[C38] Questions, questions

[Les]

I put in two AC breakers on the line and two on the Inveter with a
slider so that only one pair can be on.  the slider, its mount and the
links for the breakers are all standard parts available from Blue Seas
or your vendor of choice.  To change the AC source, turn the current set
of breakers off, move the slider to cover them (it will only move when
they are off), and turn the other set on.  This produces a break before
make condition, so that the inverter and AC line will never be
contesting for the receptacles.  I had the new panel which had
sufficient breaker locations, and simply added the requisite hardware.
The original equipment panel might be chanable, but I didn't think it
was worth the effort, since I had already planned the panel replacement.

Prior to the new panel, I had used the double pole double throw switch
approach.  Make sure NOT to use a light switch.  They don't handle
enough surge current.  Get an industrial motor control switch, one rated
at least 30-40 Amps with inrush rating of 100 or so.  This will deal
with some kinds of light bulb start up, and motor inrush current.

Too light weight a switch can be a fire hazard.  Also count on replacing
it at about the 5year mark, just to be sure, because we all know what
happens to electrical stuff on boats.  And when you replace it is a good
time to check all the AC connections.  A friend had one of the AC inlet
wires get quite hot and smoke a bit before he discovered it. At least he
happened to be aboard when it chose to go bad.  He shutdown the shore
breaker, and after it had all cooled down, located the bad connection
which had caused a "hotspot" due to corrosion.

Regards,
Les H

On Thu, 2010-07-08 at 16:33 -0400, T. Troncalli wrote:
> Hello Charles,
> 
> I'm behind in reading my emails but if I'm not too late, there is an
> alternative to having a dual wiring system on your boat to accommodate an
> inverter.
> 
> I ran the receptacles from three outlet boxes to a double pole switch.  The
> common terminal on the double pole switch ran to the three receptacles and
> one of the switchable terminals ran to my 120v service and the other to the
> inverter.  With this system those outlets would deliver either shore power
> or inverter power depending on how the double pole switch was set.
> 
> I had one outlet box in the corner of the quarter berth above the mattress
> and below the electrical panel.  With that outlet, I could run things on the
> nav station like TV's, phone chargers, etc.
> 
> I had another outlet just forward of the sink drain valve door on the side
> of the end of the aft table seat just to starboard of my house batteries.
> This outlet was fairly central to things in the cabin and with an extension
> cord I could reach anywhere in the boat.
> 
> The third outlet on this system was in my sail locker which ran my 120v
> refrigerator when underway as well as giving me a source of 120 volts in the
> cockpit if the sail locker was open.
> 
> A good double pole industrial grade switch is cheap but you can also use an
> industrial rated 3-way light switch found at any hardware store like Lowe's
> or Home Depot.   The nice thing about using a 3-way switch is you can use a
> plastic residential switch enclosure making installation very cheap and
> easy.
> 
> If you want, you can even make two or three transfer switch circuits
> allowing more dual voltage outlets as well as allowing more current from an
> inverter or genset without exceeding the amperage limits of your switch.
> 
> I've have also used this system to run my whole house when we had power
> outages.  I had 10 transfer switches.
> 
> One other nice thing about using multiple switches to transfer the loads to
> an inverter or genset is that this system stages the transfer so the
> inverter or genset can adjust to the increased loads as the loads are
> switched.  When I tried to use a large single 40 amp motor contactor relay
> to power my house it would stall my generator with the same loads that
> worked fine using multiple double pole switches to accomplish the same
> transfer.
> 
> I wrote an article about wiring generators using multiple double pole
> switches back in the Y2K daze when everyone thought the sky was falling.  MY
> article was cloned and plagiarized all over the world and no telling how
> many people used this technique.  Every now and then I still run across a
> clone of my original article, usually including spelling errors and all.
> 
> Good luck,
> 
> Tom Troncalli
> Recovering ex-Catalina 38 owner  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org
> [mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org] On Behalf Of Charles B. Finn
> Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 10:41 AM
> To: Catalina 38 Listserve
> Subject: [C38] Questions, questions
> 
> I finally am going to do the right thing and set up separate wiring for my
> 2500 watt inverter.  My plan is to split the existing outlets so the top
> receptacle is for the inverter circuit and the lower is shore power.  I will
> do this simply by running separate wires to the outlets and removing the
> jumper to separate upper outlets.  But I have two questions.
> 
> 1.  What type of wire was used on the AC side of our boats?  Are they
> stranded wire?  What gauge?
> 2.  I would like to use the common ground that is already wired in, which
> will save running a third wire.  I don't think this is a problem, but sure
> would like to hear if it is!
> 
> On another topic, the forward in my transmission went away three weeks ago
> just before I had to leave for two weeks of business in California.  
> This meant I had to pay folks to remove it and repair it.... something I 
> hate to do!   But, I will shortly be able to report on shop times and 
> costs for a repair like this!  I also have researched parts costs and even
> found additional manuals on our transmissions, which I will shortly 
> be posting to our website.   But for now, I can report that the HBW-5 
> (50) is another part of our boat (like the heat exchanger) that is at the
> outer design limit for our powertrain.....  We should expect to see an
> increasing number of failures and it is forward gear that wears out.
> 
> Happy Sailing!
> Chuck Finn
> Mighty Quinn #114
> Great Lakes
> 
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