Its been a long project, and still on going, but I'm happy with it so far!

[chowdan]

Been roughly a week's worth of work to get to this point. I've pulled all new wiring to every device. I am still in the cut over process but my full time job is definitely taking away from finishing this one faster!

[rgleason]

Nice Job.

[Chotu]

Very nice!

What type of panel is that?

[GRIT]

It looks like a blue seas 360 series panel, we have the same ones.

Cheers.
Paul.

[er9]

why do you have a pos and neg on the same bus? did you just run out of red wire? is that just an isolation switch its hooked to for the battery bank? looks awesome though. very nice.

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by er9

why do you have a pos and neg on the same bus? did you just run out of red wire? is that just an isolation switch its hooked to for the battery bank? looks awesome though. very nice.

He doesn't - he just has a black wire from the battery switch to the buss bar.

A more significant question is why have a buss bar there at all, why not run the cable from the battery switch directly to the panel?

[guyrj33]

Originally Posted by stormalong

He doesn't - he just has a black wire from the battery switch to the buss bar.

A more significant question is why have a buss bar there at all, why not run the cable from the battery switch directly to the panel?

There are a couple of wires that have the wrong color heat shrink over the connectors, I suggest adding another layer of the correct color.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by guyrj33

There are a couple of wires that have the wrong color heat shrink over the connectors, I suggest adding another layer of the correct color.

I'm guessing it's the other way around; the heat-shrink colours are correct.

The positive buss bar isn't a bad idea if the OP needs to run any heavy loads with their own breakers (eg a windlass)

To the OP, my only small quibble is that the panel's +12v feeder is so heavy that it might wiggle itself loose on either end as the panel gets opened and closed. That could be prevented if the feeder is tie-wrapped or clamped so that there's no torque applied on the connections.

[rha9]

Very nice indeed. Did you make the enclosure yourself, or is it stock? How deep is it? Can't tell from the picture, but where do the wires exit?

[guyrj33]

looking at the back of the breaker panel there is a positive red jumper wire with black heat shrink.

[chowdan]

Man, I have to say, it makes me INCREDIBLY happy to hear people noticing the issues that I know are there

As for wire coloring, I know some of it is wrong. It is incredibly bothersome to me, but will be remedied down the road, I have a lot of projects on going, and am working a full time job as an automation engineer, so work does take priority over all else. This was things I had on hand that was in preparation of the job, but alas, I ran out of some supplies.

I agree the panel feeder is too large and definitely will wiggle itself loose over time. I will be swapping it out for a 0awg or 1/0 wire. The negative wire from post to bus bar also will be swapped out. The black wire from switch to bus is also being swapped out.

The reason for having a bus bar here is for the reason the previous poster called out to me - to be able to support devices with their own breaker - my windlass for example.

The switch is fed from an unswitched distribution bar, this is my switched distribution. All loads that are not a charging source and that have the need to be "switched off" for whatever reason comes off this bus bar, hence why my panel is fed from it.

Definitely not perfect, not all devices are wired up to the new panel yet, but overall, it's been nearly 100 hours to get to this point, but we are getting there! I'm glad people are calling out how I can make it better

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by chowdan

The reason for having a bus bar here is for the reason the previous poster called out to me - to be able to support devices with their own breaker - my windlass for example.

I wouldn't run a windlass load through the same wire as the main panel. I would run it directly from the fuse on the battery to it's own circuit breaker and then directly forward. There are side effects to a high load draw on the same wire as all of your other circuits. Operating the windlass may cause a voltage sag on that shared wire and affect your electronics.

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by stormalong

I wouldn't run a windlass load through the same wire as the main panel. I would run it directly from the fuse on the battery to it's own circuit breaker and then directly forward. There are side effects to a high load draw on the same wire as all of your other circuits. Operating the windlass may cause a voltage sag on that shared wire and affect your electronics.

I would disagree with that statement, but I also think it is purely dependent on how one designs the system and is used at the intended way. I dont expect to be weighing anchor without the engine running as this will be the "primary" source of energy to all loads(including windlass). If my engine isn't running, then sure I can see voltage sag will cause problems with electronics. Regardless of where I take my power from, directly from the battery or a switched distribution bar, voltage sag will occur, its a matter of where you place that sag. To solve the problem of that, one just needs to increase the wire size to the distribution bar.

That said, how often does one's windlass max out or trip a breaker? My breaker is a 125amp breaker, with a 1200w motor. At 50 foot run(round trip), i will see a roughly 5% voltage drop at the windlass. I'm no math genius, so maybe someone can help this out, but here it goes:

Load at max usage:
Load @ max: 110amps(100 for windlass 10 for "house loads"
battery internal resistance: 3.8mΩ
Voltage(alternator running): 14.25v

110 * 0.038 = 3.99v
14.25 - 4.18 = 10.07v

So 10.26v would be what we expect to "see" when running windlass all out + everything else being pulled online.

Load under average usage - number is unsure as windlass has yet to be used
Load @ 1/2 = 60amps(50 for windlasss, 10 for house)
battery internal resistance: 3.8mΩ
Voltage(alternator running): 14.25v

60* 0.038 = 2.28v

14.25 - 2.28 = 11.97v

Supposedly my plotter power inputs are "8v to 16v" but I know that running lower definitely will affect it and the rest of the system.


Also, stormalong, please dont take offense to my blob of text above, this is more of me just working out the math for my brain to fully understand what I've done and give some reasoning behind the system design. I ran the numbers previously, but definitely didn't run them in too much detail, was more of just a mental calculation. I fully accept that if i read this tomorrow, it may sound quite offensive, so I do apologize in advance for that.

[stormalong]

I am not offended. I think my suggestion creates a more robust electrical system.

I plan for worst case possibilities. I always design my systems to be independent rather than interdependent.

I am sure you will be fine.

[guyrj33]

The first thing I should have said is NICE WORK.