CONVENIENCE WIRING WITH ANDERSON POWER POLE CONNECTORS AND A RIGRUNNER JUNCTION BOX

I mentioned in a previous post about using my Morningstar solar controller as a junction point for some new rewiring rather than the main breaker panel. I also added a  Rigrunner 4005 junction box. This box allows for several individually fused  Anderson Power Pole connectors to be plugged into the box.

 You can see some of the items I chose to connect to the box in the photo below:

A SMALL CONNECTOR PROJECT

When I added the 48 volt solar panels to the bimini project I needed a way to connect both the 12 volt panels and 48 volt panels to their appropriate battery banks. So I rigged up a temporary junction box using a barrier strip and a small plastic project box as a temporary install. Here is what I had and it has work pretty good over the years.

 Well several years later I'm getting around to an upgrade . I'm finally getting around to making a better way to connect the solar panels to the solar controllers using Anderson Powerpole connectors. Like the ones shown here:

The blue connector signifies that the voltage the wires are carrying is 48 volts and is used to charge my electric propulsion battery bank. Speaking of colors notice how the red color has faded from this wire:

Exposure over the years has caused it to almost become white in color. Another good reason to have color coded connectors like Powerpoles on the ends of the wires.

 The Anderson Powerpole connectors can also be mated as shown here:

 This assures the proper ground (black connector) travel with the positive voltage wire. This helps to eliminate confusion with different voltage systems. You can also buy an optional clip that locks the pairs of Powerpole connectors to add some extra security that they won't pull apart.

So after replacing the lug connectors with Powerpoles I also put a little dab of Marine Goop on the back of each connector to help seal the wire and connectors.

Now both the 48 volt  and 12 volt solar panel connections can be easily accessed for troubleshooting and testing. I have plans to put some instrumentation in line to measure how well the panels are doing in the near future and I will post about those tests here on the blog.

CODE BLUE FOR ELECTRIC PROPULSION

When I added the solar panels to help charge my 48 volt electric propulsion battery bank I used a Morningstar ProStar Charge Controller- PS-15M-48PG to regulate the solar panels charging. That controller also has a 48 volt 15 amp tap that provides a protected voltage out. It was very convenient to have that tap inside the boats cabin. I used it to power the 48 volt  to 12 volt converter which usually powers my laptop on board:

You can see the tap in the above picture. Even though the output is limited to 15 amps I am using  a75 amp Anderson Power Pole connectors. Why? Because that was what I had available at the time and it fit the input wires to the 48 volt to 12 volt converter. The problem is the red color of the positive wire looks the same as the 12 volt connector color code. Someone could accidentally plug in a 12 volt device if they are not familiar with the controller. This year I finally got around to correcting that. The Anderson color code for their connectors says blue should be used for 48 volts. So I ordered a Anderson Power Products 1300 connector, power pole, 75 amp, housing  that matches the Anderson standard. Nice thing about Anderson Power Poles it is relatively easy to change the connector case:

 So now one can immediately see that the 48 volt controller requires equipment connected to the 48 volt output requires a matching blue connector:

A small change like this can avoid confusion and accidental failures when one is using various voltages on a boat with electric propulsion. You can also see I used a P-Touch label on the controller to also let others know the voltage of the controller.

UNDER THE BINNACLE:Wiring Update!

I needed to remove the old shift cable for the old diesel engine. I left it in place when I converted to electric propulsion because I thought I might use it to control some type of electronic switch down the road. But, after six years I realized I probably would never use it. So it was time for it to go. I also had other projects planned to mount on the binnacle and the shift lever would just be getting in the way.

 To get access for it's removal I had to remove the compass from the binnacle:

When I did I broke one of the wire connections to the LED light on the compass housing which provides illumination of the compass at night:

Not a big deal and easy enough to repair. But, then I thought this would be a good time to upgrade the connectors to Anderson Powerpoles .  So that's what I did. First the wires supplying power the binnacle:

Then added matching connectors to the wires that led to the LED compass light:

The Powerpole connectors will make it easier to disconnect things in the future and also offer a little more insulation and protection from shorts than the original spade lug connections.

REWIRING THE HEAD LIGHT: PART TWO

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Now that I had rewired the house wiring that connected to the light fixture with Anderson Powerpole connectors. It was time to rewire the fixture it's self. I soldered some wires to the connections for the switch and put Anderson Powerpole connectors on the other end of theses wires. I also soldered some wires onto the LED light being careful not to use too much heat while doing so to avoid any damage to the electronics of the light disk. NOTE: The LED light I used is not polarity sensitive so it did not matter which lead I made positive or negative. You need to check the wiring specs of the specific LED you may use as this is not always the case. 
At the other end of these wires I put on the appropriate colored Anderson Powerpole connectors.
Once all the connectors were on the proper wires. I used cables ties to make things secure, reinstalled the fixture into the head area and connected it to the house wiring:

I put some white electrical tape behind the LED just to make sure it would not short out to the light frame. Using the Anderson Powerpole connectors will allow for the easy addition of more LED lights or changes and modifications in the future. For example one thing I might add in the future is a red LED light for nightlight use and to prevent loss of night vision when sailing at night. Only thing remaining is to put the cover back on the fixture frame and this project is done for now:

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SOLAR BIMINI REWIRE

Tweet I installed the completed solar bimini on BIANKA back in 2010 though I did not finish posting about it until 2012. At the time I did a quick job of connecting the 48 volt Kanaka panels to the  Morningstar ProStar PS-15M-48V Charge Controller using the connectors that came with the panels to get the system up and running. In this case it was using  spade lugs connected to a two screw barrier strip and then down to the controller. I taped the whole thing in some electrical tape. This worked fine for awhile and it was always my intention to make things a little neater and more weatherproof at some point. Well, that project got moved up on the list this spring when I saw this:

I found that one of the solar panel connections had corroded and broken away from the spade lug.  

