Choosing Shore Power Components

Posted on March 8, 2009
Filed Under Signaling Devices | Leave a Comment

When adding a shore power system to your marine electrical setup, one of the first decisions - after ascertaining the best way to handle the boat wiring - is which company’s components should be used.

The shore power offerings from Marinco offer many advantages over other products on the market. They include:

Easy Lock System

Marinco’s exclusive Easy Lock System has been designed to make hook-up quick and easy. Just connect the cordset (with an Easy Lock locking ring installed) to the inlet and turn the locking ring less than a quarter turn. The tabs on the locking ring lock into the inlet for a positive watertight hook-up while eliminating any chance of cross threading. The locking ring features lock locators positioned at 180º to improve finger grip during attachment. Easy Lock inlets have a threaded boss that will accept threaded cordsets as well. The Easy Lock system is a standard feature on some Marinco 30 Amp and 50 Amp inlets and cordsets.

Soft Touch Inlets

Marinco stainless steel inlets feature the Soft Touch cap design. The Soft Touch hinge is designed with a special cam feature that allows it to stay “locked” open in the upright position during hook-up. A “soft touch” unlocks it for closing.

All Stainless Steel 30A, 50A and Phone/Cable TV inlets include the Easy Lock feature on the cap and boss. These inlets are solid cast marine grade 316 stainless steel and include a heavy duty cap strap for strength and durability.

Attwood Bilge Pumps and Ventilation

Posted on December 4, 2008
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Attwood offers the most complete selection of pumps and blowers

A complete selection of pumps and blowers are available for fishing boats, runabouts, cruisers, yachts, and commercial boats.All are tested and approved as standard equipment by leading boat manufacturers.

Bilge and Aerator Pumps

The Heavy-Duty 1700 and 2000 bilge pumps have established Attwood into the commercial market with value-loaded industrial-duty features and performance.

The Tsunami series of cartridge style bilge and aerator pumps are engineered for higher performance in the most service friendly design imaginable. Their cartridge style allows quick and easy replacement without the need to remove hoses or mounting bases.

Automatic Bilge Pumps

All boats over 20′ long with sleeping accommodations (excluding fold-out cockpit seats) should use automatic bilge pump systems. Non-automatic pumps drawing 12-amps or less can easily convert to automatic operation with an Attwood Automatic Float Switch (part number 4201 or 4202). Their Sahara Series automatic pumps are available in 500, 750 and 1100 gph capacity models. Bilge pumps are designed to exhaust standing water only. They are not intended to prevent rapid accumulation of on-board water due to rough weather, hull damage, and/or other unsafe navigational conditions.

Note: Bilge and aerator pumps must be lower than the source of water for priming.

Turbo In-Line Blowers

Attwood offers ventilation equipment and accessories featuring the revolutionary, patented Turbo In-Line Blowers for 3″- and 4″-diameter systems. Turbo blowers are the most dependable, efficient, and powerful in-line blowers on the market, designed using aerospace technology. The Turbo line also features the industry’s first water-resistant blower models, with durability proven in rigorous moisture tests and years of success in the field. Attwood offers Turbo water-resistant blowers with an unprecedented three-year limited warranty, and a one-year limited warranty for standard models.

Guest Products overview

Posted on September 13, 2008
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Guest, a member of the Marinco Electrical Group, makes marine electrical products that stand up to the punishing environment – without flinching.

Every product they make, from their rugged battery chargers and switches to a wide array of lights and spotlights, is designed to withstand the rigors of life on the water.

Guest carefully selects raw materials that will provide toughness and durability over a long product lifespan and engineer each product to exacting performance specifications, including MARINE UL and CUL listings for an extra margin of safety.

And as one of the world’s leading manufacturer of battery chargers and maintainers, they offer a complete line of products to meet practically every boat wiring application – whatever type of boat you own.

