New wiring diagram- please critique!

[funjohnson]

I have concerns with the location of the Blue Sea ACR... will it feed the start (emergency) battery properly from a distribution bus (I can't see why this would be an issue). The reason I would like it tied off the buss and not directly off the house battery, is that my house is locate on the starboard side and start is on port. This will shorten the wire run I need to do for the ACR wire.

Also, does it look like I have the fuses in the correct location?

Thanks for the quick insight.

Matt Johnson

[nickmerc]

For the ACR you will still want a large gauge wire to connect it to both batteries (circuits). You can connect the house side via the bus, just make sure the positive bus is rated for a high enough current. It looks like your fuses are close to the positive sources so that is good.

Do you purposely not have your windlass running through your distribution panel?
________
Kitty_Wilde

[funjohnson]

Nick,

Should the inverter run through the DC panel? Mine is only rated at 50 amps and I was going to install a circuit breaker closer to the battery.

[sailingdog]

Why don't you have a fuse on the engine start circuit?

Also, what is the wire coming off the BlueSea VSM going to the AC panel?

Also, why go through all this trouble only to have a standard 1-2-both switch in place? It would make much more sense to have a BlueSea Dual Circuit Plus switch instead, so you can start the engine off the start bank, run the house loads off the house bank and isolate the two systems.

[funjohnson]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Why don't you have a fuse on the engine start circuit?

I keep reading conflicting data on that subject. It sounds like you are for having the start circuit fused.

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Also, what is the wire coming off the BlueSea VSM going to the AC panel?

It was suppose to be the ac current coil. Is that not the correct way to wire it?

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Also, why go through all this trouble only to have a standard 1-2-both switch in place? It would make much more sense to have a BlueSea Dual Circuit Plus switch instead, so you can start the engine off the start bank, run the house loads off the house bank and isolate the two systems.

Because Mainsail said I should keep it! I like the idea of getting to the boat, putting the switch to 1 and keeping it there. If I need to, I can then switch to the emergency position number 2 and connect with the other battery. What negatives are there to using the existing switch?

Thanks for your response.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

I keep reading conflicting data on that subject. It sounds like you are for having the start circuit fused.

Typically, the engine start should have a high amperage slow-blow fuse in it.

It was suppose to be the ac current coil. Is that not the correct way to wire it?

I would think that you'd rather monitor the AC output of the inverter, rather than the shorepower panel.

Because Mainsail said I should keep it!

He doesn't like them because of a very specific and fairly unlikely situation where the house banks being very badly depleted could drain the start bank. I don't see it as a real issue. If the house banks are that badly depleted, why would you combine them with the start bank. He has the same issue with the BlueSea ACR, though the newer model has the intelligence to not combine banks if one set is too badly depleted.

Thanks for your response.

[funjohnson]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Typically, the engine start should have a high amperage slow-blow fuse in it.

Will do! I have a Westerbeke 30b... would a 200a slow blow be enough? how do I rate the fuse for the starter?

Originally Posted by sailingdog

I would think that you'd rather monitor the AC output of the inverter, rather than the shore power panel.

The information I'm looking for the monitor to give me is:

ac volts
ac amps
frequency

I thought I was suppose to be monitoring what was coming in from shore power. Should I more concerned with what is coming out of my 1000 watt xantrex inverter?

I was going to hard wire the outlets to the inverter, but leave the water heater and whatever else was connected to the ac panel alone. The Blue Sea manual says

"AC Current
In most cases the AC Current Transformer should be located on the main
AC feed before any other devices. See Current Flow in 120/240 Volt AC Systems - Resources - Blue Sea Systems
for more information on AC Current Transformer location. The location does
not affect state of charge (SOC) calculations"

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

I have concerns with the location of the Blue Sea ACR... will it feed the start (emergency) battery properly from a distribution bus (I can't see why this would be an issue). The reason I would like it tied off the buss and not directly off the house battery, is that my house is locate on the starboard side and start is on port. This will shorten the wire run I need to do for the ACR wire.

Also, does it look like I have the fuses in the correct location?

Matt,

The major issue you have is that your start (reserve) bank and your house bank are incorrectly tied together on the positive side. They are NOT separated, regardless of your ACR location. The acr should be between the two positives of your house and reserve bank, not where it is shown.

You seem to have a complete misunderstanding of bus bars.

It appears you are using a simple 1-2-B switch, in which case you may be interested in reading this, starting with reply #11: Alternator/Batteries & "The Basic" 1-2-B Switch BEST Wiring Diagrams

House bank to post 1, reserve bank to post 2, output of the switch from the C post is to the DC distribution panel and to the starter, alternator output to the house bank with a circuit breaker rather than a simple fuse, ACR between the reserve and house bank for charging.

You also seem to have connected the DC ground from the house bank to the AC ground through the Blue Seas vsm 422.

I also agree with Maine Sail, see this thread, the issues are down the bottom of the first page and the second page: 310 Battery Info - SailboatOwners.com The Blue Seas dual circuit switch is a disaster waiting to happen and is a stupid design. Stay with the 1-2-B switch, but please learn how it is supposed to work.

A recent post on this board has some other good reference material. http://www.sailnet.com/forums/electr...lectrical.html Ample Power has already designed the wiring diagrams you NEED. Please read their stuff.

I certainly wouldn't wire my boat this way. Because it simply will not work. Review the linked reference and make some corrections. It won't work as shown. You asked.

Stu

[donradclife]

What you have shown will start the engine with the house battery, unless you switch over to #2 every time you start. Connect the starter to the start battery and everything should work out better--if you have a 1-2-both switch.

[funjohnson]

Don,

I actually want to start off the house bank and use the "start" battery for emergencies only. This way I can come to the boat, put the switch on position #1 and forget it. If I need to, I can then connect to position #2 and start from that battery.

After visiting the boat on Friday, I reconfigured the diagram for shorter cable runs. Due to the location of the charger and "start" battery, it makes more sense to have the ACR located where I now have it and use the charger and start battery's large 2/0 cable for one run. I also was able to remove the bus for all charging sources ($65.00).