fantastic explanation. in thousands of forum posts read and countless videos, i have not heard anyone explain this yet. also very timely as im re-doing my AC distro panel. much thanks...
Great, thanks for that. I will buy some of those for that very purpose. I really didn’t know how to solve the multiple lights need. The only thing that I would add to your description is that individual fuses are not just fusing the load, they are fusing the wire as well. Wires run in inaccessible places and a wire shorted by rubbing, tension stripping, compression pinching, or post installation modifications (fatal boat fire on dive boat California) can become an out of sight red hot wire and a potential fire. It was your talks that made me realise how what I had witnessed in the past as a lift mechanic actually related to my present reality. Cable shorting is a disaster no one needs, so no matter how annoying it is to put silly little fuses everywhere, it is necessary.
Jeff, your videos are TOP NOTCH! Thank you for all you do! Please forgive the following act of PEDANTRY. (But, in the electric game, it's a wee bit important, and might save some folks from suffering painful, self-deluded, false belief they are understanding things. Here goes!: ------------------ Important distinction regarding the use of the term "BRANCHED": ALL circuits, leaving a main panel, protected by individual OCPD, (Over-Current Prevention Devices), i.e., a fuse or circuit breaker fed off/from the MAIN panel are ALL called, BRANCH CIRCUITS! Regardless of how many load devices are daisy chained downstream on a circuit. BUT! IF an individual circuit breaker's output wiring LOAD gets CHANGED/REWIRED to then instead ONLY FEED a SUB-PANEL or SUB-FUSE-PANEL, then the name TYPE of that branch circuit CHANGES from a 'BRANCH' circuit into a 'FEEDER' circuit. SO, again, ALL MAIN PANEL circuit breaker load circuits are called BRANCH circuits, unless they ONLY FEED a SUB-PANEL or SUB-FUSE PANEL and thus would be called a 'FEEDER' circuit.
For your own protection, put the fuse blocks either near the main panel, or near what they protect. I’ve spent hours tracing wires only to discover yet another fuse block tucked away someplace you’d never expect.
Thanks for the branching information. I look forward to each episode. How do I size the main power wire in a branching circuit? Adding the fuse block sizes together and using the wire run length would provide a larger then required cable size.
Good question, make sure the wire feeding the fuse block can handle all the amperage from the fuse block, also consider the voltage drop (cable distance) and size the wire to minimize voltage drop.
Great advice! Unfortunately I've found that on our 30 year young boat, some circuits like the cabin lights are daisy chained with only one or two leads back to the panel... Ughhh. I did use a fuse block for the redesign of my instrument electrical, where all the wires ran to the panel.
A terminal block is a way to interconnect wires together instead of using butt connectors. Unlike a fuse block, a terminal block doesn't have any built-in fuses.
Hi Don, yep those fuse blocks work for any DC circuit, could be lights, navigation equipment, solar connections, really any circuit that needs to be fused.
Can you do a video about using plc to do digital switching? For example... instead of wiring directly from the switch to the load(wich is the most common way on smaller boats) id love to know the basics of doing it like on cars (with relays) but in this case with a digital controller to operate and monitor on a digital display, say like maretron products where you can view everything including engine data and other stuff... im sorry, english is not my native language.
Thanks for the informative video. I’m going to be doing the same on the AC panel as well. I was thinking of putting a six circuit sub panel in for the 120 outlets with 15 amp fuses. Do I need a larger circuit breaker when I do this?
Hi Doug, AC circuits should have circuit breakers instead of fuses. FWIW, never seen an AC circuit on a boat that was protected with a fuse, but rather always with circuit breakers.
Just called Peter Kennedy this morning for some advice on a switch for our new electric toilet. So helpful! I appreciate all I've learned from PKYS.
PKYS in Annapolis and PYS are two different companies, but both have great content on boat wiring.
Heard great things about PKYS, glad they answered your questions.
May have been a great question, but was an equally great answer.
Thanks David.
fantastic explanation. in thousands of forum posts read and countless videos, i have not heard anyone explain this yet. also very timely as im re-doing my AC distro panel. much thanks...
