ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
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We are still working at collecting the pictures to illustrate this page, so come back and view the pictures that we will be adding to this page, to better describe this project.
An interesting recent project, was the rewiring and upgrading of the electrical system of the M/V Voyager-I a 10 year old 52' steel trawler. After using the boat for a short time the owner had identified over 50 problems related to the boat's electrical and electronic systems. Our job was to fix these problems and bring the vessel's electrical systems up to ABYC standards. The pictures and their descriptions on this page illustrate some of the problems and the changes we made.
• Electrical system problems - The following list summarizes key problems that needed to be fixed:
- Alternator & regulator failure on main engine.
- Excessive voltage drop on a number of circuits including those for both the bow and stern thrusters.
- Wiring poorly routed, with inadequate support and in many cases undersized.
- Breaker panel problems including: inadequate breakers, breaker size, not adequately protected.
- Instrument panel problems included a lack of backlighting, poor location resulting in inability to read gauges, inadequate instrumentation for monitoring electrical system.
- Inadequate grounding for the main engine as well as the majority of the vessel's other circuits.
- No or inadequate over circuit protection on DC circuits.
- Need additional lights in the engine room and salon.
- Inadequate exhaust system & blowers in the engine room, battery compartment and head.
- VHF Radio noise and transmiting shorted the fuel tank gauge.
- Engine alarms on bridge panel inoperative
- Need a corrosion protection system and corrosion monitor.
• Equipment and materials used - The equipment installed and some of the material used on this project included:
- Two alternators.
- Charles Industries Smart Boost 50 Transformer.
- NewMar DC Energy Monitor (Model DCE-VAH110).
- VDO Engine Hour Meter (12-24).
- Paneltronics DC Panel w/ 12 breakers.
- Electrocatalytic CM2 Corrosion Monitor System.
- Wiring: Battery Cable (4/0, #4 & #6) 48', Boat cable (#12 & #14) additional multiple runs between the pilot house and engine room. Related hardware included: An additional 10 breakers, Terminal blocks 5, Switches 9 and 2 voltage relays.
• The resulting electrical system - Key system features include:
- Three battery banks with a total of 12 batteries.
- Multiple AC and DC breaker panels.
- A 15kW Generator set.
- Two 3,000 Watt Inverters.
- Shore power circuit with a isolation transformer and a power boost transformer.
- Electrocatelic CM2 corrosion monitoring system that monitors hull potential.
- Engine gauge panels both in the engine room and pilot house.
- Main 350 HP engine with a 120 amp alternator and drives a hydraulic pump that runs a Thrust Master propulsion motor, bow and stern thrusters and a hydraulic windless.
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