Electrical Panel
One of the things that I have been working on for a long time on the boat is a new electrical panel. This grew out of the fact that the old panel was totally inadequate. It was a 6-fuse panel with soldered connections and a 3-way switch. The boats wiring was very unreliable and it was difficult to debug if anything went wrong. I tried to find pix of the old panel but I can't even find them. Trust me it was not pretty and it was not reliable either.
As part of the cooler re-construction project I decided to spend some time thinking about and re-doing the panel. I wanted to move the panel so that it was not underneath the companionway and therefore would be better protected from spray. I decided that a good location for it would be an inboard facing longitudinal bulkhead aft of the main settee lockers. I had a number of requirements for this panel:
1. Provide plenty of DC breakers with room for expansion.
2. Provide a minimal set of AC breakers with connection to a built-in battery charger.
3. Provide DC Voltage and current meters.
4. Provide AC Voltage and Current meters with a polarity indicator.
5. Provide an inverter (mostly to power xmas lights at the light parade, but also for laptops and other various AC sundries...inevitably a hair dryer sooner or later... ;-)
6. Incorporate a stereo
7. Incorporate a nice VHF radio.
8.Be easy to service and repair in case of problems.
9. Be neat, clean, and easy to understand.
10. Have a well-defined interface that is easy to connect and disconnect. This requirement mostly was begotten as a result of the fact that I knew it would take several iterations to get this right and I didn't want to have to stop using the boat for a long time just to be able to work on the panel. I wanted to be able to disconnect and remove it quickly to take it home and service it in my workshop.
11. Provide good built-in ventilation to keep things cool.
There were other requirements but these are the main ones. With this in mind, I proceeded to start working on a notional design. I decided that I would make the panel hinged so that it could be opened and serviced easily. I also decided that I would attach the panel to the deck below it by using 5/16" 'studs' which I made by installing bolts with fender washers and nuts installed on the deck. Then I drilled matching holes in the bottom part of the electrical panel assembly and attached the panel into the boat using these 'studs' and butterfly nuts with locknuts & fender washers.
Here is a notional diagram of the arrangement of the panel:
This is the back side of the panel itself (1st iteration). The wiring is still pretty messy. It is bloody hard to get so many wires to be clean and neat. In the upper right you can just see the VHF radio. In the middle right you can see the cutout for the stereo.
This is the bottom part of the panel. You can see the charger along with the positive terminal strips and the ground bus bar. The terminal posts are in the lower left and in the lower right is the shunt for the DC ammeter.
This is an overview of the entire assembly. Here you can clearly see the VHF panel and cutout for the stereo. This is still iteration 1 (I am currently on iteration 2).
Here is what iteration 1 looked like installed in the boat. Iteration #2 wound up being taller, so there was more space for the outlet and so on. Iteration #1 was basically dictated by the location of the existing deck, but I eventually decided to move the top of the cooler down a few inches which gave me some more room to play with, vertically. 
This is a further out view of iteration #1 installed in the boat. On the left you can see the mains fuses for battery #1, #2, and main grounding post with aux ground bus bar. 
These are the mains fuses. Main ground post and aux ground bus bar are at the top. 
When I upgraded to iteration #2, I added a few auxiliary items. As you can see, both breaker panels shifted to the left so that I could make room for installation of an AC outlet which is wired right into the AC breaker panel to its left. I also installed a 12V outlet on the face of the panel for charging cell phones, and other 12V appliance connectivity. There are a few other 12V outlets already installed elsewhere in the boat which I will also be wiring up.
For the record, the inverter is totally separate from the main AC system. There is absolutely NO connection between AC and DC wiring other than via the battery charger.
This is what Iteration #2 (the current iteration) of the panel looks like folded down so you can see the wiring behind. I know it is still kind of a rats nest. I have more grand plans to clean it up, but that is going to have to wait. One thing that I have done which you'll notice if you look close is to label most wires with heat shrink tubing printed on a label printer. This is a really awesome way to keep everything clear. Also you can see the PC-style molex connectors that I have been using as quick disconnects.