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great, thanks for that. I will buy some of those for that very purpose. I really didn’t know how to solve the multiple lights need. The only thing that I would add to your description is that individual fuses are not just fusing the load, they are fusing the wire as well. Wires run in inaccessible places and a wire shorted by rubbing, tension stripping, compression pinching, or post installation modifications (fatal boat fire on dive boat California) can become an out of sight red hot wire and a potential fire. It was your talks that made me realise how what I had witnessed in the past as a lift mechanic actually related to my present reality. Cable shorting is a disaster no one needs, so no matter how annoying it is to put silly little fuses everywhere, it is necessary.
Thanks for sharing, you bring an excellent point, fuses can protect both the appliance and the wire.
Love It! Thanks Professor Jeff, this channel is becoming an Academy.
Wow, thanks!
Jeff, your videos are TOP NOTCH! Thank you for all you do!
Please forgive the following act of PEDANTRY. (But, in the electric game, it's a wee bit important, and might save some folks from suffering painful, self-deluded, false belief they are understanding things. Here goes!:
------------------
Important distinction regarding the use of the term "BRANCHED":
ALL circuits, leaving a main panel, protected by individual OCPD, (Over-Current Prevention Devices), i.e., a fuse or circuit breaker fed off/from the MAIN panel are ALL called, BRANCH CIRCUITS! Regardless of how many load devices are daisy chained downstream on a circuit.
BUT! IF an individual circuit breaker's output wiring LOAD gets CHANGED/REWIRED to then instead ONLY FEED a SUB-PANEL or SUB-FUSE-PANEL, then the name TYPE of that branch circuit CHANGES from a 'BRANCH' circuit into a 'FEEDER' circuit.
SO, again, ALL MAIN PANEL circuit breaker load circuits are called BRANCH circuits, unless they ONLY FEED a SUB-PANEL or SUB-FUSE PANEL and thus would be called a 'FEEDER' circuit.
Love it, just gold. Thanks for the education.
Great point about branch and feeder circuits.
For your own protection, put the fuse blocks either near the main panel, or near what they protect. I’ve spent hours tracing wires only to discover yet another fuse block tucked away someplace you’d never expect.
And Labels on the Fuse block are critical!
Excellent points, fuses and fuse blocks should be easy to find.
I had the same question (from Belgium)
Thanks for your interesting channel.
Glad to help.
Thanks for the branching information. I look forward to each episode. How do I size the main power wire in a branching circuit? Adding the fuse block sizes together and using the wire run length would provide a larger then required cable size.
Good question, make sure the wire feeding the fuse block can handle all the amperage from the fuse block, also consider the voltage drop (cable distance) and size the wire to minimize voltage drop.
Great advice! Unfortunately I've found that on our 30 year young boat, some circuits like the cabin lights are daisy chained with only one or two leads back to the panel... Ughhh. I did use a fuse block for the redesign of my instrument electrical, where all the wires ran to the panel.
Good one, thanks for sharing.
Can you further explain use of a fuse block vs a terminal block?
A terminal block is a way to interconnect wires together instead of using butt connectors. Unlike a fuse block, a terminal block doesn't have any built-in fuses.
Really helpful, great response! ty again...
Glad it was helpful!
So for lighting you could have a few of those fuse blocks correct. What other systems would you use those for.
Hi Don, yep those fuse blocks work for any DC circuit, could be lights, navigation equipment, solar connections, really any circuit that needs to be fused.
@@PacificYachtSystems could they be used for Ac
Can you do a video about using plc to do digital switching? For example... instead of wiring directly from the switch to the load(wich is the most common way on smaller boats) id love to know the basics of doing it like on cars (with relays) but in this case with a digital controller to operate and monitor on a digital display, say like maretron products where you can view everything including engine data and other stuff... im sorry, english is not my native language.
Thanks for the informative video. I’m going to be doing the same on the AC panel as well. I was thinking of putting a six circuit sub panel in for the 120 outlets with 15 amp fuses. Do I need a larger circuit breaker when I do this?
Hi Doug, AC circuits should have circuit breakers instead of fuses. FWIW, never seen an AC circuit on a boat that was protected with a fuse, but rather always with circuit breakers.
💯
Thanks Javier.
If you actually focused on the subject without your personal/autobiographical references your videos would only be half as long... really
Thanks for the feedback David, appreciate it.