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S/V Alchemy · 24-11-2016, 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Bad choice of cable colors.

1) I know. See "labelling".
2) You may have underestimated the variety of colours available in 2/0 and 4/0 ga. tinned marine wire this far from the sea. The only 4/0 ga. I could get on a bike within 20 miles was yellow and I had a bit left that fit that spot.
3) You'll notice how I overcame this issue, assuming I experienced a severe head injury that made me incapable of recognizing my own installation, with red or black heat shrink. The heat shrink reveals all. Sorry if that's too subtle.

The same logic pertains on my series parallel setup. Feel free to enquire if questions linger on the badness of this installation.

pcmm · 24-11-2016, 10:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

Conceptually, no, although I agree the quality of the conduit on the "mock up" is a little dubious.

One concern, however, would be the careful and sufficiently beefy mounting of such a setup. That's going to be heavy just in the weight of wire, and you want no chance of any of those leads touching each other. That means the design could be improved simply by putting little HDPE/Starboard "blocks" as spacers between each power lug, so that if the cable ties or similar wire supports failed due to heavy boat movement, they could not make contact. That simple measure of "chocking" each lead also makes the likelihood of the nut loosening itself less, I would think.

I just did this job, but went with the standard Blue Sea buses:

I did, however, fab up a sub-panel for the DC main board and bilge/fridge, items that are switched.

If I'm reading those labels correctly, you have a battery switch on your negative Bus and all the wires are the Positive colour?

1. why switch the negative side?
2. why use Red for negative leads?

S/V Alchemy · 24-11-2016, 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcmm

If I'm reading those labels correctly, you have a battery switch on your negative Bus and all the wires are the Positive colour?

1. why switch the negative side?
2. why use Red for negative leads?

See my answer to Deep Frz above. Red was what was available to me. The black heat shrink indicates these are ground wires. Red heat shrink=positive leads.

As for the switch, I have cutoff switches on both the positive and negative sides. Mine is a metal hull and this is prudent practice in terms of isolation (both electrical and problems!). Much of the issue is discussed in this CF thread: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ies-81704.html

jeepbluetj · 24-11-2016, 11:52

MRBF's on a buss is a great idea. I liked the spares zip-tied to the wires too.

Only problem I see with homemade ANL's is they're not going to be ignition-protected. Doesn't matter if you don't require ignition-protected fuses. (My boat is gas, that's why it occurred to me)

S/V Alchemy · 24-11-2016, 13:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeepbluetj

MRBF's on a buss is a great idea. I liked the spares zip-tied to the wires too.

Only problem I see with homemade ANL's is they're not going to be ignition-protected. Doesn't matter if you don't require ignition-protected fuses. (My boat is gas, that's why it occurred to me)

That's of course correct. On my other, recently sold boat, I had an Atomic 4 gas inboard; I put the positive and negative busses in the quarterberth away from the motor.

SouthernPride · 24-11-2016, 15:06

Might be good to use rubber paint to paint the negative cables black. Works great plus additional plus is it eliminates shrink tubing at the cable connection.

Run a breaker in parallel with a fuse. Add a switch. The primary breaker switch won't reset switch over to the fuse. Fuse blows you know its load side of the breaker.
Fuse doesnt blow it's the breaker.

Quick easy preplanned redundancy option.

Good luck

mitiempo · 24-11-2016, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeepbluetj

Only problem I see with homemade ANL's is they're not going to be ignition-protected.

Blue Seas ANL fuses 35 to 500 amp rating are ignition protected. The larger ones are not.

smac999 · 24-11-2016, 21:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeepbluetj

MRBF's on a buss is a great idea. I liked the spares zip-tied to the wires too.

Only problem I see with homemade ANL's is they're not going to be ignition-protected. Doesn't matter if you don't require ignition-protected fuses. (My boat is gas, that's why it occurred to me)

It's the fuse itself that is ip. The glass window contains the spark when it blows. I don't see why the holder would mater.

mitiempo · 24-11-2016, 23:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by smac999

It's the fuse itself that is ip. The glass window contains the spark when it blows. I don't see why the holder would mater.

The holder is open so cannot be part of the protection.

boatbod · 25-11-2016, 06:04

DIY fuse holders are ok so long as you make them out of good materials. Nothing that can melt or catch fire. Solid bus bars made from copper not stainless steel, and a cover to protect against accidental shorts.

At the end of the day it's probably cheaper to simply buy them...

jeepbluetj · 25-11-2016, 17:31

Y'all are right. I stand corrected. ANL's are IP at the fuse. I was thinking about AMI / MIDI. I just recently did a powerboat and needed to put in ignition protected holders for the AMI fuses.

CharlieJ · 27-11-2016, 12:01

The most obvious question to the OP is "Why?"

For fuses to gain a UL, or any other rating, they are tested as a system of fuse, fuse holder and connecting conductor. What you show in the photo is great to "get home" but would be suspect if you ever had the vessel surveyed or suffered a loss with electrical implications.

BTW, the Marine Rated Battery Fuses (MRBF) mentioned in Post 12 are an excellent choice.

BTW #2, Circuit breakers used in marine applications do have an ampere interrupt capacity (AIC), contrary to the opinion in Post 8.

Blue Stocking · 27-11-2016, 12:39

I have had reason to make up a few buss bars. I never pass up an opportunity to salvage the the bronze or brass cap screws and nuts from discarded main switches for re-use. I also have 3/8" phenolic resin board for the bases.