Beatrix has a lot of new gear on her, much of it electric
and electronic. This means accommodating generator, inverter, refrigerator/freezer and cabin heater control
panels plus new radios, Multi data display. The new ICOM VHF and SSB radios are designed to be flush
mounted, which we have chosen to do. We are also planning an alarm panel, an auxiliary switch
panel, a context navigation light switch, and some other stuff. The
real estate for all this just didn't exist, so wedecided to get
rid of the stupid little bookshelf on the side of the Nav Station and replace it
with equipment panels.
Replacing the ugly, old. outmoded, and dangerous
AC and DC main electrical panel is a job I've been wanting to do for a long time.
I first identified the various components and functional requirements for the
replacement Main Panel and
the Radio and Auxiliary Panel.
Then I could start planning the location of each component and what
off-the-shelf items could be bought and what needed to be custom-built.
Design
Before
Reconstruction During
Construction Completed
Blue
Sea System panels were selected because they 1) fit the space, 2) were
cheaper than custom panels, 3) easier than home made, and 4) looked great.
A
difference on Beatrix's main switchboard is inclusion of an AC panel dedicated to
international power (230VAC/50Hz). When in use overseas the 230V AC Panel
sits between the shore power and the isolation/step-down transformer and has two
Australian-style power outlets.
Beatrix had an isolation
transformer with windings designed to step down 230V/50hz power to 110V/50hz
power which was designed power the Trace "modified sine wave" inverter/charger
and all regular 110V AC loads. With the demise of Trace we sold that unit and acquired an FX2012T 110v sealed inverter charger from Outpack Power Systems. Later on I would add a second unit, an FX2012ME to handle producing 230 to 240 vac. I removed the isolation transformer which was only designed as a step-down and would not isolate 230v to 230v. After some consultation with an electrical engineer in Australia I removed the "green wire" connection to shore power altogether and installed a RCD or GFI device for safety. Both 110v and 240v systems are covered by Residual Current Devices. There are other ways to do this which are
just as good or better, e.g. having a dedicated "International"
charger plus a pure sine wave inverter only [no charger] to power the AC loads. Everything is then DC driven and all the shore power is for is to charge the batteries.
Visio 2010
is what I have been using to create the drawings on this
website. The drawings below give me an idea of what the rebuilt Nav
Station might look like when finished, and also helps me place the
components. Part way through the project I drove over to M&I
Systems to see what it cost to make the custom panel for the Nav Lights
(second picture from left, below). Much to my surprise, custom engraving
of the entire panel wasn't as much as I had thought, so I scrapped my plans for
using an off-the-shelf switch panel and because of the space-saving that ensued
I was able to produce a much nicer, tighter, more efficient design (third
picture from left, below). It will take about a month to make it, so this
project will be on hold until mid-May. (Note, it took a lot longer than a
month and a bit more than quoted, but I'm still happy with it).
The custom panel takes a few weeks to manufacture. I
drew the design using Visio but a CAD program like TurboCad or AutoCad
would work even better. Done right, the design loads directly into the
control program for the auto-engraver which does the job. The engraver is
essentially a computer driven router which can cut the aluminum backplate and
the plastic faceplate. The lettering is cut from the back of the plate
which allow backlit illumination of the switch labels.
The wiring diagrams below show the modifications made to the Blue Seas AC panels to accommodate international power.
Design Before
Reconstruction During
Construction Completed
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Last modified: November 23 2015 04:29