Sorry if i posting this twice but my last post errored and disappeared. I'm a Marine Electrician and once i sit the test early next year ill be a Marine Electrical Surveyor. Please 'DO NOT' use stainless steel as a busbar, it is over 5 times more resistive than copper, its practically a heating element. Use copper flat stock/bar or brass but copper is best in your environment. The terminals on your circuit breakers will heat up and degrade the plastic case in to carbon with in 2 years and WILL start a fire due to thermal runaway if not found in time. Its not a matter of IF its only a matter of time. Ive seen it many times already. Looping copper wire with crimped terminals is a far safer option if you cant get the copper/brass stock you need right away. Also try to put in 3 short bars connected with flexible insulated copper wire for maintenance down the track. If everything is ridged then everything will vibrate loose. Its got to be able to flex and move with the vibrations and thermal expansion. Regards,
Beautiful painting of Geordi! Please do consider having this placed in a frame with UV glass over it so the sun coming through the window won’t fade it over time. What a treasure!
For your buss Peter, I would have used 1" copper tube, flatten it, fold in half,drill my holes then tin it using uttik solder. Less loss, easier to work with and far cheaper, but a very good job you have done.
Great Video Awesome Panel !!!! You might consider that the Resistance of SS is 41 Times that of the same size as copper. So theoretically you would need a cross section of 41 times in SS as copper for the same resistance to what ever you are expecting for AMP draw. This could produce a lot of heat and a lot of voltage drop to what you are running. Please check the voltage drop at load end. And check the temperature of the SS after you run something and turn the power off to the panel unless you have a heat sensor gun to aim at it. I really enjoy watching your channel. Be Safe. Cheers.
Well, well well Peter, It putting your electrical door together made be happy of your achievements, the absolute stunning painting of Geordie made me tear up. May I and my family, wish you and your family and the others you cherish in your life, a very, very merry Christmas, and a bloody better new year, than the one past. Good on ya cobber!
Ironic that you neglected to mention Geordie in your intro but the end of the episode was all about him. Like you, I miss my pup Cole and when others send me a photo or mentions him in a comment, I am honored. Just like you were receiving the fabulous painting.
The painting is astounding Peter. Full credit to the Artist. You are definitely Peter Perfect. Great job on the panel. I would get Brass etched labels, they would look really smart. Can’t wait for your next video. 👍🇬🇧🍺
Peter, you can make those Fein tool cuts less stressful by putting a wooden guide along the line you want to cut. That makes a straight cut much easier AND a second piece of wood can be used as a stop to avoid making your cut too long (or just make your guide "L" shaped.
FYI. St. St. has 41 times the resistivity of copper, so allowing for 20% loss from the holes drilled in the busbar the stainless bus bar (1/8 x 1/2) is the equivalent of a #18 AWG wire!! Not even enough for the fridge to keep your beer cold.
Thanks for the technical # on how precisely bad it was. I just know don't ever, industry wide problem level issue. The heating on some oxidized copper busses from poor connection then overheating the breaker pole. I pull them out you can tell the screw tab is tarnished, brittle and plastic toasted.
Yup, never use SS buss bars for electrical work. You dont want the voltage drop, under load running bilge pumps etc...as they can consume some significant amps. My own OEM panel used individual copper wires from a standard copper tined positive bussbar up to these carling breaker switches. Wires are bundled up 10 and mostly12 gauge with nylon ties. They also have ABYC rules about unfused wire lengths, which I think mine meets the 40 inch rule in a cabinet, but you know this was made in 1970. SS to copper with the high resistance of SS I think will also heat up the lug, and you do not want that heating cause it can cause the connection to get worse over time, maybe could cause the wire to melt or burn if it gets hot enough. You create a potentially unreliable electrical connection.
@@scottdowney4318 what is the oem build? These seem rare at least in the sailing side. In my overbuild opinion I want the unfused jumper wire as large as minimum to next size larger than the conductor full length run. Safety factor, I just don't want jumper wires becoming the fuse. I am waiting for the list of fails from the newer daisy chain jumper wire stuff (China-Ebay types) super sketchy stuff being sold, aluminum wire labeled as marine etc.
