jboatman
Junior Member
Posts: 11
Jeanneau Model: SO37
Yacht Name: Defiance
Home Port: Little Sturgeon, WI
Country: USA
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Post by jboatman on Oct 14, 2018 12:48:22 GMT
New member, first post. Learning about new (to me) boat. Some of this has been in earlier threads, but may be of value to newer members.
Bilge pump power is via the DC panel at the nav station and the breaker must be on for the bilge pump to work. Arguably, this makes sense but is an item to check when leaving the boat. The DC panel power comes from the main (house) battery switch aft of the engine compartment in the rear cabin. Actually connected int he engine compartment. >>> If the battery switch is turned off, then back on, the bilge pump breaker at the DC panel will be off; you will manually need to turn it back on. Not so good...
The autopilot on my boat (RM Autohelm 100/300) requires a 30 amp breaker, probably too much for the DC panel. It has its own breaker (small "pop button") just under the windlass breaker by the main battery switches. It is a short path from the main battery lugs in the engine compartment. The Autohelm 100/300 also provides power to the control head (ST60001) via the SeaTalk connection. The autopilot (and control head) are thus always powered up. You cannot use the battery switch to turn them off or you disable the bilge pump (see above). You can use the "pop button" breaker (pull it out for off, push it in for on) and that's what I am doing for now. But it was not designed to be used as a switch. I plan to replace that "pop-button" breaker with a 30 amp switch/breaker in the near future.
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Post by so36idavid on Oct 14, 2018 19:13:34 GMT
Bilge pump power is via the DC panel at the nav station and the breaker must be on for the bilge pump to work. Arguably, this makes sense but is an item to check when leaving the boat. The DC panel power comes from the main (house) battery switch aft of the engine compartment in the rear cabin. Actually connected int he engine compartment. >>> If the battery switch is turned off, then back on, the bilge pump breaker at the DC panel will be off; you will manually need to turn it back on. Not so good... Congratulations on the new boat and welcome to the list! I don't know your boat but it's rare for a breaker to open when power is removed. Usually they're mechanical in nature not electromechanical. I assume that you've tested it and this is the behavior so the question is how to work around it. Your options are to either replace the breaker with something that won't open when power is removed or to add an additional circuit. If the breaker is not performing as spec'ed then you could get a replacement and just pop it in there. Or possibly a similar breaker that will behave as you'd like. That would probably be the simplest. Another option would be to connect a wire into the circuit upstream of the breaker and wire the bilge pump into that. You'll need to make sure that this circuit either has a breaker or fuse to protect it. You'll probably also want to add a switch into the circuit so that you can disable the bilge pump manually but that comes with it's own problems. There are people who don't like the whole "wire the bilge pump through the battery switch" setup because it adds some potential failure modes. The workaround there is to pull a new wire from the battery compartment through a fuse and on to the bilge pump. Personally I wouldn't do that but I understand the thinking. As for the permanently wired control head, my boat is wired up similarly but the autopilot draws literally zero amps when powered down. What is your concern about the setup as it exists? David |
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jboatman
Junior Member
Posts: 11
Jeanneau Model: SO37
Yacht Name: Defiance
Home Port: Little Sturgeon, WI
Country: USA
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Post by jboatman on Oct 14, 2018 22:58:33 GMT
Hmm. I disagreeumption was that was just the way the panel breakers worked. And I still suspect so. But I'll do a little more testing next time I get out to the boat; it's an hour+ away and I'm in the process of putting it up for the Winter.
With respect to not wanting to leave the AP/Control head always powered, I guess that's just me. When I shut down I pretty much want everything off. Except bilge and battery charger. And fridge if I'm using it (of course that's DC only on my boat).
The LCD on the AP control head was bad (but AP still worked). RM doesn't make it anymore and replacement (eBay) is pricey. I did find a source (eBay again) that sold just the LCD for about $125. Still pricey, but instructions were good and it is working fine; probably a better discussion for a new thread. In the back of my mind I'm thinking that having it always powered might have been a factor. But it was probably just moisture; the control head isn't as well sealed as it should have been and there's no conformal coating on the circuit board.
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Post by Don Reaves on Oct 15, 2018 21:05:55 GMT
The breakers on my boat behave exactly as you describe. Each breaker has a push-on button and a push-off button. If you remove the power from the panel, all of the breakers effectively turn off. After you reapply the power, you have to push the on button on each of the breakers you want to be on, particularly including the bilge pump.
I agree the way the bilge pump is wired is not optimal, but it is the way the system was designed.
Don
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Post by so36idavid on Oct 16, 2018 5:03:42 GMT
With respect to not wanting to leave the AP/Control head always powered, I guess that's just me. When I shut down I pretty much want everything off. Except bilge and battery charger. And fridge if I'm using it (of course that's DC only on my boat). You can always pull a wire from the switch panel and turn it off there. It's not pleasant running new wiring but it's not rocket science. A fish tape can be very helpful. |
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jboatman
Junior Member
Posts: 11
Jeanneau Model: SO37
Yacht Name: Defiance
Home Port: Little Sturgeon, WI
Country: USA
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Post by jboatman on Oct 20, 2018 1:49:04 GMT
Not sure what the switch panel ratings are. I suspect that 30A (that's what the AP wants) might be a bit much and wire size gets a bit bigger for that long of a run. Blue Sea has a switch/breaker that I'll probably use to replace the pop-breaker. A bit inconvenient to have it in the aft cabin but not a big deal. Thanks for the comments. I'll start a new thread when I actually do it.
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Post by panoramix on Sept 11, 2019 14:45:52 GMT
1. The bilge pump wiring is not a big deal for me, as i seldom disconnect the house battery.
2. For the AP circuit breaker i got tired of pulling and pushing that small button in the aft cabin. I put a 12V/30A automotive car relay next to it. The relay is activated by the 'instrument 1' switch on the DC panel. The relay in its turn switches the AP on/off.
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