Any Suggestions on this Electrical Plan ? (Schematic Included)

[CapTim]

Hello!

I'm working on a general, boat-wide electrical upgrade. Currently, half the wire is household stuff, and most of it is held together by wire nuts. Even in the bilge... it's impressive stuff, really.

The boat is an O'Day 37, center cockpit, with the battery bank under the cockpit next to the engine compartment. So all wires have to be sized for being in an engine compartment.

So here's my plan, in general.

Direct Link: http://www.goodlifetravel.info/Flyin...VCloudElec.pdf
(The .pdf scanned in upside down... I'm still learning to use that 20 year old technology, so bear with me on that one.)

At any rate, my current (no pun intended) needs are pretty minimal... no windlass, no A/C, no shore power (except to plug in a Xantrex battery charger when convenient), no refrigeration, and none of those sexy gps/chartplotter/etc things.

I do plan on adding much of that stuff in the 6 and 12 month plans. The next upgrade is for solar power, then refrigeration, then maybe wind power, and probably a 12v TV at some point.

So while you'll see "future wind" and "future solar" on the diagram, they are just place holders.. no wires or anything will be run for them.

The only other point of clarification is that I haven't drawn out the post-DC panel stuff. Cabin lights and the like... this schematic is primarily for the 'big wires'. I'll address the little stuff down the road.

That said, here's what will be coming off the forward DC panel:
Nav and engine instruments (currently, this means tach/wind guage/depth/idiot lights)
Mast Lights (spreader/steam/anchor/masthead all-around)
Deck lights (side/stern)
Cabin lights (also includes a trio of fans, these are currently incandescent, but they will be upgraded on the 6 month plan)
Pressure water pump
Probably something else that will go here, as appropriate

From the Aft DC panel:
Cabin Lights
Autopilot
Bilge Blower
And again, probably something else

At both the forward and aft panels, I'll have a negative buss bar.

The boat is new to me, so I can't speak to specific loads (beyond what the mfr tells me). I do intend to up the house bank to 4 group 27's when I put in solar.

Thanks for your thoughts.. lord knows I've got a lot to learn!

--Tim

[goboatingnow]

three things

(a|) you show a positiive feed from the starter battery to the current shunt ,, whats that

(b) I wouldnt feed the neagative of the starter battery into the ground busbar. Far too much load dumping in this ground. Bring that ground directly to the starter ground ( or the engine block).,

(c) your DC loads are switched from starter battery to solar, Surely you mean domestic battery and solar. In fact I cant see the point of this switch

Dave

[donradcliffe]

Looks OK, but you will want to cover the positive busbar to avoid accidents. I assume the 1-2 switch is a 1-2-all switch, so you can start the engine on the house batteries if needed.

[CapTim]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

three things

(a|) you show a positiive feed from the starter battery to the current shunt ,, whats that

(b) I wouldnt feed the neagative of the starter battery into the ground busbar. Far too much load dumping in this ground. Bring that ground directly to the starter ground ( or the engine block).,

(c) your DC loads are switched from starter battery to solar, Surely you mean domestic battery and solar. In fact I cant see the point of this switch

Dave

Thanks guys!

a) the victron battery monitor can monitor two battery banks, through a wire that goes from the shunt to the positive post on each bank. The shunt goes immediately after the negative post on the primary bank. it's a pretty cool unit, apparently, and not terribly expensive.

b) You don't suppose the 1/0 and 2 AWG wires will handle the load? Or is it the buss bar I should take a hard look at?

c) That 1/2/b/off switch should be between the positive buss and the two DC panels. I'll check and make sure I got that right! My intention is that the switch lets me start the engines using the house bank if needed. The solar panels should go right to the positive buss bar so they charge directly to the house battery.. they shouldn't ever see the switch. I'll check that, too.

Since it's come up... what would be an appropriate size/arrangement of wires to ground the following things:
alternator to engine ground (about 2 feet)
alternator to negative buss (about 3 feet)
starter to negative buss (about 3 feet)

If I run right from the starter to the engine ground, that's fine too... then from the starter to the negative buss and from the alternator to the negative buss, right? It's an easy enough fix.. all those bits are within a few feet of each other. Would 2AWG wire be appropriate there?

Thanks again!