@@braithmiller I have a 1970, 37 foot Eggharbor wood sedan cruiser boat. Basically I have a 150amp fused 2 gauge house wire coming from the fuse junction block that is connected to a rotary selector switch to the battery. It uses an ignition protected MEGA fuse. That 2 gauge wire runs to distribution block inside the helm and all the wires from that run to either the carling manual breaker switches, or the push button breakers on the side of the helm. When I got the boat, there were no main fuses, so I added them. I know my boat house wiring will never even draw a 100 amp load as fridge is AC, and Head with Lectrasan is on a separate 100 amp wire. Any short in that wire would quickly blow the fuse. The starter battery is fused with a 300 amp ANL Blue sea fuse. Works fine, does not blow when even extended cranking of engine. Those large wires are a mix of 4/0 and 2/0 to the starters. I run a 2 gauge wire off that junction back to the Onan generator about 12 feet away. I saw a youtube video by MaineSail where he took a lithium battery bank and a 300 amp terminal fuse and used an 8 gauge wire to create a dead short, the fuse blew instantly opening the circuit.
I don't mind admitting I got a little teary eyed when you unwrapped the picture of Geordie. Can't imagine how you must miss him! You electrical panel looks amazing, much better than Blue Seas and I like the labels on the left because we read left to right!! Great Job! Merry Christmas!
I concur on other comments about the stainless bus bar. In the future drilling stainless, use a pilot drill bit to start the hole and finish with the appropriate diameter milling bit. Takes seconds a hole. Panel looks good but change to copper or brass bus please. Cheers!
Peter, what a great 25 minutes to spend. First the tension wore me out with the drilling of the stainless. You should build a shrine to that drill bit! Then you ended it with the unwrapping of 'Geordie on Geordie'. Wonderful. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Why not copper or brass buss bar? softer metal to drill and better conductivity. Other than that, the panel looks great! And the pan/dome head screws work well with the little led domes .
Please, Please do not use stainless for your buss bar, steel has a much much greater resistance than copper or brass. the higher resistance will effectively turn into a heater and will create high heat points on the breaker terminals.
Was just getting ready to post this.. you can use stainless, it just needs to be about 5-6 times the cross sectional area of copper that is specified for the current load.
Peter, just watched the ‘part 2’ of the electrical panel. I think it turned out very well. I’m sure it was a little nerve wracking to get all those holes drilled out. Looking great!
Your panel looks terrific Peter! I’ve tried to do similar projects with electrical panels in the past. Mine have never gone as well as yours has. But that could be down to like a patience on my part…
Hey Pete! I just found your channel and am enjoying it. I had a big cry when I got to the point of your channel just being "Travels With." Any room in your heart yet for a Geordie Jr. or a Geordie 2.0? Keep crackin' on! Thank you very much for sharing your travels with us!
Fun Fact, The boat behind you ''VV Empress'' with totem paint on it in the start of the video, is a cruise catamaran, is old name was ''Le Famille Dufour II'', he was in operation in Quebec city in the late 90's, i have make a little cruise at 60 knot into it from Quebec city to Tadousac to see whale on The St-Lawrence river a little 11 hour cruise, in the 2000's he have stay, in Montreal as a restaurant and party cruise boat.
Cool, I remember when it first arrived, before it was repainted. And yes, could see it was from Quebec. Poor V2V, went bust almost instantly and the boat just sit's taking on water.
Peter Merry Christmas to you and all your loved one's and a happy New Year hopping your receive a great windfall in 22 so as to finance finishing your boat the painting is fantastic Cheers
I'm building my solar charge controller/inverter/battery cabinet right now. It's got a UL rated AC distribution box, but I'll add DC in the future. Your project is timely. I'm getting ideas. Thx.
You could make the text blocks for the panel out of cut vinyl decals. I'm sure there must be a place in Victoria that can produce these from PDF file. If you decide to go this route be sure to wet the surface before applying so you can move the decal around to line it up.
