Is this proper wiring?

[dmksails]

I'm tracing out the power wiring on my boat as there is a lot of old cable no longer used that I'm trying to remove.

Anyway, in the engine compartment I came across a bus that is providing power and ground to the instruments in my pedestal. This is located up high - basically on the underside of the cockpit floor. What concerns me is that there is nothing to protect a short if something was to get pressed against the bus bar.

Am I being paranoid here, or is there a better way to handle using a bus bar in a space like this?

[Frode]

The existing setup appears well thought out and executed. Only you can assess the likelihood of conducting material coming near the terminal block.

However, a quick and easy way to protect areas like these is to insert the block into a cable duct, something like this:

[Dsanduril]

I'd say that's quite common if not the best solution. Personally I wouldn't be too worried about it, but would buy (or make) a cover for the terminal strip. There are clear plastic covers available that prevent the kind of accident you are foreseeing.

[Tortuga's Lie]

You can easily fabricate a cover from a 2"X 4" (or whatever length) of clear 1/8" Plexiglass, two screws and two short pieces of rigid plastic tubing used as stand offs between the fiberglass and the plexiglass cover.

[Ibetitsthisway]

If you look at it the german way it is pure horror

Blocks have to be in a housing. Cables in a tube.


a) to prevent shafing
b) to prevent fire to spread
c) to prevent oher mechanical damage
d) to prevent everything else

for costal cruisung its ok I guess. I would not like it in a liveaboard.

[Shrew]

What I don't like about it is they wired it in a way that splits the block. Everything from the black and left of it is acting as a Ground terminal block. Everything from the yellow and right is a positive terminal block.

Don't get them confused

I'd have preferred to use two smaller terminal blocks, one for ground, one for positive. That is just me being picky.

[Greg Mason]

Nothing a tupperware container modified to cover the buss couldn't handle.

[tarian]

Seems a nice tidy job , when I re wired my boat I have busbars withcovers on them and some that do not need them as the chances of something bridging the bars is a long shot, unless I stick a spanner in there
But nothing stoping you putting a plastic homemade cover over it it your worried , the best way is to look at the set up and really askyourself is there any way something can come loose which is not insulated and cause a short .

[capt jgw]

Originally Posted by Greg Mason

Nothing a tupperware container modified to cover the buss couldn't handle.

That's exactly how I covered the back of my AC panel. Wasn't even Tupperware, it was a clear lunch meat container. Couple of notches cut for the wires to pass through and a screw in each corner shot into the plywood panel backer. Covered the connections and backs of the breakers perfectly. When I sold that boat the buyer had it surveyed by a guy who was also a marine electrician. He didn't gig it, and with his background I'm sure he looked at it. He did gig a couple other electrical items so I know he looked.

[Cadence]

Don't let paranoia get you. It's a terminal block not a busbar so there are raised pieces between each terminal, you would really have to try to have a short. Don't lose any sleep over it. The neat dressing of the adjacent wires makes me think your wiring is well done.

[a64pilot]

All I would do is take an acid brush and brush on silicone grease to prevent corrosion.
Be careful with flammable covers, especially in the engine compt, that’s my opinion, but I think in that case the cure is worse than the disease.
I personally use terminal blocks a lot, especially on things I feel that I will be removing and replacing one day, like pumps for instance.
If you have a nice terminal block on a transducer for instance it makes replacement a lot easier, but you can always add it when you replace one.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by dmksails

I'm tracing out the power wiring on my boat as there is a lot of old cable no longer used that I'm trying to remove.

Anyway, in the engine compartment I came across a bus that is providing power and ground to the instruments in my pedestal. This is located up high - basically on the underside of the cockpit floor. What concerns me is that there is nothing to protect a short if something was to get pressed against the bus bar.

Am I being paranoid here, or is there a better way to handle using a bus bar in a space like this?

When I purchased my new-to-me boat much of the wiring was in PVC tubing or covered in spiral wrap...try to do a proper wire search with that stuff. I have removed most of it now along with about three large shopping bags of dead wire and uncovered a number of old burnt wires. Out of sight, out of mind is not a good maintenance trait.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by dmksails

I'm tracing out the power wiring on my boat as there is a lot of old cable no longer used that I'm trying to remove.

Anyway, in the engine compartment I came across a bus that is providing power and ground to the instruments in my pedestal. This is located up high - basically on the underside of the cockpit floor. What concerns me is that there is nothing to protect a short if something was to get pressed against the bus bar.

Am I being paranoid here, or is there a better way to handle using a bus bar in a space like this?

Not a buss bar, it's a terminal strip, it could use some protection between the -&+ terminal contacts, as in separating the block into two pieces, or a separate block would be best.
It could be an issue if you threw some rigging in there and it came in contact with the neg. and pos. terminals.
However, I'd guess those positive wires have some circuit breakers/ fuses to protect them, right?
If not I'd go for that.
Cheers,
SV Cloud Duster

[a64pilot]

If you look at it, it appears to be a terminal strip being used as a bus bar, it appears that it’s purpose is to supply three pos and neg connections from one wire.
Nothing wrong with that, it’s a lot better than what is usually done, which is stacking wires on top of each other on one terminal.

[wingless]

That bus bar is using wire loops to shunt adjacent terminals together.

A more elegant approach is to instead use shorting strips, specifically shaped to that bus bar, installed by first removing adjacent screws, laying across / over the barrier strip, then replacing the screws.

The advantage of shorting strips is that the wire location is not consumed by the shorting wire.

The bus bar also has an optional cover, screwed above the exposed screws / terminals, for short circuit protection.

Other improvements possible are to: mechanically secure the wiring near the barrier strip; add labels to each of the wires and to orient the wires / terminal strip such that water traveling along the wires is shed prior to ending on the connector, one option being the usage of drip loops.

While it is common to see usage of over sized terminals, permitting multiple wires, the correct method is properly sized terminals w/ single wires.

It is always best to follow the marine wire color code, so the red and the black wire insulation into a shared terminal is not good.