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Electric Systems:
Have spent over 35 years being involved with some part of the
electrical business.
Having that experience provides me with a rather unique
perspective of electrical systems on boats and their
relationship with water.
After a lot of research, it was decided that having an adequate
12 VDC system would meet all of my electrical needs.
The benefits of not having 120/240V shore power shore power on a
boat far out weigh the advantages, in my opinion, especially if
hydraulic power can be provided.
Again, hydraulic power provides a much safer, more flexible
option than an engine-generaator set, in my opinion, thus no
further thought was given to one.
The real key to this decision was that a reefer could be
hydraulically driven and so could a water maker system, if
necessary.
Small, dedicated inverters will easily meet 120 VAC loads.
A dual circuit reefer system using a low cost packaged reefer,
say 1/3 HP, 120 VAC driven from a dedicated inverter would
maintain the reefer while on the hook and a hydraulically driven
main system handles the main cooling of the reefer system.
Higher efficiency 12 VDC water makers are becoming more widely
available.
Since the hard bimini will provide at least 150 sq ft of
mounting surface for solar cells, the only solar panel
limitation is economic, not engineering.
Based on all of the above, it was decided to provide space for
16, T-105, 6 VDC, golf cart batteries.
Fourteen (14) would be used for the house bank providing about
1,600-AH of 12 VDC capacity.
Two (2) would be dedicated to the starting bank.
A full athwartship compartment is dedicated to the battery
compartment adjacent to a main bulkhead, just forward of the
engine room.
Four (4), battery boxes, sized to hold 4, T-105 batteries rest
on a plywood core, epoxy/glass skin shelf that runs athwartship.
Each battery box is built of 3/8" plywood core, epoxy/glass skin
and coated with two coats of tank resin.
The boxes are attached to the shelf with SikaFlex 291.
A 1/4" x 2", 600 amp, copper bus bar is runs along the forward
floor wall (0 VDC) and the aft bulkhead wall (12 VDC) to provide
a bus connection to the batteries.
The connection between the copper bus and the battery post will
be made with short (12"-15") leads. In the event of a roll
over, the short leads will retain the batteries in their
respective boxes.
The 12 VDC distribution system is via a custom busway system as
follows:
There are 12, custom built, 300 amp, dual circuit, terminal
blocks with provisions for both the 0 VDC and the 12 VDC
terminations.
One (1) of these terminal blocks are to be mounted in each
compartment, just below the deck/hull joint on both the port and
starboard side.
These terminal blocks are then inter connected using either 1/0
or 2/0 cable between bus bars and terminal blocks.
Individual distribution blocks at each location handle
individual loads such as lighting, inverters for microwave, etc.
A Leece-Neville 4800 alternator will provide 120+ amps of
recharge capability at 2,500 alternator RPM.
Since I helped design the great-great-great-grand father of this
unit back in the 60's, am aware of it's capabilities.
A dedicated 10W solar panel will recharge the starting battery.
The engine requires an isolated (2 wire) electrical system.
This eliminates any grounding problems since the 12 VDC system
is totally isolated from the engine block.
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