Both the panel and painting beautiful works. Technical concern on the ss bar. The resistivity of stainless to copper is so poor many marine bolt down fuses and connections are turned into a high resistance (heat) point to failure. Many discussions about this problem (installers dropping ss washers into assembly) killing alternators and such. 2nd class ok is solid copper bar, 1st is the same tinned. Same for terminals and screws. I think the consumer assumption seeing shinny silver in high end marine electrical is that they are looking at ss when it is actually tinned copper. Possible to tin your own copper bars, I have thought certainly not necessary for you in your very unsalty interior panel. Can I recommend not using the standard breaker commen bar, rather mount the bar to your back panel, wire oversized to the breaker. This allows replacement of a breaker without dismounting the bar.
I made some solid copper buss bars and used SS studs and nuts to hold on up to 3/0 starter wires for big engines. That works ok as most of the current is passed by the copper tinned lug to the solid copper plate. I made up 2 large distribution blocks. I had some 1/8 copper sheet. One I overbuilt with 3, 1/8" thick layers soldered together. The other just uses 2 copper sheets. The blocks are 2.5" wide and 7 inches long and have 6 wire attachment bolts threaded into the copper plates. I use one for the starter distribution and Onan generator power, and the other is a negative ground block. I tell you, once you solder large copper together, not even an acetylene torch tip can get them apart, the copper soaks up the heat tremendously. I think you would have to heat the entire block in a charcoal fire.
@@scottdowney4318 Your oxy-acetaline set just isn't big enough ... yes though, heat distribution abilities of copper are impressive. What old timers would accomplish with kerosene-air hot pots and torches! Modern we tend to musle our way through things. When you need to get Acme thread drill pipe apart we use large rosebuds just like large soldering and brazing.
Possibly you could 'blue' the screws by heating them and dropping them in oil? I don't know it that works on stainless steel but it might be worth trying.
I don't think you can do a real chemical ( phosphoric) bluing to ss. Heating till you can carbonize oils and polymerize is likely harmful to the ss. I have just shoved them into cardboard to paint when it offends me enough.
if it is the industrial look you want, then I might suggest traffolyte labels (actually nowadays its a 3 layer composite acrylic style material), so a colour with white centre, you engrave the lettering and it shows through white, I know one of the current composites has one side gloss and the other matt.
@@TravelsWithGeordie I am currently experimenting with a 3 layer composite for making the electrical panels on a boat I have a share in, still trying to find the best engraving bit and fonts etc, then I will be able to produce them. I am in the UK, so it might be easier for you to work with someone more locally to you, you could draw up the designs you wanted in CAD quite easily and send them out to someone. however if you do get stuck, i could possibly assist.
Stainless Steel has a much higher resistance than copper or aluminum. It may cause problems overheating and can actually react with the fasteners and mounts of the breakers that are a different material. Tin plated copper is best for a marine environment.
I’m curious as to why you’re using stainless steel instead of copper for your buss bar. I would love to hear the reason for your choice in a future video.
Beautiful work but Stainless Steel is a terrible choice for your busbar. Measured against copper, which is accepted as the baseline and given a conductivity value of 100%, stainless has a conductivity of less than 3%. In other words, your cross sectional area needs to be 33 times larger to handle the same current. Not only will this not work, it is a huge fire risk and you MUST abandon the stainless for copper. 😢
With a bus bar, if you ever need to replace or change a breaker, you have to undo all the screws in all the breakers. I like using wire and ring terminals. More work now and not as cool looking. But, a lot less work the next 6 times you are upgrading or modifying.
@@TravelsWithGeordie In the plan I'm suggesting. The loops that make up the "bus" do not leave the area of the breakers. Each breaker is wired to the next by a short loop of wire ( you do not have to even cut the wire, just in and out of the ring terminal. So the wire bundle does not get larger. At a minimum, breaking the buss bar into several short segments connected with a loop of wire. limits what you have to take apart for service. Aircraft have the same rows of breakers and the same service issue. Servicing the ones with solid buss bars is a real PITA.
