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**tkeithlu** · 06-09-2016, 07:06

There is something about the boat AC topic that brings out harsh feelings and contradictory answers dearly held by the poster. It makes it not worth the while to defend an answer, and who wants to be insulted, anyway? I may be the target this time, but it's others other times. Could we play nice?

er9 · 06-09-2016, 08:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by smac999

I am not criticizing a learner. I am criticizing a "teacher" who gave 3 wrong answers to a learner (on a single question). there is a big difference.

ok fair enough.

er9 · 06-09-2016, 08:23

Quote:

There is something about the boat AC topic that brings out harsh feelings and contradictory answers dearly held by the poster. It makes it not worth the while to defend an answer, and who wants to be insulted, anyway? I may be the target this time, but it's others other times. Could we play nice?

fair enough...genuinly appreciate any and all responses. never know where a comment or tidbit of an answer may lead. in the end its up to the person asking the question to make absolutely sure all is done right. i do enjoy criticism because it obviously exposes faults in an argument. i just think there is a better way to do it. but enough of that.

thanks Gord May for the diagram. The first outlet (the one i want to add) is going to be at the navi desk at the bottom of the companion way. i think it may be prudent to make that a GFCI outlet since it will be first from the panel.

Teknishn · 06-09-2016, 09:03

The outlet located closest to the AC panel should be first in the series of chain outlets and should be a GFCI. The cable used should be 16-AWG or 14-AWG marine grade cable depending on intended loads.

Marine grade cabling specification are pretty simple to understand and you can buy marine grade cabling at Home Depot and other such places if you understand what "Marine Grade" actually means: Stranded copper wire with a wire strand cross-section suitable or higher than the planned loading/amperage of the circuit to be installed. Tinned leads (with a bit of practice one can tin the leads themselves with a soldering iron and good quality solder), and a cable insulation heat coefficient of 105-degrees C or higher. (Note: Marine Grade speaker wire for your sound system will probably have to purchased from a company that specializes in marine cabling...Ancor, for example.)

I try to purchase outlets that have removable screws on them instead of the "slip the lead in the slot and tighten the screw on top" kind. Removable screws allow the use of installing ring-type crimped terminal lugs. I do not recommend the use of spade terminal lugs because if the screw becomes loose due to vibration the spade lug may fall off the terminal. For a ring lug to fall off, the retaining screw has to have fully unscrewed and fallen out. Chances are you will know that this is happening well beforehand due to intermittent power outages at an outlet.

Now, and again, this is my personal preference when connecting electrical leads: I seal the end of the cable where the individual leads are exposed with 3M liquid insulation and once dry, cover in appropriately sized heat shrink to prevent moisture/humidity from intruding into the cable sheathing. I do the same to any crimp connections.

The allowable exposed leads coming out of a cable is 30-inches. Try to include chafe protection for exposed leads where possible.

And last, properly secure the cable run. Nothing more annoying than hearing a cable flop around underneath your bunk because it is not being held in place properly.

My 2-cents worth. There are other ways to do this easy installation, I know, but this is my preferred method.

ranger58sb · 06-09-2016, 10:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teknishn

The outlet located closest to the AC panel should be first in the series of chain outlets and should be a GFCI. The cable used should be 16-AWG or 14-AWG marine grade cable depending on intended loads.

That reminds me, I probably overstated cable size in my previous note. I said ours is 10/3 but... that's because we had just completed an inverter/charger installation, and that's what that particular system called for.

Most of the other AC cable (near where we were working) looked similar, but I didn't really check the labeling...

-Chris

Teknishn · 06-09-2016, 10:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranger42c

That reminds me, I probably overstated cable size in my previous note. I said ours is 10/3 but... that's because we had just completed an inverter/charger installation, and that's what that particular system called for.

Most of the other AC cable (near where we were working) looked similar, but I didn't really check the labeling...

-Chris

If you are talking about input cabling to your inverter/charger, 10/3 (6mm cross-section) sounds about right depending on you inverter model (probably in the 1600-2000 Watt range, right?). My post was referring to outlets and intended usage. If one intends to use grinders, routers, and power tools in general I would go with lower AWG wiring. Outlets and Inverters/Chargers are two different animals altogether.

ranger58sb · 06-09-2016, 10:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teknishn

If you are talking about input cabling to your inverter/charger, 10/3 (6mm cross-section) sounds about right depending on you inverter model (probably in the 1600-2000 Watt range, right?). My post was referring to outlets and intended usage. If one intends to use grinders, routers, and power tools in general I would go with lower AWG wiring. Outlets and Inverters/Chargers are two different animals altogether.

Yep, it's 2000W. I just remembered that I'd earlier said all our AC cabling was 10/3, and thought better to correct that for OP's benefit... so he wasn't seeing some kind of major conflicting info about cable sizes.

-Chris