Boat wiring resource for boat owners

Posted on August 27, 2008
Filed Under Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Cruisers, Electrician's Log, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, Harnesses-AC, Harnesses-DC, Harnesses-Dash, Navigation Lights, New Products, Pontoons, Quality-Control, Runabouts, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing | Leave a Comment

Everyone at Marine Ac/Dc is very excited about the recent launch of EzAcDc. These guys could easily become the internet’s premier source for boat wiring systems and marine electrical components. Even with just their initial offering, they appear to be an excellent resource for boat owners.

EzAcDc offers engineered boat wiring solutions including:

We recommend their products and services without reservation.

Article about additional alternator

Posted on July 8, 2008
Filed Under Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Electrician's Log, Harnesses-DC, Harnesses-Dash, MarineAcDc Forum, New Products, Pontoons, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels | Comments Off

“…modern cruising vessels have high electrical demands, where refrigeration, radar, laptop computers and even plasma TVs are the norm. Keeping batteries charged is a challenge…”

This all too familiar problem is the basis of an excellent and very comprehensive article about adding a second alternator to an inboard boat by author Scott Fratcher.

You can find both this truly informative piece as well as a lot of other great information about boat wiring at easyacdc.com.

How to troubleshoot a boat wiring voltage drop

Posted on June 10, 2008
Filed Under Boat Wiring, Electrician's Log, Harnesses, Harnesses-DC, MarineAcDc Forum, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing | 1 Comment

We received the following email from Jack about a problem that he is having with his Aqua Patio pontoon:

I have an on again off again electrical problem.

The boat is pontoon, Aqua Patio.  When boat was purchased the live well in rear had a factory problem.  the live well leaked over the switch mechanism; the boat yard rewired the system to a console accessory swich.  It worked for a few years but I am convinced it is a ground problem.

As soon as the motor receives current it works at a very low speed (not enough to pump).  The motor works when placed across the battery directly.  The voltage is 12 volts at the motor when turned on.  When the motor is hooked up and tested it may or may not work for a minute.  When motor is disconnected and the voltage remeasured the volt reading is somewhere between 2-6 volts.  I have voltage at the console but the same senario occurs when I connect and reconnect motor.

The boat is still out of the water so it is easier to track wiring.  It is so many splices because of the rewire that I hate to start cutting wires to isolate. The port and starboard rear courtesy lites I think do not work which are connected in the circuit.  Cell phone or portable courtesy lite receptacles are in the circuit (have never used but don’t think they work). The old switches that were part of the courtesy/live well circuits are disconnected and by-passed.

The new wiring to the console is blue to ground, the hot is brown.  The new circuit is connected to the black in 2-3 different places, of course, difficult places to get to, so dismantling is necessary.

Can you give me a starting point since it is difficult to trac this by yourself? Is there an isolation proceedure that can be done without cutting all the wiring?

Thanks.

Jack,

This is a common occurrence on boats that are made of metal.  Godfrey Marine, like every other pontoon builder, does not use the metal framework on the boat as a ground.  This helps prevent stray current corrosion (galvanic corrosion), but causes strange ground problems like the one you are having.

Another problem that occurs on pontoon boats is when the boat wiring harness is not properly secured to the underside of the deck.  Even if properly secured, wires can be damaged even under normal use, e.g., the wires could be caught by the trailer or perhaps damaged during a “stunt docking” maneuver.  Whatever the cause, the boat wiring may now be able to make intermittent contact with the metal framework of the boat.  While the resistance is high enough to not trip the breaker or blow the fuse, it can still cause extremely low voltage readings under load conditions.

The best solution to your problem is to run two new wires to your live well pump.  Disconnect the existing wires.  Connect a new ground wire from the negative of the live well pump (usually black wire) to your battery negative or a negative buss near the battery.  Connect a new live well power wire from the positive of the live well pump (usually brown) to the accessory switch on your console.  I would recommend using at least a 16AWG good quality tinned copper boat wire.

This is my simplest solution to your situation.

Good luck,

Kevin

Boat wiring color chart published

Posted on May 16, 2008
Filed Under Boat Wiring, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, Harnesses-AC, Harnesses-Dash, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels | Leave a Comment

Our friends at EasyAcDc.com have done a great job of putting together a comprehensive listing of marine industry boat wiring colors.

