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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Tue Apr 10 2001 - 22:20:14 EDT
In a message dated 04/02/2001 9:28:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:
> My thought is to put in two
> banks with twin 6 volts. Am I on the right track? Open to any and all
> suggestions.
>
Can't advise about what size alternator your engine can handle, but four six
volt "golf cart" house batteries hooked up series/parallel for 12 volts is
the most popular arrangement.
Instead of a myriad of 12 volt feeders radiating out from a central point, I
installed a twisted pair of 1/0 wires from the house batteries forward on
each side of the boat at the hull/deck join meeting at the windlass, and an
additional line aft to the transom.
All the 12 volt house loads branch off these busses. When I need a 12 volt
connection, with a knife I peel some insulation from slightly staggered spots
on the buss and solder branch wires there, maybe number tens, leading to a
two-terminal terminal block close by. The individual loads I attach to the
terminal block with inline fuses.
This system has worked exceedingly well for decades. The main advantages are
that there are only the twisted pair of 12 volt wires throughout the boat (no
linear rat's nest syndrome), and there is no discernible voltage drop to the
loads. It is as if the house battery is right beside the load everywhere on
the boat.
The buss is protected by a 300 amp circuit breaker which mostly serves to
protect the windlass from overloading its motor and provide a means of
shutting off all the 12 volt power to the 12 volt house circuits.
My inverter, a Trace 2.5 KW unit, is also protected by a separate but similar
300 amp circuit breaker.
Something to bear in mind about ABYC and other "standards". These are
minimum standards designed to assure that consumers get a relatively safe
boat when buying a new one, or paying to ride on one, much like building
codes for houses and businesses. They also serve to protect the builders
from law suits. But they do not address (perhaps more expensive)
improvements over this minimum. This is what we as individual owners can do
if we are not required by the insurance companies to follow the "rules".
I have never had an electrical fire. The worst damage I have had from
electricity has been scorching things with powerful (150 Watt) clamp-on lamps.
Norm
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