The D.C. Power Panel on my 1980 CD27 has 6 circuits on it. 5 are already in use and there is one labelled "spare". There are a few pieces of electronic equipment that I'd like to add, like an autohelm and a marine music system and possibly a few other things, but obviously, there aren't enough circuits in the panel.
What have others done? Remove the old panel and replace it with another, larger one? Add on an additional panel? Do something to increase the capacity of the existing panel? How difficult is it to do? Are there larger capacity panels that will "fit" into the old hole or do I have to start to do carpentry? I'm pretty handy with this kind of stuff if I know what I'm doing, but frankly I don't have a clue about what to do. I'm sure my problem is not unique. What have the rest of you done when adding "electrical capacity"?
Thanks
Warren
Setsail728@aol.com
More Circuits, D.C. Panel CD27
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Murray Glue
Re: More Circuits, D.C. Panel CD27
If the CD27 is anything like the Cd30 ...I increased the capacity from 5 or 6 single pole circuit breakers, to 24 automotive type blade fuses
and toggle switches. The battery changeover/ isolation switch and the 12VDC guage were removed to other locations. I did of course have to make a new panel up ( from alloy, powder coated black ) but the end result is excellent and very reliable.
Murray Glue
CD30 Dayspring
Nelson
New Zealand
106452.2173@compuserve.com
and toggle switches. The battery changeover/ isolation switch and the 12VDC guage were removed to other locations. I did of course have to make a new panel up ( from alloy, powder coated black ) but the end result is excellent and very reliable.
Murray Glue
CD30 Dayspring
Nelson
New Zealand
106452.2173@compuserve.com
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John MacArthur
Re: More Circuits, D.C. Panel CD27
The first thing I did on my CD-30 (sounds like the same setup) was to add a 2-gang (double row) bus bar (West #288050)to the "spare" circuit. I now have two rows of 5 screws, one row for "+" and one for "-", and have added several low-power circuits. I glued this to the inside of the cavity behind the circuit panel (on the outboard surface) with 5200. This has reduced the spaghetti factor a lot. My next step will be to add a small panel with 3 or 4 pushbutton breakers and switches directly above the existing panel. There is room for this on the 30. I may have to make this panel, if I can't find just the right one, but it only consists of round holes in a plate. I'm pretty sure I have seen one "just right", but can't lay my eyes on it at the moment.Warren Kaplan wrote: The D.C. Power Panel on my 1980 CD27 has 6 circuits on it. 5 are already in use and there is one labelled "spare". There are a few pieces of electronic equipment that I'd like to add, like an autohelm and a marine music system and possibly a few other things, but obviously, there aren't enough circuits in the panel.
What have others done?
Warren
jmac@laplaza.org
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Andy Denmark
Re: More Circuits, D.C. Panel CD27
Warren, I am in the middle of replacing the entire electrical distribution panel on Rhiannon with a Paneltronics Model 2206 Deluxe. It is backlit with indicator lights, 12 ckts with a 50 amp master switch, 2 batt test w/ LED digital readout. I have built a teak cabinet to house this and some other electronics. The cabinet takes up most of the portside bulkhead. The battery selector switch is being moved to the area under the companionway close to the stove and I'm thinking about moving the batteries as well to get them lower and forward closer to the centerline of the boat (but that's a job for later). Decided to also replace Rhiannon's wiring and bring up to ABYC specs. Frankly, I don't see how Cape Dory got away with using such sorry wiring from the factory.
I got tired of the "make do" and awkwardly placed sub-panels and decided to go this route. Not cheap but it will be a nice addition with room to expand (electronically). When the digital camera arrives (ordered Friday) I'll take some before/after pix and post them.
Andy Denmark
CD-27 "Rhiannon"
35* 05.1 N 076* 38.7 W
trekker@coastalnet.com
I got tired of the "make do" and awkwardly placed sub-panels and decided to go this route. Not cheap but it will be a nice addition with room to expand (electronically). When the digital camera arrives (ordered Friday) I'll take some before/after pix and post them.
Andy Denmark
CD-27 "Rhiannon"
35* 05.1 N 076* 38.7 W
trekker@coastalnet.com
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Larry DeMers
Re: More Circuits, D.C. Panel CD27
Seems that this is a popular (and needed) enhancement to most of the Cape Dory's out there.
As I see it, you have two choices;
a. To increase the distribution capability of your "Spare" breaker via using an expanding terminal strip such as was suggested by another writter;
or b. Replacement of the existing electrical system, and updating to **REAL** low voltage switches, not 120vac househould switches (which have silver contacts that need 120vac to help clean themselves of carbon from each previous make/break, along with a slight wiping action that is inherent in the switch..on 12vdc, these switches develope some resistance in the switch contact, which grows over time. The improvement in lighting alone is amazing!(it's brighter))
-proper wiring gauge, proper magnetic breakers (not thermal/magnetic), and all of the other techniques and improvements that have come along over the past 30 years.
