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I have a curious wiring problem. My buddy bought a french made sailboat built in 1974. Now, most sailboats have a two battery system, one for starting the engine and one that runs the onboard 12v system, with a single Off-1-Both-2 switch to select the power source. He bought the boat which had been floating dead in the water for about 10 years without batteries. Before it was sold to him someone was hired to put in two batteries and get it working. I've owned and worked on my own boats in the past, but this really perplexes me. This system has two switches. From what I can gather, you only use a two switch system when you either have two engines or three batteries. The boat only has two batteries and one engine however. One of the switches only has positive leads going in to it, feeding from (or powering?) the battery isolator (blue). The boat also has a tendency to drain very slowly the inboard battery - could this be a slight failure of a positive lead battery in water somewhere? What it should look like  What it sort of looks like (only one engine however)  This is, as near as I can tell what the electrical system looks like: Thick wires: 12v system (fuses not noted, but they're there) Thin wires: wires for the dedicated battery charger, which is run off of 120v 15A shore power (click for bigger)  What on earth is the purpose of the outboard switch? I am thoroughly confused! Hadlock fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Dec 3, 2011 |
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Dec 3, 2011 09:26
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My buddy is living aboard his 31' fiberglass sailboat currently. We're getting ready to rewire the 120v system. I'm looking for any advice or suggestions on how to do this. This is a very crude MS paint diagram of what we hope to do. Also of note, the boat may end up in a dock with 50hz, 240v power, if that makes any difference. Also, the 120v and 12v systems are completely isolated from one another. This is the layout. The [blue] is the existing 30amp plug (looks like this). There's a sorry looking 30amp breaker box with two 15a breakers (mounted within 6" of a propane tank, but above the level of the "drain" that vents outside the boat). The first lead goes to galley/kitchen towards the rear, and the second outlet is in the head/bathroom, and AFAIK, doesn't have a GFCI(?) thing. Since he works from "home", and the boat isn't really designed to be heated/cooled (it's designed to be sailed in the Bahamas, where it's 72F year-round), he runs a 5.5A 5500BTU apartment cooler in the summer pretty much continuously off the galley outlet, and in the winter runs an 8amp ceramic space heater continuously in the winter off the head/bathroom outlet. Also, he'd probably want to be able to power a 800w microwave on occasion, plus whatever 12v fridge system he ends up installing (2amps?). We're looking at replacing it with the [red] diagram. A 50 amp socket, new circuit breakers, in addition to the galley and bathroom outlets, we want to add a third outlet on one side, for his laptops (3.5amp each), etc. On the other side we want to add a plug by the chart table, and then another leading forward to the v berth/forward cabin. Finally, this is sitting in salt water, if that makes any difference. The existing 120v infrastructure survived 35 years, so I'm not too worried about it, but whatever was in there might have been "marine grade", or whatever the nearest equivalent is. I'm thinking hospital quality plugs. 
Hadlock fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Jul 31, 2012 |
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Jul 31, 2012 14:33
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Hadlock posted:My buddy is living aboard his 31' fiberglass sailboat currently. We're getting ready to rewire the 120v system. I'm looking for any advice or suggestions on how to do this. This is a very crude MS paint diagram of what we hope to do. Any thoughts on this? We're getting ready to do this on Monday.
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Aug 4, 2012 10:47
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If I have a 5hp AC 120v electric motor (2 phase standard ac) that spins at say 1200RPM under load, and I would like to run it at ~600 rpm to reduce noise (primary goal here is to reduce rpm) what would be the best way to do this safely
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Sep 21, 2018 09:19
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The Gardenator posted:Without knowing more specifics on your motor, using a few belts to slow down the speed will probably work the best (not break the motor). Belt reduction would need to be put in some kind of housing to prevent accidents. Needs to be electrical some way, a diode, resistor, something? Mechanicals are fixed and can't be modified.
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Sep 21, 2018 20:30
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Nevets posted:I'm pretty sure they make electric motor speed controllers that vary the voltage to the motor, but I think the bigger ones aren't cheap. Ah cool, yeah I found a 15A variable fan speed controller for $25 shipped, that should solve the problem. Thanks!
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Sep 21, 2018 21:30
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movax posted:PoE and low-voltage wiring to take over for lighting loads / things that don’t require high power motors. I’ve probably ranted about it before in this thread or the home automation thread. This came up in the laptop thread, USB-C PD offers... 48 or 50v DC up to... 240w I think now, in the very latest bleeding edge published standard I don't think USB-C is going to be it for the socket, the E26 socket seems to be an especially good/durable mount for heavy light bulbs in all weather conditions, but doesn't have enough contact points to negotiate volt/wattage. The PD spec is already going into monitors, docking stations, printers etc 50v DC seems like a likely standard for DC lighting in the future, it's already in the electric code (phone wires are 48/50v) and the number of 48v DC devices in cars has been accelerating rapidly as manufacturers look for ways to shrink weight/cable harness cost... I just don't think it will become popular in the next 15 years
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Mar 9, 2022 05:19
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Is it possible for a device to have a slight short and run your electricity bill to the moon? I have an air bubbler outside next to my stock tank "fish pond" and I went to pick it up today cleaning up from the storm and it gave me a pretty good jolt. It was wet from the rain. Our electric bill was way up last month, I'm wondering if this is just dumping 100+ watts to ground? (I unplugged it) like, it was a short but maybe not enough to trip the breaker, I guess
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Feb 8, 2024 19:27
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Yeah I'm deep in "don't do it this way" territory. It's an indoor (not outdoor rated) fish bubbler used outside on an extension cord going out through a garage window because I don't have 120v on that side of the yard outside. Ran the outdoor Christmas lights off that socket too. Great point about the GFCI. Sounds like an ideal use case. Maybe I can find a 6-way GFCI thing because it also runs the garage door opener and this is the only outlet, really on that corner of the house downstairs unfortunately, and I'm putting in a workbench over there too.
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Feb 8, 2024 20:07
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Amazon sells a leviton combo smart plug + GFCI for $29 I've already ordered *I just realized the outlet above the utility sink in the garage isn't GFCI Hadlock fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Feb 8, 2024 |
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Feb 8, 2024 20:18
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H110Hawk posted:Is it all on the same circuit? You mentioned only having one outlet "on that side of the house/garage/something" - you only need one right where the circuit first starts from the panel assuming it's a home run from the panel to that outlet. Then you're good to go for the whole circuit. Or use a GFCI breaker. Honestly I think given my playing with electrical habits being closely aligned with my posting habits (i.e. poorly thought through and frequently wrong) it's best I just do all GFCI breakers. They're not cheap but not that crazy expensive and I'm bound to do something wildly dangerous with our generator and/or welder
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Feb 25, 2024 09:41
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Hungry Squirrel posted:I have a Hue up now; I bought it without measuring the globe opening and it won't fit I dunno if the other hue lights are enclosure rated but they do sell a c19 ("candelabra") bulb which is half to a third the size of the standard 800 lumen thing. We have several in a lamp and others in a ceiling fan Option is is install a smart light switch
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Mar 7, 2024 07:31
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