I don't comment on the why & wherefores of your choices on how to do things, but the whole SS bus bar thing had me shaking my head I have to admit. First I'm pretty sure you can get ready made bus bars suitable for your purpose and since they would not be visible anyway why not? Second as some folks have pointed out, SS is not really a great choice electrically anyway, and finally it is just so hard to deal with without the exact right tools/bits etc.. Brass or copper is like butter/melted butter respectively in comparison.
Got a small tablet from metro $25 ...my what BIG TEETH U HAV....but...no comments..bought a new straw cowboy hat thick straw..couple of rain covers for my cowboy hats..Christmas ..hav a good one..HJ POST..
Also, love your work and am always perpetually impressed with your multiple talents and constant energy and enthusiasm! Happy Christmas to you and your family Peter and to ms zephyress if in company.
Stainless for a buss? No way. High resistance, heat, potential fire hazard. Not to mention, hard to work with. Nickel Chrome wire is what they use for heating elements because of its high resistance. They used to use plain steel wire, but corrosion is a problem. You have made a heating element out of your electrical panel.
Be sure to check out Erin’s work from the links in the description below.
Got to pin it.
Whoops, thought I did....I'll try again.
Is your boat on dock k
@@TravelsWithGeordie in oak bay
Wow what a great job Erin did ! Nice job on the breaker panel !
Mama always said patience is a virtue. Crafting as we do takes all we can find.
Your electrical panel will look sharp when you get installed. That oil painting of Geordie is absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for the update.
Sorry if i posting this twice but my last post errored and disappeared.
I'm a Marine Electrician and once i sit the test early next year ill be a Marine Electrical Surveyor. Please 'DO NOT' use stainless steel as a busbar, it is over 5 times more resistive than copper, its practically a heating element. Use copper flat stock/bar or brass but copper is best in your environment. The terminals on your circuit breakers will heat up and degrade the plastic case in to carbon with in 2 years and WILL start a fire due to thermal runaway if not found in time. Its not a matter of IF its only a matter of time. Ive seen it many times already.
Looping copper wire with crimped terminals is a far safer option if you cant get the copper/brass stock you need right away.
Also try to put in 3 short bars connected with flexible insulated copper wire for maintenance down the track. If everything is ridged then everything will vibrate loose. Its got to be able to flex and move with the vibrations and thermal expansion.
Regards,
Yup, I knew it was not as good but wow, I got caught out as to how much. Copper on the way
Beautiful painting of Geordi! Please do consider having this placed in a frame with UV glass over it so the sun coming through the window won’t fade it over time. What a treasure!
For your buss Peter, I would have used 1" copper tube, flatten it, fold in half,drill my holes then tin it using uttik solder. Less loss, easier to work with and far cheaper, but a very good job you have done.
Copper on the way
What a lovely gift! Geordie looks so happy in the painting. ❤Erin.
Great Video Awesome Panel !!!! You might consider that the Resistance of SS is 41 Times that of the same size as copper. So theoretically you would need a cross section of 41 times in SS as copper for the same resistance to what ever you are expecting for AMP draw. This could produce a lot of heat and a lot of voltage drop to what you are running. Please check the voltage drop at load end. And check the temperature of the SS after you run something and turn the power off to the panel unless you have a heat sensor gun to aim at it.
I really enjoy watching your channel. Be Safe. Cheers.
Copper on the way
Peter what a fantastic job you did on the panel very clever, excellent work 👍
Geordie Rocked!
Well, well well Peter,
It putting your electrical door together made be happy of your achievements, the absolute stunning painting of Geordie made me tear up. May I and my family, wish you and your family and the others you cherish in your life, a very, very merry Christmas, and a bloody better new year, than the one past. Good on ya cobber!
Thanks so much Warren. All the best of the season to you and yours.
Wow i wish I could be as good as you are fixing things...Keep them coming
What beautiful picture! And yet another great episode
I’m loving the painting!
Obsessive perfection - my OCD breathes a deep sigh of relief & satisfaction when you've completed one of your projects! Love it, love it, love it!!!
Great painting!
Good job Peter, can't wait to see it finished.
Awww.... Great painting!
Nice job Peter.
