[Public-List] Electrical

[Greg Roberts via Public-List]

Finally a subject that will allow me to pay a bit of my tab for all
the great advice I've received here!
The following is how I set up Ayla when I rewired her. There are lots
of ways to skin the cat...
Ground SystemAyla has a Star Ground which means there is one central
ground point that all ground lines radiate out from.The central point
is a large bus bar mounted next to the engine.Rather than run
individual grounds all over the place I put a bus bar in the hanging
closet and one in the head cabinet.I ran an 8 awg ground line to each
of the bus bars. I use yellow for grounds per the ABYC standards . 
The yellow for ground is to avoid someone connecting a Black DC ground
wire to a Black AC "Hot" wire.
BatteriesI run two AGM group 31 batteries connected to a two bank
charger. My system is split into House and Engine Start. The switches
are setup so I can use either or both batteries for either load. Note:
Disconnecting from the alternator while running will almost certainly
kill your alternator. 
Wire Runs.I used flexible conduit: Orange for 12V circuits and Blue
for AC. The important part is never bundle high voltage (typically AC)
wiring with low voltage (typically DC) wiring.I also put terminal
blocks in the hanging closet and head cabinet.
Color CodeThe engine harness uses the factory color code so a mechanic
working from the manual will not be mislead.The rest of my circuits
are individually coded.The ancor wire just doesn't come in enough
colors so I used a trick I learned when I pulled wire for a living.You
use a sharpie to make bands around the wire. So for example: the
circuit for my deck level nav lights uses white wire with a single
black band. Geek Trivia: when referring to a wire with a color stripe
or band you say the insulation color first then the stripe color.My
nav wiring would be White/Black.You only really need to mark the last
few feet at each end but I mark about every 18" and every 12" near the
ends. Marking the entire length means I can identify the wire anywhere
along the run without getting out fancy tools. 
RadiosFuse both the 12V and the Ground lead. The primary reason you
fuse the  ground is to protect against ground faults creating a
situation where return currents try to get back to the star ground via
your Antenna system. This is more of a problem with radios installed
in cars but it's still a good idea.
LightsThe only incandescent lights I have left are my steaming light
and deck level nav lights. I will eventually change them because LEDs
are more reliable. It's low priority because I only use them when
motoring. (I do use the deck level nav lights when sailing in the
harbor. My feeling is that they are more likely to be seen in the
close quarters.)
Regards,
Greg