I also just finished installing a complete "system" in my CD30 DeLaMer. I installed a 15 gang group of Heart Interface breaker panels (2 panels with 10 breakers in one panel and 5 in the second); Heart Int'f. Mimic panel (has line drawing of a sloop rigged sailboat, with a LED located at appropriate points about the mast and boat to represent the various nav. and anchor lights on the boat. It allows you to monitor just what light may have been left on accidently..and it looks cool; Heart Int'f. Link 2000 monitor/controller for the Heat Inverter (1500 watt/70 amps). This monitors Banks 1 & 2 of the house batteries; Heart Link 10 to Monitor the Starting battery. All three batteries are charged through a 3 battery Combiner (Heart product). In fact all charging sources are routed to this one input to charge the batteries.
I started out by ripping out each and every single wire back to factory (if still code), or to the instrument/fixture if it was not proper. 300 ft. of 14AWG marine wire... All wires terminate on a 20 gang terminal strip epoxied to the interior of the CD30's breaker box area. This is a big improvement, as it allowed me to gather similar wiring into neater bundles, wire tied to the fiberglass with wire tie pads. All wires are uniquely identified with wire numbers. A schematic is maintained that accurately represents these wires and their routing/use. The terminal strip carries these numbers forward. The new breaker panel was assembled into a 8in. x 17 in. panel using the Heart optional metal brackets that tie each panel to the other mechanically. The assembly was then hinged a the bottom with a stainless piano hinge, rounded to a nice radius on it's corners.
THe panel now opens fully, laying all the way down to the ice box cover, and then is closed by swinging it upwards into the breaker box cavity that I had cut to a larger size earlier.
A neat wiring harness made of all of the wires and cables that go to and from the panel was then routed tot he bottom of the panel, and rotated slightly so that it would allow easy action of the hinge on the panel. These wires were then married to the proper place on the termninal strip
Final testing was completed this weekend, and everything works except the Heart Monitor, which does work ok, but has very serious EMI problems, which wipe out AM & FM up through 200 MHz. This is probably a defective unit and will be replaced soon.
Benefits derived so far, are the ability to now know how much pwoer we actually use each evening with the lights in the cabin, the anchor light, etc...16aH if just us two, 26aH if daughter and G.daughter come out <G>. More than this, we also know how much we have replaced with that last motor to the dock, etc. I also am now prepared to add refrigeration next spring..and a honkin' huge battery bank of 440aH in 6v cells. These will be added in the area in front of the engine cover/steps. It means droping in a fiberglass tub to hold the batteries in, and venting to the outside.
Enough..way too long as it is. Sorry.
Cheers!
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory30
demers@sgi.com
As I see it, you have two choices;
a. To increase the distribution capability of your "Spare" breaker via using an expanding terminal strip such as was suggested by another writter;
or b. Replacement of the existing electrical system, and updating to **REAL** low voltage switches, not 120vac househould switches (which have silver contacts that need 120vac to help clean themselves of carbon from each previous make/break, along with a slight wiping action that is inherent in the switch..on 12vdc, these switches develope some resistance in the switch contact, which grows over time. The improvement in lighting alone is amazing!(it's brighter))
-proper wiring gauge, proper magnetic breakers (not thermal/magnetic), and all of the other techniques and improvements that have come along over the past 30 years.
I also just finished installing a complete "system" in my CD30 DeLaMer. I installed a 15 gang group of Heart Interface breaker panels (2 panels with 10 breakers in one panel and 5 in the second); Heart Int'f. Mimic panel (has line drawing of a sloop rigged sailboat, with a LED located at appropriate points about the mast and boat to represent the various nav. and anchor lights on the boat. It allows you to monitor just what light may have been left on accidently..and it looks cool; Heart Int'f. Link 2000 monitor/controller for the Heat Inverter (1500 watt/70 amps). This monitors Banks 1 & 2 of the house batteries; Heart Link 10 to Monitor the Starting battery. All three batteries are charged through a 3 battery Combiner (Heart product). In fact all charging sources are routed to this one input to charge the batteries.
I started out by ripping out each and every single wire back to factory (if still code), or to the instrument/fixture if it was not proper. 300 ft. of 14AWG marine wire... All wires terminate on a 20 gang terminal strip epoxied to the interior of the CD30's breaker box area. This is a big improvement, as it allowed me to gather similar wiring into neater bundles, wire tied to the fiberglass with wire tie pads. All wires are uniquely identified with wire numbers. A schematic is maintained that accurately represents these wires and their routing/use. The terminal strip carries these numbers forward. The new breaker panel was assembled into a 8in. x 17 in. panel using the Heart optional metal brackets that tie each panel to the other mechanically. The assembly was then hinged a the bottom with a stainless piano hinge, rounded to a nice radius on it's corners.
THe panel now opens fully, laying all the way down to the ice box cover, and then is closed by swinging it upwards into the breaker box cavity that I had cut to a larger size earlier.
