No marine electricians?

[grakker]

I've spent a couple weeks trying to get a marine electrician to do some work. I've received one response. I've left messages with a ton of yards, electricians found online, etc. The one dude that got back to me, took my name and info and said he'd call me when he had a better idea of when he'd be available. As of right now he was booked for the next 12 weeks.


I'm in Southern California and have been contacting people from Ventura down to Newport Beach. Is this just the state of things these days?

[Chotu]

This is just the state of things these days. You are correct. It’s very hard to get anything at all.

[grakker]

Well, that's somewhat reassuring. At least it's not just me. Still. Crap.

[Apollo366]

What do you want done?

I may be able to help.

Wayne

[grakker]

My boat came with AC power when connected to shore, and a lead-only charger that works off the AC. I want to hook up an inverter/charger so that I can run some solar panels, have AC away from the dock (not very often, but it would be nice), and upgrade to a couple Lithium Ion batteries. I don't think it's too complicated, but I'm not experienced and space is tight.

[dohenyboy]

If you have not found anyone yet, I can suggest a few things for you to do. I am not a professional electrician, but I learned a lot from a 7-year refit I was involved with, after our electrician died before the project was finished.
You can look for the product you want installed, bearing in mind the issues that come with the newer batteries. Nigel Calder is in some new videos on YouTube, for example. Since space is tight, you would want to look for something if possible that will fit in the space occupied by your current charger. Then, at least you can get that part out of the way. My guess is that not all marine electricians out there are "current" (pun intended) on the new technology.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by grakker

My boat came with AC power when connected to shore, and a lead-only charger that works off the AC. I want to hook up an inverter/charger so that I can run some solar panels, have AC away from the dock (not very often, but it would be nice), and upgrade to a couple Lithium Ion batteries. I don't think it's too complicated, but I'm not experienced and space is tight.

Some thoughts:

• get yourself the Nigel Calder book; it has a very good electrical section. It includes charts etc for determining your requirements. Also the excellent Marine How-To site.
• an inverter/charger has nothing to do with solar. An inverter/charger will charge your batteries from shorepower, and can convert battery DC to 110vac. The solar panels will have their own charge controller.
• once you determine how much AC power you want when away from the dock, you can then pick an inverter. If it's not a lot of watts, an inverter/charger may be overkill, especially if you already have a decent charger. So you might just need an inverter
• I don't know if lithium batteries are a good purchase yet for the average smaller boat owner. Expensive, fussy. I would stick it out for now with good deep-cycle lead-acid batteries, while you gain more knowledge with the newer battery technologies

(I'm ABYC certified for Electrical, and was planning on doing part-time boat work in my retirement. But the outlay for incorporation, insurance, truck, more tools, etc... is just too much hassle, and I haven't found any shop that would give me part-time hours for electrical work. I just work for friends now. Everyone wants electricians; no-one makes it easy to work)