Save-A-Boat - The Forum for Plastic Classic Rebuilds!

mitiempo:
That would mean connecting both the charger negative wire and the chassis ground to the negative busbar, right? I wasn't sure about that. I guess I could put in a small negative busbar at the charger location and run one wire to ground from there. Does that sound workable?

Thanks,
Denise

Thank you! I'm going to make that change then.

Do you know if it's necessary to connect the Iota charger chassis bonding lug to the boat's bonding system?

Denise

I agree the current situation is pretty disgusting and it's about time I address it. Frankly it has scared me ever since I bought the boat. I was afraid to deal with it up to now. I'm never going to let this happen to my new batteries. I'm learning a lot through this process. Thanks for your comment.

Maine Sail, I have another concern regarding the wire size from my Iota DLS 45 charger to the batteries. I had originally planned on 10AWG but now that I have it here I'm feeling really skeptical about the appropriateness of it. The distance between the charger and the batteries is 9 feet. What woul...

Ok, I think that's something I can explain to my helping friend so that he can see why it's the better way. Thank you for clearing that up.

Denise

Yes, the alternator wire is going to run directly to the house bank. It's the engine's starter wiring that is confusing me. Right now it's going directly to the battery bank. I thought it was supposed to go to the switch. But I guess that was my misunderstanding.

Denise

Hi and thanks,
The alternator is externally regulated. It's an 80's vintage Ford Lehman 120. I have a friend helping me and he thinks I should wire the starter directly to the cranking battery. I originally had it going to the battery switch. Is there any reason I can't do this?

Denise

Wow, I really got that one wrong! Your diagram completely clears things up for me and makes sense of the flow of current.

Thanks again. Time to measure and order the cabling and fuses I need.

Main Sail, I've altered my diagram in order to rearrange the batteries according to how I think they will work best on the boat. I've also used clearer symbols for the busbars so this diagram is a bit different from the previous ones here, but hopefully only in the arrangement of where all the compo...

Maine Sail, If I understand you on this, I shouldn't go to the positive house bank busbar with the ACR, but rather directly to the bank itself? I've made a few changes and hope I'm getting closer to where I need to be. I haven't changed the ACR yet because I wanted to make sure I understood you on t...

Thank you mitiempo, I like this terminal fuse block idea a lot. I'm looking at the info on it and it looks like only one ring terminal should be used per fuse. For the house bank I can run the parallel cable to the post and fuse the run to the buss bar. For the reserve battery, should I get a double...

Thank you Maine Sail, I've revised the plan accordingly and included the new diagram. I've cleaned up the battery connections a bit. I'm assuming I can go to a buss bar from the house bank and take everything out from there. I'm trying to keep my battery connections as clean as possible. The black g...

Hi All, I am in the process of replacing my boat's old batteries with new ones and with replacing and upgrading the battery charging system. I've read quite a bit that's been both posted online on the subject and written in books, and can't help but feel confused. I realize that everyone tends to ap...

Ok, that worked.

I guess I don't need to put the subject in.

I'm guessing that this was Pete's "before" picture.

I'm trying to post the url to one of the pictures Pete tried to add above to see if this will work for him. I haven't done this before and hope this works. I'm not sure how the subject works, and whether I have to put it in or not. Duh.

Figment wrote:Spurr's bedding advice pertains to external chainplates.

I didn't even pick up on this obvious fact. There's a picture in the book and everything, and I didn't see it for what it was. I'm feeling pretty stupid. Thanks for clearing this up.

Denise

Good to hear. Will proceed accordingly. Thanks again!

Denise

I'm coming out of lurking mode for a minute to ask a question about bolting in my boat's chainplates. Spurr's "Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat" states that bedding compound should be applied to chainplates and backing plates before fastening. But I've been using guidance from Tim's Glissan...