This is the wiring bundle at the forward end of the harness. In the lower right you can see the positive connection post for the inverter, which as a high-amperage appliance requires large wires and a lot of power, thus its own grounding post. All breakers in the DC panel are 15A breakers, except the inverter which is a 50A breaker (need a LOT of power for all those Xmas lights!) You can also see the butterfly nuts on the 'studs' if you look in the lower right corner. There are 6 of these which hold the bottom part of the panel in place.
Here you can see some auxiliary buses that I had to install on the transverse bulkhead which separates the electrical locker from the settee lockers. On the left is the cabin lights positive distribution bus. There are so many cabin lights connections that you can't make them all on the terminal strip, thus the distribution bus. The right side of the bus is the electronics which also has many connections (VHF, sailing instruments, GPS, Tillerpilot).
This is just a close-up of the wiring bundles. You can see some labels and the molex quick-disconnect connectors. These connectors are made with a special crimping tool which is pretty expensive. The connectors themselves are inexpensive but high quality. It's really easy to make them if you have the tool and they work great! The red and white striped wires are speaker wires. The large red wire is the #2 battery supply wire.
Here is another shot of the main fuses and main ground post. The coiled white wire is the VHF antenna which is mounted to the stern pulpit and comes through a cable clam just forward of the transom. On the right is one of the stereo speakers which are bulkhead mounted on the port side fore and aft. The black thing at the bottom is the stereo antenna, which I still haven't determined a good installation method for... In the lower right you can see the hatch for the to-be-built cooler which has been framed but not finished yet.
This is still very much a work in progress. I still need to finish the installation by completing the following items:
1. re-do main panel on a nice piece of plywood (currently it's a home depot junker handypanel, but I have some nice sapele marine plywood to make the final version from).
2. Enclose the mains fuses and ground post.
3. Permanently mount the stereo antenna.
4. Re-do the panel wiring so that it is more under control and not as messy. Make sure everything is the right length, not too long, not too short.
I'm sure there are others but that's what I can think of right now.
As part of the cooler re-construction project I decided to spend some time thinking about and re-doing the panel. I wanted to move the panel so that it was not underneath the companionway and therefore would be better protected from spray. I decided that a good location for it would be an inboard facing longitudinal bulkhead aft of the main settee lockers. I had a number of requirements for this panel:
1. Provide plenty of DC breakers with room for expansion.
2. Provide a minimal set of AC breakers with connection to a built-in battery charger.
3. Provide DC Voltage and current meters.
4. Provide AC Voltage and Current meters with a polarity indicator.
5. Provide an inverter (mostly to power xmas lights at the light parade, but also for laptops and other various AC sundries...inevitably a hair dryer sooner or later... ;-)
6. Incorporate a stereo
7. Incorporate a nice VHF radio.
8.Be easy to service and repair in case of problems.
9. Be neat, clean, and easy to understand.
10. Have a well-defined interface that is easy to connect and disconnect. This requirement mostly was begotten as a result of the fact that I knew it would take several iterations to get this right and I didn't want to have to stop using the boat for a long time just to be able to work on the panel. I wanted to be able to disconnect and remove it quickly to take it home and service it in my workshop.
11. Provide good built-in ventilation to keep things cool.
There were other requirements but these are the main ones. With this in mind, I proceeded to start working on a notional design. I decided that I would make the panel hinged so that it could be opened and serviced easily. I also decided that I would attach the panel to the deck below it by using 5/16" 'studs' which I made by installing bolts with fender washers and nuts installed on the deck. Then I drilled matching holes in the bottom part of the electrical panel assembly and attached the panel into the boat using these 'studs' and butterfly nuts with locknuts & fender washers.