A neat wiring harness made of all of the wires and cables that go to and from the panel was then routed tot he bottom of the panel, and rotated slightly so that it would allow easy action of the hinge on the panel. These wires were then married to the proper place on the termninal strip
Final testing was completed this weekend, and everything works except the Heart Monitor, which does work ok, but has very serious EMI problems, which wipe out AM & FM up through 200 MHz. This is probably a defective unit and will be replaced soon.
Benefits derived so far, are the ability to now know how much pwoer we actually use each evening with the lights in the cabin, the anchor light, etc...16aH if just us two, 26aH if daughter and G.daughter come out <G>. More than this, we also know how much we have replaced with that last motor to the dock, etc. I also am now prepared to add refrigeration next spring..and a honkin' huge battery bank of 440aH in 6v cells. These will be added in the area in front of the engine cover/steps. It means droping in a fiberglass tub to hold the batteries in, and venting to the outside.
Enough..way too long as it is. Sorry.
Cheers!
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory30
Warren Kaplan wrote: The D.C. Power Panel on my 1980 CD27 has 6 circuits on it. 5 are already in use and there is one labelled "spare". There are a few pieces of electronic equipment that I'd like to add, like an autohelm and a marine music system and possibly a few other things, but obviously, there aren't enough circuits in the panel.
What have others done? Remove the old panel and replace it with another, larger one? Add on an additional panel? Do something to increase the capacity of the existing panel? How difficult is it to do? Are there larger capacity panels that will "fit" into the old hole or do I have to start to do carpentry? I'm pretty handy with this kind of stuff if I know what I'm doing, but frankly I don't have a clue about what to do. I'm sure my problem is not unique. What have the rest of you done when adding "electrical capacity"?
Thanks
Warren
demers@sgi.com
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Warren Kaplan
Re: More Circuits, D.C. Panel CD27
Thanks Andy, John, Murray and Larry,
All are good approaches to solving my problems depending on how "radical a surgery" I want to perform on my electrical system. Some solutions seem quite involved so let me ask this question. Are all you fellas electricians or electrical engineers? Can this be done after just getting a basic book on marine wiring or does it take more. Or is it just a case of taking a wire out of the old panel and just hooking it up to a similar station on the new panel until all wires have been transferred. As I said in my original post. I'm pretty handy when I know what I'm doing and none of this particularly scares me. But what do you recommend as far as "learning" how to do this?
Thanks again to all,
Warren
Setsail728@aol.com
All are good approaches to solving my problems depending on how "radical a surgery" I want to perform on my electrical system. Some solutions seem quite involved so let me ask this question. Are all you fellas electricians or electrical engineers? Can this be done after just getting a basic book on marine wiring or does it take more. Or is it just a case of taking a wire out of the old panel and just hooking it up to a similar station on the new panel until all wires have been transferred. As I said in my original post. I'm pretty handy when I know what I'm doing and none of this particularly scares me. But what do you recommend as far as "learning" how to do this?
Thanks again to all,
Warren
Setsail728@aol.com
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Scott Ritchey
Re: More Circuits, D.C. Panel CD27
I have an "in-between" fix on my CD 27. I added a second panel on the starboard side which looks similar to the factory panel on the port side. This is a piece of plywood shaped to fit the space on an angle and screwed to the liner. I have a 6-circuit marine switch/breaker panel screwed to the plywood. For neatness, all wires lead first to a bus bar or terminal strip screwed to the liner behind the panel and then short, uniform wires connect the CB panel to the terminal strips. All circuits feed from the battery switch (except the bilge pump). Also, I added high amperage (150A) CBs in the red lead from each battery (only about a foot from the battery post) to the battery switch just in case od a short in the big wires.
By the way, use good marine wire and crimp fittings (like Anchor). Cheap ones will work for a while, but after the corosion starts, you'll be chasing electrical problems without end. The initial savings is small and the long-term headache is big.
RitcheyVS@aol.com
By the way, use good marine wire and crimp fittings (like Anchor). Cheap ones will work for a while, but after the corosion starts, you'll be chasing electrical problems without end. The initial savings is small and the long-term headache is big.
Warren Kaplan wrote: The D.C. Power Panel on my 1980 CD27 has 6 circuits on it. 5 are already in use and there is one labelled "spare". There are a few pieces of electronic equipment that I'd like to add, like an autohelm and a marine music system and possibly a few other things, but obviously, there aren't enough circuits in the panel.
What have others done? Remove the old panel and replace it with another, larger one? Add on an additional panel? Do something to increase the capacity of the existing panel? How difficult is it to do? Are there larger capacity panels that will "fit" into the old hole or do I have to start to do carpentry? I'm pretty handy with this kind of stuff if I know what I'm doing, but frankly I don't have a clue about what to do. I'm sure my problem is not unique. What have the rest of you done when adding "electrical capacity"?
Thanks
Warren
RitcheyVS@aol.com