How To Prevent Boat Fires With a Battery Switch
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- No one wants a boat fire. John sent us an email asking about a boat that he just bought, "Jeff, I am planning to rewire so that I can have a separate house bank and was thinking of having the battery that starts the engine on its own. It looks from your videos that this would be ok but I need a switch?"
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Hi Jeff, I am learning so much from you. Finding this channel was the best thing that happened to me this month.
Wow, thank you!
If the engines are running still and you switch off the batteries - that will fry the alternator right. So if you can have the engine switched off first before you turn off the battery switch it may save the alternator.
Race cars have battery isolation switches. Also helpful for theft prevention. And of course ty for this vid series.
Thanks for sharing David.
Just a clarification here... If the engine is running with the alternator producing power, turning off the battery switch might also kill the alternator. Is that correct? But of course, it's a matter of the lesser of two Evils. Lose the alternator or lose the boat or even your life. Am I correct? Thanks for making your expertise available through these videos. I use them often going back even 6 years.
If the alternator is wired on the load side of the battery swtich (many boats are) then yes it may damage the alt. If I thought the boat was on fire I would likely be shutting the engine off as the first thing I do though, not the battery switch.
@@PacificYachtSystems Well yes, I'd probably shut the engine off first... That makes sense. 😁 Thanks! And though we are speaking boat here, I must confess that I follow you and your videos in order to wire and equip my 31 year old VW Vanagon Syncro Camper. I treat it as if it's a Boat on wheels.
Been watching and learning from your many videos for about 2 years. Marine electrical was the main reason for watching. Because of your videos, I've made my boat a whole lot safer and efficient electrically by using cut off switches, MRBFs, circuit breakers, Safety Hubs, fuse boxes and bus bars etc. Thank you Jeff.
Thanks Brian for the feedback, glad to provide some guidance along your journey of improvements.
Ohh, one more: i have 4 batteries (one for each engine, one for generator and one for house). My main battery charger 20amp is connected to an outlet 110v wired to the outlet circuit in the ac panel. That charger charges engines and generators batteries. And recently I bought a 10amp one bank charger for the house battery also connectes to the 110 outlet circuit. This is the most recent intervention to the 110v system. I use the boat every 15-21 days, However from 2months i am noticing that ocasionally the Gfci outlet in the head is tripping the button, and last weekend the situation became really hard. I had to lay another separate household extension to power the main charger. I do think one of my engine the oldest one batteries is forcing the charger to work harder, so my guessing is that charger is demanding more 110v current and that is making the gfci outlet tripping, cutting the power of all outlets. I am thinking of changing the gfci outlet (may be it degraded by age) and getting both batteries but that will be costly. What do you think of these whole picture? I thougt those gfci outlet were intented to avoid personal injury in case a fail of isolation, but not as a braker for overcharge of a circuit.Thanks!
Hi Luis, one suggestion would be to have dedicated AC circuits powered from your AC panel and not part of your AC outlets on the boat. It's quite possible that your GFCI needs to be replaced. It's possible the neutral path isn't all that great, and some of the current (5 milli amps or less) is going down the AC grounding connection.
This happened to us during our first ever boat survey after the haul out inspection. We were back in the water and starting the engine to continue the sea trial, so we tried starting the engine and it didn't stop trying to start when we released the button. Like Jeff said, there was nothing we could do from the cockpit at the engine panel to disengage the starter. The engine room started to fill with smoke. Fortunately, we had a diesel mechanic on board for surveying the engine. He dove across the cabin and turned off the switch as I grabbed the fire extinguisher. My wife and I wouldn't have had a clue that the switch would have stopped it. Thanks, Jeff!
Thanks for sharing Richard F, boating is not for the weak of heart.
Hi Jeff thanks again for sharing your knowledge to community. One Question: Routing a cable as long as needed to place that switch in an accesible location necessarily will imply accepting a drop of voltage, from the battery to the switch and from the switch to the starter, I guess, so How long in total is acceptable?
Hi Luis, you're correct, the length of the cable will create a voltage drop, depending on the specifications 3% or 10% voltage drop, choose the cable size to match your voltage drop requirement.
