Request for a schematic review

[Sandero]

Originally Posted by SteveSails

The drawings from Sandero are a work of art and show the amount of effort required to produce detailed drawings. My only comment would be to have the instrument wiring on a separate page so it doesn't clutter the DC distribution diagram.

Bob, A 100W solar panel is not going to provide 30A, more like 8A with optimal conditions and using an MPPT controller. You may be looking at the maximum amperage your controller is rated for, you would need over 350W of panels to get close to 30A. Use Watts = Amps x Volts to figure it out.
Fuses and breakers protect the wiring from being overloaded, for example the maximum size breaker for a #14 wire would be 15 Amps. Get a copy of Nigel Calder's Boat owners Mechanical and Electrical manual and all will be explained.
I don't see the need for the AC to DC converter as drawn, just use the battery charger when AC power is available. As for the AC wiring the best I can say is read Nigel Calders book then start over.

Steve

Thanks for the excellent suggestion. I will probably take it!

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by SteveSails

The drawings from Sandero are a work of art and show the amount of effort required to produce detailed drawings. My only comment would be to have the instrument wiring on a separate page so it doesn't clutter the DC distribution diagram.

Bob, A 100W solar panel is not going to provide 30A, more like 8A with optimal conditions and using an MPPT controller. You may be looking at the maximum amperage your controller is rated for, you would need over 350W of panels to get close to 30A. Use Watts = Amps x Volts to figure it out.
Fuses and breakers protect the wiring from being overloaded, for example the maximum size breaker for a #14 wire would be 15 Amps. Get a copy of Nigel Calder's Boat owners Mechanical and Electrical manual and all will be explained.
I don't see the need for the AC to DC converter as drawn, just use the battery charger when AC power is available. As for the AC wiring the best I can say is read Nigel Calders book then start over.

Steve

Beautiful, absolutely , schematics to engineering standards no. These are more like very good " "installation diagrams " rather then schematics.

Non professionals tend to draw " physical wires" , a proper diagram is a " circuit schematic " so things like ground returns etc are typically iconised. Furthermore the current trend is for hierarchical schematics so you progress from black boxes to individual schematics. This allows the engineer to focus of the section of interest without having to extract its relationship with all the other parts of the circuit

I can read an understand complex micro controller , digital IC circuits in half the time it takes to analyse such " schematic drawings "

But they are beautiful to look at, but when I look at sanderos drawings I can't see the circuit for all the colors !!!


If you are designing a DC system of above average complexity , I suggest you familiarise yourself with a good CAD package designed for electronics or preferably electrics. There are a few free ones about. Concentrate on getting the circuits right. Then you can always build net lists , or wiring connection diagrams from that .


If you do the nomenclature right, the resulting net lists will give you a proper cable referencing system, that ties directly to the schematics

Arrange your diagrams in hierarchical order , draw " black boxs" first showing interconnecting circuits ( not wires ) then burrow down in subsequent sheets into each section.
Dave

[roland stockham]

Cople of things to think on.
Unlike some I like duel banks. In fact I like 3, One for engin start ONLY, one sor the 'ships systems' all those sensitive electronics that can go down when the inverter takes a big draw or even when the fridge kicks in. The third one is the 'house bank' so that is the fridge takes the batteries right down you don't loose nav lights and radar as well. I know it does not make best use of batter capacity but thats not the only consideration. I don't like arragements to switch batteries. Keep them dedicated but have a set of jump leads on board for emergencies.
The next point is don't run all power though any one switch, looks like you have a 1,2 both type switch selecting batteries and directing charge. What happens when it fails?
Final point You are running all you systems from a single panel. You can saye a lit of wire and complexity as well as making things convinient by use 'distributed panels' I.E. have several panels for different things - Nav Lights, pumps, domestic services etc. That weay you can pup panels in convienient places rather than them all being at the chart table and just run 2 heavy wires to the panel. Saves the spagetty hell behing the chart table panel. Paynes book on marine electronics has some good ideas (sorry it's on the boat so can't look up the exact ref)