary in the marine Which one you plan to instal on your boat? I assume if you plan to "cut the lines" in the future and do some extensive sailing you will need many ways to keep the battery loaded. How many batteries banks do you have on boat? Have you summerize your power consumption?

Your Dymo heatshrink labels will hold up to many years outdoors and in the sun and weather without any issues. I have labels outside in the sun and weather where they receive sunlight nearly all through the day for nearly 15 years now and they are still perfectly fine. The only thing to be aware of, though, is that the colored heatshrink tubing and labels will ultimately revert to white after a few years of sunlight, but the black text will always remain perfectly legible since it is pigment based (rather than dye based). About the only thing that will damage the text or label is sustained high temperatures (hot enough to smudge the high temperature wax) and/or excessive friction against a rough surface resulting in abrasion, but then that would also damage the wiring after awhile so one tends to avoid such obstacles when they run their wiring.

OCD? No. Perfectionist? yes. Once again, nice work.

Gelcoat Important note. Before choosing the Gelcoat color for your repair make sure that you cut and polish a section of the Gelcoat near the repair needed. Gelcoat will change color over time so it is important that you get back to the base color before choosing the new color that you will use on the repair. There are plenty of instruction on youtube. MORE SANDING. :-)

Very nice work !

Extra OCD bonus points....love it.

Damn... 2 kroner per kilowatt! Here it's 0.3 Kroner today (Norge). Thanks for all the advice... Sunday ritual to watch these vids.

really enjoy your content. sending respect from St.Thomas USVI.

loving the work. You should upload a weekend later so as u can have more time on the sunday to complete a couple more jobs. no one will mind im sure and means u have plenty of time to render during the week. Cheers for the videos, Stu (NZ)

Very nice ,,,, professional job !! BRAVO !

I'd be waiting all day for this, the weather is shit so I can't work in my boat xD So i need some more inspiration xD

Will you do an episode about your Arduino power management system? I would be interested in knowing more. Also, I really appreciate your attention to detail and thorough descriptions. Thank you.

Excellent job! .

You have made the dull.... interesting. Thank you

I wish everybody is like you: awesome awesome job congrats!!!

always nice to see a good wiring job on a boat... so much better than that spaghetti mess you removed. Nice work, Mads.

I admire the meticulous way you approach every aspect of your refit. I'm curious as to your background. I'm guessing you're an electrical engineer or maybe a software engineer? At any rate, the process is fascinating! Thanks for the videos - the production quality is impressive!

Nice work!

good work your a inspiration to me

your electrician is going to love you, for your cable management OCD :)

No more spiffy! :) "fabulous" "swell" "wicked" "awesome" "amazing" "fine" "great" ... lol, it's your channel you can spiffy all you want! Cheers Mads, from PEI Canada, Bryan

looking awesome

I like the esthetics of the euro clamps better also!! HEY MAD!! How 'bout a long term test review of your Froli sleep system! Let me know if you need any small or special parts shipped from the USA.

Nice clean work! Those safety breakers appear to be equivalent to AFCI (arc fault) and GFCI (ground fault) breakers in the USA. Others may know better than me in this marine application.

Now would be a good time to install an automatic transfer switch between shore power and a generator. I just installed an 4000w pure sine inverter and two auto transfer switches to replace an obsolete power converter system in my motorhome. My inverter also is a 115w battery charger and battery monitor with remote readout which eliminates the need for a separate units for those functions. .