Battery switch panel

[Starman]

Sometime back Chris ( Boss Lady ) and I bought an aluminum box/panel to mount the battery switches in from Tom Slane.

The favor we are asking is can some one post a pic of their box so we can see how it is set up with the switches inside ?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Paul,
I just replaced all of my battery switches. I used the same Guest gray HD ones that were there. The old ones had the plastic knobs all broken. I won't be back to the boat until Thurs night. If you don't have any pics by then, I'll post a couple for you.

 

[Genesis]

I found that the most annoying failure on those switches is that the plastic inside cracks and they no longer make good contact. The only indication of this failure is that the knob doesn't feel "tight" when you turn it (and of course the intermittent loss of power!)

If it happens to a starter switch (it has to me) you can get a DANDY electrical panel fire in there from the arcing. Mine didn't light but it sure smelled like it was going to!

They're a lot of fun to change too, given the access issues (length and stiffness of cables, etc)

 

[Starman]

Thanx Sky,

I will take a pic of our box tomorrow and post it also .

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Yeah, 3 of the 4 of my switches felt loose. No arching or burnt smell yet, but I thought I'd better change them. They really weren't all that difficult to change, though. I did all four in about 3 hours but with my setup I could just sit on the H/E and work at eye level. If I was all contorted to get to them, it would have been a different story.

 

[Starman]

I am in the process ( while doing everything else, lol ) of planning this ER layout and more specifically the items that need to be attended to with ease, such as the racors, the batt switches and the fuel valves.

When the ER is about 36" high, layout is a prime concern.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Paul,
Sorry, I forgot about this. I'll take some pics tomorrow. I assume you need pics of the inside and outside of the panel. I'll take one of the covers off so you can see what's in there.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Here you go:

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Hey Sky-- Did you do that work, or was it OEM? Sure is a work of art. Reminds me of a nuclear power plant! ws

 

[Maynard Rupp]

I know that is OEM because it looks exactly like the one in our 36C. Isn't that a work of art? No wonder these boats have a great reputation. Stuff like that is why, after 20 or more years Hats are still in demand. No wonder that they are a reliable product that keeps playing for decades. As one of you said in an old post,"Where is the new car you bought in 1986".

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Maynard,
I've still got it. My 1986 Oldsmobile 442 sits in my garage. Of course, if I had driven it everyday since it was new, it would be the junk yard by now.

Bill,
That is OEM. I'm not going to even try to replicate that work, but apparently Paul is.

 

[Starman]

Sky,

First: THANK YOU

Second, that is sweet and clean.

Yes I will attempt to duplicate that neatness in the panel. It gives me a first hand look at how a panel should be set up.

How many Batteries do you have Sky ?

I am guessing 6 ??

 

[SKYCHENEY]

That panel is in the port ER and is fed by the house bank which consists of 4-8v Batts. I have an identical panel in the Stbd ER that is fed by the starting bank of another 4-8v batts. The reason you see two cut out switches is one for the port engine and one for the house loads. The other ER has one switch for the Stbd engine and one for the genny. You may also notice the parallel solenoid in the top of the box.

 

[Starman]

Thank you Sky,

I did notice that solenoid there.

We will have 5 batteries, 2 for each engine, 1 for the Genny. Now that I see the set up, I can get a better idea of where I want to place this box ( we have same one ) in the ER.

Very nice

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Thank you Sky,

I did notice that solenoid there.

We will have 5 batteries, 2 for each engine, 1 for the Genny. Now that I see the set up, I can get a better idea of where I want to place this box ( we have same one ) in the ER.

Very nice

Paul, when we were looking at boats to buy, all the Bertrams had seperate and smaller genny batteries that were charged by the genny's alternator. All of them had a dead battery. Hatteras omits the alternator on the genny and lets the onboard charger or the stb. engine's alternator take care of that job. I am very impressed with hatterases way of dividing that stuff up. One set of batteries for stb. engine and genset, and the other group for port engine and house. Sure makes sense to me.