Marine Wiring and Battery System

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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0
Seattle, WA
I recommend leaving battery wiring to pros due to dangers involved but just so you know more about it, here are some useful videos. They nice cover battery types (wet cell, GEL and AGM) which may be useful for other non-boating applications. These are very well done videos both from production quality and the experience of the presenter. A must watch:


 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Making good connections

Boy, these are well-designed videos. They match everything I know about good installation in boats. Would have saved me a ton of time learning them on my own had I had them years ago :).

 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Proper Fusing

Fire on a boat is a serious thing. A fiberglass boat is fuel ready to burn and help too far away to do any good. For this reason, it is paramount that the right safety measures are taken when wiring a boat. As with home wiring, the fusing must protect the wire in the event of a short. Otherwise the wire will overheat and potentially catch on fire and cause lose of life and equipment. This video has rather poor audio but demonstrates this point well:


Unfortunately I think the advice here is rather incomplete. Yes, we want to protect the wire. But we also want to protect the downstream equipment as it can also short out and potentially cause a fire hazard. For this reason, the fuse must be the lower of what is needed to protect the wire and the equipment. If the wire calls for a 10 amp fuse but the equipment needs 5, you better put a 5 amp fuse. The 5 amp fuse will protect the wire just as well as the equipment. A 12 amp fuse will only protect the wire but let in considerable amount of current into the failing equipment.

As I noted: if you are at all uncomfortable with these concepts and/or have not taken the time to really educate yourself, you should not attempt to do the work yourself. Use this knowledge and review what is already done on your work to make sure it is safe. I routinely find that boat manufacturers violate these safety rules.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Here is an example of NOT following what a pro does:


I never use an uninsulated wrench on battery terminals that can reach both posts. Drop it between and the most catastrophic short occurs that you can imagine, including potential for the battery exploding and throwing acid on you. If you have to work on the battery, use short wrenches, keep it away from the other terminal and don't wear jewelry, watches, etc. Think about what could remotely happen and avoid it. The Pro in that video says what the danger is but then rotates a long wrench over the two terminals. Bad idea.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
An electrical audit

It is great to watch a boat audit on what wrong things people do. That is how I learned a lot of safety related things. Here is a nice electrical audit that shows the problem I mentioned: how just about any boat has things wrong with it that are unsafe. This video starts slow but please keep watching it:


Notice how the boat has features that are not even in use! Boats don't come with any manual so it is not uncommon to see boat subsystems left off or used incorrectly.
 

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