Ironic that you neglected to mention Geordie in your intro but the end of the episode was all about him. Like you, I miss my pup Cole and when others send me a photo or mentions him in a comment, I am honored. Just like you were receiving the fabulous painting.
The painting is astounding Peter. Full credit to the Artist. You are definitely Peter Perfect. Great job on the panel. I would get Brass etched labels, they would look really smart. Can’t wait for your next video. 👍🇬🇧🍺
What a great way to end a great episode!
Nice work Peter - but stainless for a busbar is not the best idea.😳 Smashing painting.😀👍⛵️
Have a great Christmas. 🎄
Copper on the way
@@TravelsWithGeordie 😀👍
Peter, you can make those Fein tool cuts less stressful by putting a wooden guide along the line you want to cut. That makes a straight cut much easier AND a second piece of wood can be used as a stop to avoid making your cut too long (or just make your guide "L" shaped.
Great tip, thanks Todd
Beautiful painting.
what a great present and way to remember Geordie , HAPPY CHRISTMAS
Love it love it love it I feel your panel is better than you could have purchased at least in longevity and serviceably = price very nice 👍
Excellent last shot. God has Blessed with our 4 legged Furry Friends .
FYI. St. St. has 41 times the resistivity of copper, so allowing for 20% loss from the holes drilled in the busbar the stainless bus bar (1/8 x 1/2) is the equivalent of a #18 AWG wire!! Not even enough for the fridge to keep your beer cold.
Thanks for the technical # on how precisely bad it was. I just know don't ever, industry wide problem level issue. The heating on some oxidized copper busses from poor connection then overheating the breaker pole. I pull them out you can tell the screw tab is tarnished, brittle and plastic toasted.
Yup, never use SS buss bars for electrical work. You dont want the voltage drop, under load running bilge pumps etc...as they can consume some significant amps. My own OEM panel used individual copper wires from a standard copper tined positive bussbar up to these carling breaker switches. Wires are bundled up 10 and mostly12 gauge with nylon ties. They also have ABYC rules about unfused wire lengths, which I think mine meets the 40 inch rule in a cabinet, but you know this was made in 1970. SS to copper with the high resistance of SS I think will also heat up the lug, and you do not want that heating cause it can cause the connection to get worse over time, maybe could cause the wire to melt or burn if it gets hot enough. You create a potentially unreliable electrical connection.
@@scottdowney4318 what is the oem build? These seem rare at least in the sailing side.
In my overbuild opinion I want the unfused jumper wire as large as minimum to next size larger than the conductor full length run. Safety factor, I just don't want jumper wires becoming the fuse.
I am waiting for the list of fails from the newer daisy chain jumper wire stuff (China-Ebay types) super sketchy stuff being sold, aluminum wire labeled as marine etc.
@@braithmiller I have a 1970, 37 foot Eggharbor wood sedan cruiser boat. Basically I have a 150amp fused 2 gauge house wire coming from the fuse junction block that is connected to a rotary selector switch to the battery. It uses an ignition protected MEGA fuse. That 2 gauge wire runs to distribution block inside the helm and all the wires from that run to either the carling manual breaker switches, or the push button breakers on the side of the helm. When I got the boat, there were no main fuses, so I added them. I know my boat house wiring will never even draw a 100 amp load as fridge is AC, and Head with Lectrasan is on a separate 100 amp wire. Any short in that wire would quickly blow the fuse. The starter battery is fused with a 300 amp ANL Blue sea fuse. Works fine, does not blow when even extended cranking of engine. Those large wires are a mix of 4/0 and 2/0 to the starters. I run a 2 gauge wire off that junction back to the Onan generator about 12 feet away.
I saw a youtube video by MaineSail where he took a lithium battery bank and a 300 amp terminal fuse and used an 8 gauge wire to create a dead short, the fuse blew instantly opening the circuit.
Copper on the way
Merry Christmas. May all your wishes come true.
I don't mind admitting I got a little teary eyed when you unwrapped the picture of Geordie. Can't imagine how you must miss him! You electrical panel looks amazing, much better than Blue Seas and I like the labels on the left because we read left to right!! Great Job! Merry Christmas!