Jeff, One of the BEST so far! Im sitting here thinking about the two switches behind the ladder to the forward stateroom that have never been turned off and wondering how I consider myself a safe boater because I turn on the water to the engines when away! Thanks from Port Ludlow WA
Thanks NorthWestMike, feedback like is what motivates me to keep spreading what we learn everyday working on boats.
Great explanation
Glad it was helpful!
Great video. We've not put in a switch in because we understood that the alternator may never be disconnected from the battery. I understand this only applies for when the engine runs, to make sure the alternator always has the battery as load. (This was on a boat with a small Yanmar engine without separate wiring circuits for starter and alternator (but all in the engine's harness).)Do you have any comments on that assumption?
Every engine starter circuit absolutely needs a on/off switch. You never know when you'll need to disconnect the battery from the engine.
@@PacificYachtSystems Okay, thanks. I'll speak with my friend and we'll add this for sure.
Great tips Jeff. Thanks again from Western Kentucky.
Thanks Ernie, appreciate it.
I bought a boat that had a battery switch at the helm, that created a 60 foot round trip in the circuit. That suggests a very large cable is required. The cable they used was 3 sizes too small. I’m planning to shorten this circuit to about 10 feet by using a solenoid with remote control switch at the helm. Similarly I want to do this for my aux/thruster battery. Is that a workable alternative to a manual switch?
Until your perko switch fails and you have to disassemble and isolate everything by hand!
Thanks for sharing.
@@PacificYachtSystems felt like it may be something people need to learn how to do. I sure wouldn't have known. It basically grounded out to the boat because a mechanic broke off a screw and left it that way.
Is it useful for a small rib or big rubberboot to have a battery switch on the battery box?
I have never seen one. Usually the battery box is strapped down somewhere in the boat. Accessible to disconnect in case of maintenance, but not very accessible in case of fire.
All batteries should have a on/off battery switch. Totally worth it.
How does this work when you want the alternator B+ to be connected unswitched with the starter battery? I currently have the alternator B+ connected to my ArgoFet input, then from the ArgoFet output to the solenoid, then through the switch connected to starter battery +. Watching your previous talks it seems like I should connect to the alternator B+ through the ArgoFet and then directly to the starter battery. Should I then separately wire the solenoid through a switch to the starter battery?
Hi Truls, recommend that you consider removing the on/off battery switch on the alternator circuit.
I bought a boat that had a battery switch at the helm, that created a 60 foot round trip in the circuit. That suggests a very large cable is required. The cable they used was 3 sizes too small. I’m planning to shorten this circuit to about 10 feet by using a solenoid with remote control switch at the helm. Similarly I want to do this for my aux/thruster battery. Is that a workable alternative to a manual switch?
Hmmm, Blue Sea Systems does make remote battery switches that be activated remotely,
I am planning on putting in the remote battery switches and this brought up a question - Those switches have a manual fail safe - it seems that I might want to plan for worse case having to get at that manual switch fast? Or can I rely on the remote function? What is your gut feel?
Remote battery switches are quite reliable. So far, never replaced one in the field. A manual fail safe is a good idea.
You don't coast over to the shoulder, turn the hazards on and get out of the vehicle when you're on the water. That's really all the reason anyone should need, to know why you need better safety on a boat.
Well said Alf, exactly my thoughts too.
Jeff,
Another great video. I was not aware of the stuck starter solenoid issue. Have you done a show on engine compartment fire control systems?
Not yet.
Hi jeff. Could you please explain if a galvanic isolators earth has to be connected to the boats negative? I am struggling to find an answer. If so why is this, and where should it connect to, would a negative bus bar be ok for this? Thanks so much from the UK.
A Galvanic Isolator is only connected inline on the AC grounding connection. A Galvanic Isolator does NOT have a connection to DC ground or boat ground directly.
@@PacificYachtSystems so how does the galvanic isolator pick up a DC leak as it will illuminate one light for DC, and two for AC leaks?
I like a lot of these videos but, this was one minute (or less), of good information spread out over four minutes and 18 seconds.
Thanks Bill for the feedback, will keep your comment in mind for next time.
Jeff, I just had a survey done on my houseboat and several outlets were showing "False Ground". Can you elaborate on what this is and some possible causes?
Not sure what False Ground means? Perhaps they mean there is no path to AC ground or perhaps there is no path from AC ground to AC neutral?
💯
Thanks Javier!