Here is a notional diagram of the arrangement of the panel:
This is the back side of the panel itself (1st iteration). The wiring is still pretty messy. It is bloody hard to get so many wires to be clean and neat. In the upper right you can just see the VHF radio. In the middle right you can see the cutout for the stereo.
This is the bottom part of the panel. You can see the charger along with the positive terminal strips and the ground bus bar. The terminal posts are in the lower left and in the lower right is the shunt for the DC ammeter.
This is an overview of the entire assembly. Here you can clearly see the VHF panel and cutout for the stereo. This is still iteration 1 (I am currently on iteration 2).
Here is what iteration 1 looked like installed in the boat. Iteration #2 wound up being taller, so there was more space for the outlet and so on. Iteration #1 was basically dictated by the location of the existing deck, but I eventually decided to move the top of the cooler down a few inches which gave me some more room to play with, vertically. 
This is a further out view of iteration #1 installed in the boat. On the left you can see the mains fuses for battery #1, #2, and main grounding post with aux ground bus bar. 
These are the mains fuses. Main ground post and aux ground bus bar are at the top. 
When I upgraded to iteration #2, I added a few auxiliary items. As you can see, both breaker panels shifted to the left so that I could make room for installation of an AC outlet which is wired right into the AC breaker panel to its left. I also installed a 12V outlet on the face of the panel for charging cell phones, and other 12V appliance connectivity. There are a few other 12V outlets already installed elsewhere in the boat which I will also be wiring up.For the record, the inverter is totally separate from the main AC system. There is absolutely NO connection between AC and DC wiring other than via the battery charger.
This is what Iteration #2 (the current iteration) of the panel looks like folded down so you can see the wiring behind. I know it is still kind of a rats nest. I have more grand plans to clean it up, but that is going to have to wait. One thing that I have done which you'll notice if you look close is to label most wires with heat shrink tubing printed on a label printer. This is a really awesome way to keep everything clear. Also you can see the PC-style molex connectors that I have been using as quick disconnects.
This is the wiring bundle at the forward end of the harness. In the lower right you can see the positive connection post for the inverter, which as a high-amperage appliance requires large wires and a lot of power, thus its own grounding post. All breakers in the DC panel are 15A breakers, except the inverter which is a 50A breaker (need a LOT of power for all those Xmas lights!) You can also see the butterfly nuts on the 'studs' if you look in the lower right corner. There are 6 of these which hold the bottom part of the panel in place.
Here you can see some auxiliary buses that I had to install on the transverse bulkhead which separates the electrical locker from the settee lockers. On the left is the cabin lights positive distribution bus. There are so many cabin lights connections that you can't make them all on the terminal strip, thus the distribution bus. The right side of the bus is the electronics which also has many connections (VHF, sailing instruments, GPS, Tillerpilot).
This is just a close-up of the wiring bundles. You can see some labels and the molex quick-disconnect connectors. These connectors are made with a special crimping tool which is pretty expensive. The connectors themselves are inexpensive but high quality. It's really easy to make them if you have the tool and they work great! The red and white striped wires are speaker wires. The large red wire is the #2 battery supply wire.
Here is another shot of the main fuses and main ground post. The coiled white wire is the VHF antenna which is mounted to the stern pulpit and comes through a cable clam just forward of the transom. On the right is one of the stereo speakers which are bulkhead mounted on the port side fore and aft. The black thing at the bottom is the stereo antenna, which I still haven't determined a good installation method for... In the lower right you can see the hatch for the to-be-built cooler which has been framed but not finished yet.
This is still very much a work in progress. I still need to finish the installation by completing the following items:1. re-do main panel on a nice piece of plywood (currently it's a home depot junker handypanel, but I have some nice sapele marine plywood to make the final version from).
2. Enclose the mains fuses and ground post.
3. Permanently mount the stereo antenna.
4. Re-do the panel wiring so that it is more under control and not as messy. Make sure everything is the right length, not too long, not too short.
I'm sure there are others but that's what I can think of right now.
posted by J Bergquist at 1:39 PM
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