Do I know what I am doing?

[SanDiegoChip]

This is a wiring diagram of our incoming shore power to 30 amp breaker to other items below.
Can you see if my logic is correct?
We are trying to protect the 2000 charger\inverter and the CFI outlet with the breaker.
Is this possible?
The ground that is coming from the shore power plug goes to the 30 amp breaker. It connects to a small screw at the middle top of the breaker (black) and there is not any more room but for one more wire.
The green ground 110 volt comes from the 30 amp breaker and is connected to the same screw as the incoming green wire that is inside the white sheath. It then goes to the buss.
The charger inverter ground goes to the buss.
The CFI outlet goes to the buss.
My thinking is if so9mething goes wrong with the charger\inverter or CFI outlet it will trip the breaker?
Or is it if something goes wrong with the power coming from shore power it will trip the buss and save the charger\inverter and whatever is plugged into the CFI out let?
Or both?
My other thinking =g is that the buss will be grounded to the boat negating the breaker ?
Is this and proper way to wire up the 30 amp breaker from the shore power? I am taking about the shore power at the dock that runs through the 30 amp power chord to the plug in the cockpit.


Thanks for any imput.
Chip

[mitiempo]

Chip
what are you powering with the inverter?

You show the GFI outlet getting its AC power from the 30 amp breaker. The inverter can't be powering this GFI outlet as well.

Exactly which inverter do you have? And exactly what would you like to do with it?

[SanDiegoChip]

The Xantrex 2000 charger\inverter will be powering the 15 volt outlets on the boat a 1978 Islander Freeport. The outlets are all on one circuit. We are not ready yet for putting in new electrical panels so we opted just to add the 30 amp breaker this way. It would be wired to the current electrical panel as if it were sitting in the panel. No microwave. Just some odds and ends like a water pick etc. Could be our new LED TV at anchor for a movie.
The CFI outlet will power a converter for the new refrigeration (Fribgeoat) we are installing. It detects 110 volts and runs the refer off 110 volts if it is present not the batteries. If no 110 then the refer runs off the batteries. That is why it is before the charger\inverter so the inverter will not run the refer. The 10-3 wire may be much shorter going to the CFI but at this point we are not sure of the placement.
Thank you,
Chip
s/v Elegant'sea IF36-B #29

Elegant'sea

[mitiempo]

Chip



The normal way to wire a 30 amp main breaker is to go from it to a panel with breakers for each circuit. If you wire everything off one breaker you lose the option of selectively turning items on or off. The breaker will protect the wiring. Breakers are not there to protect the devices plugged in or wired to them but to prevent the wire from overheating/fire. The inverter has its own internal protection from over/under voltage, overloaded output etc.

[ottos]

Chip,

So let me get this straight. You are adding a dual power fridge which will run off 120VAC if present, otherwise switch to shipboard 12VDC. You also have a nifty Xantrex which will both pass the shorepower through to your AC circuits, and charge your batteries through the 12V bus. With no shore power present, it will feed off the 12V and invert to 120VAC feeding you outlets. Your problem is you want the fridge fed with 120 only when on shore power.

I'm no expert, so take what I say with a shaker of salt. Your design seems logical - your fridge will not be supplied with 120 unless you are on shore power.


Is that romex you are wiring with?

.

[mitiempo]

It looks like stranded boat cable - tinned hopefully.

[SanDiegoChip]

Ottos,
Yes that is exactly right. That is what we are doing. The wiring is all 10-3 marine grade 110 volt. Using #10 marine solder less connectors etc.
The gang boxes are used for outdoor lighting, wiring the lighting up. They will be behind the nav station. Not out in an open area.
Xantrex suggests a breaker between shore power and the charger\inverter.
There is one circuit only on the panel. It has two switches. We can wire the 30 amp breaker to that circuit so we can turn it off separately. We usually never turn it off. Should we be?
What about the ground buss. Will the wiring still be protected with the buss? Will the buss become aground in itself and kind of bypass the 30 amp breaker? I was hoping the buss would be just that a buss, a connection for a few ground wires and not become a ground if it is screwed to the boat by it’s self?
Thanks,
Chip

[mitiempo]

Chip

Breakers do not protect ground, which is not a current carrying wire except in case of fault. Breakers that are double main like you show are only for switching the hot and neutral wires. All you are planning, as far as I can see, is to remove the ground connections from the box the breaker is in because of lack of room. But there has to be a connection from the ground bus to the central ground point, where both AC and DC grounds meet.

[geehaw]

There should be no ground to the breaker. The ground should run direct to shore power. This is because if a short happens between hot and ground on one wire it can send power through the neutral wire to other wires running other items. If a ground wires to a neutral at that point it should be wired direct to a ground (ground rod ground plate etc.).

[ottos]

Again - no boat wiring experience here.....
Is your existing AC circuit to the NAV station GFCI protected? If not you could consider something like this GFCI breaker

Another element that you could consider since you are working on your wiring is a galvanic isolator. There is at least one thread currently discussing this on the forums.

What about the ground buss. Will the wiring still be protected with the buss? Will the buss become aground in itself and kind of bypass the 30 amp breaker? I was hoping the buss would be just that a buss, a connection for a few ground wires and not become a ground if it is screwed to the boat by it’s self?

I'm not really sure what you're asking here...
As was said before ground doesn't come into play in a standard breaker. It carries no current, unless there is a short. If you do use a GFCI breaker, however, it will use the ground to detect the short/leakage current and provide a much higher level of protection than the breaker alone.
.