Next message: (no name): "lv-ab: Re: Worthless Circuitbreakers"
Hi All,
In my design of the 12 volt circuits for my boat I
decided that I would use circuit breakers. I HATE trying
to find fuses when they fail. Fuses, by the way,
sometimes fail due to metal fatigue caused by vibration
and
shock, not just from overload.
I have specified 8 separate 50 amp main branches.
V-berth, main saloon (salon?), head, galley, aft cabin,
cockpit, mast, machinery room (once the engine room).
Each device attached to any of these main branches will
be protected by it's own fast-acting (Blue Sea Systems
offers them in 1, 2.5, and 5 amp models) that will trip
within 1 second at an overload of only 200%. Of course,
any device NOT covered by these amperage ratings will
HAVE to be fused :-( .
I furthermore decided to use wire that is AT LEAST 1
AWG size LARGER that the Anchor wire chart recommends
for a 3% voltage drop at the appropriate round-trip wire
length.
My main bus (battery bank to main branch panel) will be
fused at 350 amps. Each battery (hopefully at least 4 8D
AGM batteries) will be wired through a 100 amp circuit
breaker before being connected in parallel.
As designed I believe I COULD experience circuit
breaker tripping (if somebody does something wrong!)
with no danger of overheating any wiring.
This is a SAFE wiring design and I do not expect to be
a victim of any DC caused fires.
Eric Thompson
S/V Procrastinator
South San Francisco
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