Love the picture of Geordie on the helm
I concur on other comments about the stainless bus bar.
In the future drilling stainless, use a pilot drill bit to start the hole and finish with the appropriate diameter milling bit. Takes seconds a hole.
Panel looks good but change to copper or brass bus please.
Cheers!
Copper on the way
Excellent!
Merry Christmas Peter!
Peter, what a great 25 minutes to spend. First the tension wore me out with the drilling of the stainless. You should build a shrine to that drill bit! Then you ended it with the unwrapping of 'Geordie on Geordie'. Wonderful. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
And to you too Mike.
Looks great!!
Merry Cristmas from Iceland
Get a good marking knife and hand chisels. It would be so much cleaner finish and nicer to work with. Great channel!
Why not copper or brass buss bar? softer metal to drill and better conductivity.
Other than that, the panel looks great! And the pan/dome head screws work well with the little led domes .
Copper on the way
You are a Master of so many crafts. Well done. God Bless.
Weather looks warm where you are, wish I could say the same.
Please, Please do not use stainless for your buss bar, steel has a much much greater resistance than copper or brass. the higher resistance will effectively turn into a heater and will create high heat points on the breaker terminals.
Copper on the way
Was just getting ready to post this.. you can use stainless, it just needs to be about 5-6 times the cross sectional area of copper that is specified for the current load.
Shops that make trophies for bowling, kids baseball, etc make great pro looking tags for a reasonable price.
Peter, just watched the ‘part 2’ of the electrical panel. I think it turned out very well. I’m sure it was a little nerve wracking to get all those holes drilled out. Looking great!
Enjoyed the video. Nice job.
For your stainless steel screws, just use your black permanent marker to "color" the heads. Some one going by at 30 mph would never notice ;)
What a beautiful addition to the boat (painting), maybe u could find a trophy shop and have brass plates made up for the switches.
Copper bus bar for several reasons.
Copper on the way
@@TravelsWithGeordie I was trying to avoid " I think you will find..." tone but still being helpful.
All good!
Amazing painting Love it
Looks amazing!
(The board AND the Geordie portrait.)
Your panel looks terrific Peter! I’ve tried to do similar projects with electrical panels in the past. Mine have never gone as well as yours has. But that could be down to like a patience on my part…
I agree with John, brass etched panel for the labels. Also great job Peter
Very nice of her.
Loved this upload but what put the cream on top was that beautiful picture of Geordie!
Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year
And to you too Paul
Beautiful work!
Peter: "and across the top im gonna put a SERIES of..."
Siri: "You rang?"
hate it when that happens...
Ha!
Hey Pete! I just found your channel and am enjoying it. I had a big cry when I got to the point of your channel just being "Travels With." Any room in your heart yet for a Geordie Jr. or a Geordie 2.0? Keep crackin' on! Thank you very much for sharing your travels with us!
Thanks so much for the kind words.
Cheers Peter 👍👍👍
Sweet
Once it was said that it's a painting, I envisioned a large, ghostly image of Geordie looking over the "Geordie", but that's a great, composition. ;-)
Old rotodex label are nice for old look
Fun Fact, The boat behind you ''VV Empress'' with totem paint on it in the start of the video, is a cruise catamaran, is old name was ''Le Famille Dufour II'', he was in operation in Quebec city in the late 90's, i have make a little cruise at 60 knot into it from Quebec city to Tadousac to see whale on The St-Lawrence river a little 11 hour cruise, in the 2000's he have stay, in Montreal as a restaurant and party cruise boat.
Cool, I remember when it first arrived, before it was repainted.
And yes, could see it was from Quebec. Poor V2V, went bust almost instantly and the boat just sit's taking on water.
@@TravelsWithGeordie that is sad
Peter Merry Christmas to you and all your loved one's and a happy New Year hopping your receive a great windfall in 22 so as to finance finishing your boat the painting is fantastic Cheers
You want an inverter that will run the largest thing, however only one at a time 1000 watts is good Panel Buss bars are usually copper (?)
