[alberg30] Distribution Panel

[Alan P. Kefauver]

Further,
Grounded circuits (DC negative and AC neutral) carry full current. Grounding circuits ar not sipposed to be current carrying. Never ground the AC neutral on the boat end like is done at home. The ground circuit and the DC neg circuit should only be tied together at one (1) (ONE) point! The DC circuit is subject to voltage drops dependent on the circuit throughout, you will have multiple ground potentials. So if ground is tied to Neg other than at the buss bar,  you will little stray circuits betwen neg and ground that will eat your metal fittings. Every device should have a separate neg wire to the panel. Running a common Neg and separate pluses is a no, no also.

A ground buss is to carry fault currents, stray currents, and lightning to ground -from- the boats DC system (AC too). The ground buss is often called the "bonding circuit"
So, the bonding circuit, AC ground, Lightning protection, and especially the fuel tank (bonding required on gas engines), and the zincs, are tied to the grounding buss. The Batt negs, the DC panel, and alternator neg, et all are tied to the DC neg buss. The DC neg buss and the Ground buss are tied together at the main ground point (which may be the engine).

All in all it's really easier than it sounds. Just run a separate cable for each circuit (one cabin light circuit with multiple drops is still one circuit). Tie the Neg panel buss to a common ground point, connect the batt negs to the same place, and tie the bonding circuit (if you have one) there also, and run a 4AWG cable (or larger) to the engine block
(do jump the coupling if your shaft is not continuous to the water.

I have run 14AWG for all non-critical circuits. Ran 8AWG for the MSD, 12AWG for everything else. 2/0 battery cables, and a 4/0 cable to the ground point. Maybe overkill, but the cost diff was minimal and I figure I have l less than a 2% voltage drop throughout and no stray currents to eat my metal, even if anchored next to a boat that is leaking current into the water.

I seriously considered going to all Marelon through hulls and seacocks so the only metal in contact with the water would be the shaft. However, fiscal prudence prevailed.


Cheers,
Alan
Andante #152
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 5/4/2000 at 6:18 PM Alan P. Kefauver wrote:

>No. No. No.
>Run a separate neg for each breaker. Tie the neg of the panel to a buss bar. Connect all the battery negs to the bus bar. Connect the buss bar to the engine block. If and this is a big if, you decide to ground everything, run ground straps to all thru hulls and everything -not- electrical that touches the water and is conductive. Then and only then run the ground bus to the negative buss bar. 
>
>I have to run now, I'll supplement this later.
>Alan
>
>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
>On 5/4/2000 at 1:35 PM shawn orr wrote:
>
>>I am rewiring #307 this weekend using 14 wire and a eight switch 
>>Paneltronics distribution panel.  The wiring setup for this panel 
>>includes three bus bars; 1. Positive, 2. Negative, 3. Ground.
>>
>>My question is as follows:
>>
>>Do I jump wires from each negative switch(bus position) to the 
>>corresponding ground and then run a primary ground (larger gage) wire 
>>to the engine block? Or can I run a primary negative to the ground 
>>bus and then run a primary ground to the engine block?
>>
>>Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>Shawn Orr
>>IL Molino
>>#307
>>
>>
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