This site continually provides DIY boaters with truly helpful information about boat wiring.

Tinned boat wiring

Posted on February 24, 2008
Filed Under Boat Wiring, Corrosion, Electrician's Log, Harnesses, Harnesses-DC, Harnesses-Dash, Switch Panels | Leave a Comment

We recently came across a great piece on boat wiring that addresses the advantages of always using tinned wire.

After making a strong case for spending the (slightly) increased cost for tinned wire, EasyAcDc goes on to cite several boat builders who do just that, including Manitou Pontoons, Crest Pontoons, and Rinker. They then wonder why more builders don’t follow this sensible lead.

It’s an excellent read that we highly recommend.

“QuickConnect” to simple DIY pontoon upgrades

Posted on February 24, 2008
Filed Under Boat Wiring, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, Harnesses-DC, New Products, Pontoons | Leave a Comment

The new Pontoonstuff.com QuickConnect line goes a long ways towards alleviating the confusion (and headaches) caused by adding major electrical components to – or totally rewiring – an older pontoonboat.

Pre-loaded and pre-wired to make installation exceptionally easy, the Pontoonstuff QuickConnect system includes OEM quality gauge panels, switch panels, accessory harnesses, and even a deck-mounted light holder complete with sidelights, horn, and docking lights. And, as the name suggests, all of these parts are engineered to be quickly connected together by the boat owner.

It is obvious that a lot of thought went into this system, which is built from the highest quality marine grade materials. Everything is strictly first-class, from Carling switches and Faria gauges on the panels to the Attwood and AFI components in the light pod. All of these parts are then wired with the finest quality copper wire – tinned for superior corrosion-resistance. As you would expect, both the wiring and the circuit protection accurately anticipate the usual amp draw for each accessory.

This QuickConnect family of products assures that DIY electrical work can be done both quickly and safely - at least for pontoons. One wonders why a similar system couldn’t be offered for other types of boats?

Marine Circuit Protection

Posted on January 24, 2008
Filed Under Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Electrician's Log, Harnesses, Harnesses-DC, MarineAcDc Forum | Leave a Comment

More great boat wiring advice from EasyAcDc.com…

Any boat built to NMMA (National Marine Manufacturer’s Association) standards has circuit protection for its boat wiring system. These breakers/fuses are specified to provide adequate amperage for all standard equipment. And, the original boat wiring is sized for the factory installed system.

Problems occur when the boat owner or dealer begins to add other items.

The best and safest position to place your circuit protection is as close as possible to the source of power (battery or distribution panel). For example, a new fish finder is added to the helm of a boat. There isn’t an obvious way to splice in the existing boat wiring to connect the power and ground wires. The solution is to run a new pair of wires to the battery. The fuse for the fish finder needs to go as close as possible to the battery. The fuse is protecting the fish finder and its wiring. If the fish finder has an internal fault, the fuse will blow. If the wire between the fish finder and the battery gets damaged, the fuse will blow.

If the fuse is installed close to the fish finder, then in the case where the wire is damaged between the fish finder, the wire will burn instead.

Circuit protection is also very important when adding additional charging sources. This new charging source is considered to be a source of power that needs circuit protection. If it is not a “self limiting” device, circuit protection is needed at both ends of its positive output wire. Most chargers are self limiting.

For example, let’s say that a solar battery charger is added to boat. It has 4’ long leads with an inline fuse 7” from the end of the positive lead. The boat owner needs to add 8’ of wire to allow the charger to be connected directly to the battery. As long as the wire doesn’t get damaged, this setup will work fine.

Problems occur when the wire gets damaged. If the wire is damaged between the charger and the inline fuse, the self limiting battery charger will shut down, and the blown fuse will limit the output of the battery. If the wire is damaged between the inline fuse and the battery, the battery will continue to discharge until it is depleted or the shorted wire has completed burned up. This usually results in a fire.

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