11-07-2009
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Member
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Caribbean
Posts: 76
Rep Power: 3
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Well, the addition of the fuses to the power output leads of the Xantrex battery chargers is something new. It was never mentioned by Xantrex or other battery chargers 10 years ago when I bought mine. Checking the Charles Battery charger manual - I just purchased a Charles, they also have a notation that the power leads from the battery need to be fused within 7" of the batteries. There have been several major changes in the ABYC recommendations in the last few years and obviously this is one of them. A friend of mine back when I was selling, repairing and installing marine equipment, was a member of the ABYC advisory committee(or whatever it was called) and frequently submitted suggestions for improvements to the standards. After I worked on 3 boats that had electrical fires due to unfused battery cables, he submitted a recommendation for a change in that subject area. He did say it took years to get anything through as they have to get input from a lot of places and then the agreement from the major boat manufacturers before they could publish. So I suppose this area was finally updated, which is very good news as 10 boats burn due to electrical fires for every one sinking due to collision with underwater obstacles.
- - Xantrex - I also have one as my #2 battery charger has a history of blowing out the output transistors/diodes. I have been through 3 of the chargers in 10 years. One of the failures was due to excessive back-voltage getting to the chargers and exploding them. The addition of the fuses/c/b's might help reduce that problem for the company. But the Charles manual specifically states the fusing is an ABYC standard. And the placement of the fuses "within 7 inches" of the batteries means that the purpose is to protect the connecting wires from the chargers to the batteries from catching on fire due to dead short at the charger. This is both logical and a good change in the ABYC standards. All wiring needs to be fused or have a c/b rated for the max carrying capacity of the wire or the load item at the end of the wire whichever is lower. The fuse/c/b should be located at the junction were a higher amount of power is available (e.g.: at the battery end; at the main distribution panel end).
- - The best reference book for all things mechanical and electrical is Nigel Calder's trusted Mechanical and Electrical Manual. I hope the book has been updated to reflect these recent (meaning last 5 years or so) changes. Or there may be other books more up to date. One of the best things about Nigel's book is the charts for wire sizes versus carrying load and wire run lengths. He had tables for both 4% and 10% wire loss. In general the book explains everything very well.
- - Always learning something new . . .
* There is a new amendment out by ABYC. ABYC is the major boat standards organization and also allied with the European ISO standards organizations. Insurance companies always want compliance with ABYC standards or they will not pay off, so boat manufacturers are very involved in the process of implementing the standards if they want to sell boats. Anyway the new amendment address electrical leakages on boats. I will put up a new thread on the subject.
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