My table saw alone needs more, looking at 2400. Copper on the way
New Here, really liking your videos, I also am somewhat of a neighbor of yours, I live on Whidbey Island.
Welcome!
Use glow in the dark paint
My father used to have an engraving business. You can send the details to an engraver and have all your breakers labeled thus.
In fact, one of the prettiest media he used was brass plates with acid-etched engraving. It would look gorgeous in your application.
I'm building my solar charge controller/inverter/battery cabinet right now. It's got a UL rated AC distribution box, but I'll add DC in the future. Your project is timely. I'm getting ideas. Thx.
You could make the text blocks for the panel out of cut vinyl decals. I'm sure there must be a place in Victoria that can produce these from PDF file. If you decide to go this route be sure to wet the surface before applying so you can move the decal around to line it up.
Both the panel and painting beautiful works.
Technical concern on the ss bar. The resistivity of stainless to copper is so poor many marine bolt down fuses and connections are turned into a high resistance (heat) point to failure. Many discussions about this problem (installers dropping ss washers into assembly) killing alternators and such. 2nd class ok is solid copper bar, 1st is the same tinned. Same for terminals and screws. I think the consumer assumption seeing shinny silver in high end marine electrical is that they are looking at ss when it is actually tinned copper. Possible to tin your own copper bars, I have thought certainly not necessary for you in your very unsalty interior panel. Can I recommend not using the standard breaker commen bar, rather mount the bar to your back panel, wire oversized to the breaker. This allows replacement of a breaker without dismounting the bar.
I made some solid copper buss bars and used SS studs and nuts to hold on up to 3/0 starter wires for big engines. That works ok as most of the current is passed by the copper tinned lug to the solid copper plate. I made up 2 large distribution blocks. I had some 1/8 copper sheet. One I overbuilt with 3, 1/8" thick layers soldered together. The other just uses 2 copper sheets. The blocks are 2.5" wide and 7 inches long and have 6 wire attachment bolts threaded into the copper plates. I use one for the starter distribution and Onan generator power, and the other is a negative ground block. I tell you, once you solder large copper together, not even an acetylene torch tip can get them apart, the copper soaks up the heat tremendously. I think you would have to heat the entire block in a charcoal fire.
@@scottdowney4318 Your oxy-acetaline set just isn't big enough ... yes though, heat distribution abilities of copper are impressive. What old timers would accomplish with kerosene-air hot pots and torches! Modern we tend to musle our way through things.
When you need to get Acme thread drill pipe apart we use large rosebuds just like large soldering and brazing.
Copper on the way
Oh boy it’s awesome from a Artistic hottie Artist
Possibly you could 'blue' the screws by heating them and dropping them in oil? I don't know it that works on stainless steel but it might be worth trying.
I don't think you can do a real chemical ( phosphoric) bluing to ss. Heating till you can carbonize oils and polymerize is likely harmful to the ss. I have just shoved them into cardboard to paint when it offends me enough.
@@braithmiller fair enough it was just an idea. Painting works :)
if it is the industrial look you want, then I might suggest traffolyte labels (actually nowadays its a 3 layer composite acrylic style material), so a colour with white centre, you engrave the lettering and it shows through white, I know one of the current composites has one side gloss and the other matt.
Just about what I'm thinking
@@TravelsWithGeordie I am currently experimenting with a 3 layer composite for making the electrical panels on a boat I have a share in, still trying to find the best engraving bit and fonts etc, then I will be able to produce them. I am in the UK, so it might be easier for you to work with someone more locally to you, you could draw up the designs you wanted in CAD quite easily and send them out to someone. however if you do get stuck, i could possibly assist.
Thanks so much. it looks like I’m no all set.
Great video. Black marker pen on the screws?
Stainless Steel has a much higher resistance than copper or aluminum. It may cause problems overheating and can actually react with the fasteners and mounts of the breakers that are a different material. Tin plated copper is best for a marine environment.
copper is on its way.
@@TravelsWithGeordie Great to hear Peter. 👍
I’m curious as to why you’re using stainless steel instead of copper for your buss bar. I would love to hear the reason for your choice in a future video.
All will be explained this week. switching to copper.
Woof!
Looking good nice and sanitary layout. Is it recommended to also use mechanical gauges as redundancy such as oil ,battery charging and temperature?
I may put a manual engine oil pressure gauge in.
Beautiful work but Stainless Steel is a terrible choice for your busbar. Measured against copper, which is accepted as the baseline and given a conductivity value of 100%, stainless has a conductivity of less than 3%. In other words, your cross sectional area needs to be 33 times larger to handle the same current. Not only will this not work, it is a huge fire risk and you MUST abandon the stainless for copper. 😢
Copper on the way
@@TravelsWithGeordie Excellent, happy holidays to you.
Peter - no stainless busbar - use copper check out stainless resistivity
No worries, copper is ordered.
Great I’m relieved - I really dig what you’re doing. Thanks for response
With a bus bar, if you ever need to replace or change a breaker, you have to undo all the screws in all the breakers. I like using wire and ring terminals. More work now and not as cool looking. But, a lot less work the next 6 times you are upgrading or modifying.
That's valid, but as the panel is on a door, twice the wires in the flex bundle isn't too appealing.
@@TravelsWithGeordie In the plan I'm suggesting. The loops that make up the "bus" do not leave the area of the breakers. Each breaker is wired to the next by a short loop of wire ( you do not have to even cut the wire, just in and out of the ring terminal. So the wire bundle does not get larger. At a minimum, breaking the buss bar into several short segments connected with a loop of wire. limits what you have to take apart for service. Aircraft have the same rows of breakers and the same service issue. Servicing the ones with solid buss bars is a real PITA.
ahh, got it.
Hi Peter. Can you show a close up your compass.
Why stainless?
Because I didn't realize how poor a conductor it was. Copper on the way
I don't comment on the why & wherefores of your choices on how to do things, but the whole SS bus bar thing had me shaking my head I have to admit. First I'm pretty sure you can get ready made bus bars suitable for your purpose and since they would not be visible anyway why not? Second as some folks have pointed out, SS is not really a great choice electrically anyway, and finally it is just so hard to deal with without the exact right tools/bits etc.. Brass or copper is like butter/melted butter respectively in comparison.
Copper on the way
H i. Peter Did you share s somewhere links of the items that were involved in this.episode? Thanks
No, but I will this week when I go into more detail.
Mate as an electrical engineer I must ask why stainless over aluminum.
switching to copper.
Stainless steel is (best) for screws, copper is (best) for conductors.
Copper on the way
Becareful using stainless as bus bars its electrical conductivity is very low compared to copper.
Copper on the way
Oh. Stainless is a bad conductor. You might consider swapping for brass or even copper.
aluminium is also a good conductor (and relatively easy to drill)
Yes buy a piece of copper bar, tin it and use that.
Copper on the way
A dab of that krylon paint will take care of those ss screws , no ?
Please, please, please swap that stainless out for tin plated copper. stainless is much less conductive than copper which equals potential heating.
Copper on the way
Got a small tablet from metro $25 ...my what BIG TEETH U HAV....but...no comments..bought a new straw cowboy hat thick straw..couple of rain covers for my cowboy hats..Christmas ..hav a good one..HJ POST..
Would it have helped if you had scored those cuts first?
Possibly, I'm just impatient... heh...
what were the brand of the amp meters you used
I'll share all this week
I think this ship has sailed; but was there a reason you couldn't have flipped the aluminium panels over and used the other side?
Also, love your work and am always perpetually impressed with your multiple talents and constant energy and enthusiasm! Happy Christmas to you and your family Peter and to ms zephyress if in company.
sadly the geometry gods forbid easy solutions.
thanks so much Greg.
The labels should be brass with text engraved.
Now you are really waterfront…..
What is your drill press for if not precisely this work 🤔
Heh, true, but it's shyte.
Stainless for a buss? No way. High resistance, heat, potential fire hazard. Not to mention, hard to work with. Nickel Chrome wire is what they use for heating elements because of its high resistance. They used to use plain steel wire, but corrosion is a problem. You have made a heating element
out of your electrical panel.
Copper on the way