Indeed all the connections showed severe corrosion issues. Definitely time to replace this "temporary" setup. So that's what I did. I've mentioned before I really like Anderson Powerpole Connectors   for a lot of connections on board for a number of reason. One is they have wiping contacts that help clean the contact surface when connecting and disconnecting. Plus they are compact and can be ganged together. Another advantage is they have color coded cases available:

Since I'll be connecting 48 volt solar panels it is a good idea to follow the Anderson color code for their Power Poles. For 48 volts the recommended color is blue. I used it above for the positive 48 volt panel connection. This helps avoid confusion with the 12 volt panels that are also part of BIANKA's solar bimini.
Another thing with Anderson Powerpoles it is also easy to make up "two fer" cable harnesses so that in this case I can connect two separate solar panels to the same solar charge controller. This ability to quickly connect and disconnect the connectors helps in troubleshooting or taking voltage and current measurements of the panels.

As is the Anderson Power Poles are not particularly waterproof. So what I usually do is fill the back end of the connectors (where the wire enters) with Marine GOOP and then cover that with some electrical tape. Another wrap of electrical tape around the connector case joint ensures even more protection from moisture.    
With the new connections more waterproof than my previous installation I should not have to revisit this area of my electric propulsion charging system for long time.

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TROUBLE DOWN BELOW: Bilge Pump Switch

I mentioned that after the two plus feet of snow that the blizzard NEMO dumped on the Isle of Long I found BIANKA's bilge half filled with water when I finally was able to check on the boat. Since I could empty the water by activating the bilge pump with the manual switch it was apparent the automatic bilge switch was the problem:

Because of some freelance work commitments I was not able to replace the switch for several weeks. I emptied the bilge and hoped for the best. When I finally got back to the boat yesterday I was glad to find only about an a half inch of water in the bilge. It seems the blowing snow of the blizzard had found some ways into the boat where normal rains do not.  The bilge switch that failed was a Rule Super Switch that had worked reliably since I bought BIANKA in 1995 and may have been installed when the boat was commissioned in 1986. So it had a pretty long life in the Marine environment. When I remove the switch I was surprised to find there were two parts that made up the bilge switch. There was the float switch it's self and an optional guard case that it fit into:

Since I never had to mess with it in seventeen years it came as a surprise. The case helps keep debris away from the floating switch and also has a button you can push to test the switch to make sure it is working. This helps to make sure any debris will not cause the switch to stick in either on or off position.

In my researching for a new bilge pump switch I read several reviews the the newer bilge pump switches were a little more trouble prone. As they changed from a mercury switch to a metal ball conducting between to contacts. Some reviews mention the switches not lasting too long before failures. So I look at other choices and settled on  a Water Witch 101 control.

The Water Witch is an electronic switch the senses water between two electrodes to turn the bilge pump on. It was also considerably smaller than the Rule switch it was replacing:

The install was pretty simple and the manufacturers web site had a diagram on how to wire it up for my particular installation. I have a switch panel on board where I can manually power the bilge pump via a switch or switch it over and have a bilge switch automatically turn the bilge pump on once the water rises.
I used  Anderson Powerpole Connectors to connect the switch and bilge pump. This will allow for easier trouble shooting and/or replacement in the future.

I waterproofed the connectors with some   Marine Adhesive Goop and will further waterproof it later with some heat shrink and additional sealant in the near future. With the units wired up I tested it by putting the switch into a plastic cup and then added some water:

The pump operated as expected after a short delay to prevent cycling of the pump the bilge pump turned on. I then removed the switch from the water:

Again after a short delay it turned off. Convinced that the switch was working correctly I installed it into the bilge by attaching the switch unit to the bilge pump hose with a cable ty:

Well that's one pre launch project finished now on to the next one.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART 9: CONNECTIONS

The battery end of the project has been wired up with fuses and Anderson connectors. The helm meter panel like wise has been wired and tested. So the only thing that remains is to connect the two with wires. There are four meters each monitoring one of the four 12 volt batteries in the 48 volt electric propulsion string. I thought about individual wires in a harness, duplex wire and various other cable types. Happily I found what I needed in a trash bin that fit my needs perfectly.
    I was doing some freelance work in a building that was undergoing some renovation and found about fifty feet of E90298 cable made by National Wire about to be thrown out. It had ten 20 AWG wires inside a durable UV resistant cover.  It even had a shield around the bundled wires. The wires were also tinned making it perfect for the marine environment on board as it would be more resistant to corrosion than bare copper. Best of all I could not beat the price FREE! I love to recycle where I can and this cable instead ending up in a landfill  is perfect for the instrumentation project interconnection.

I love it when a plan comes together like this. Because I only needed eight wires to measure the four individual battery voltages it meant I had two spare wires that I might use down the road for something. The only issue I thought might be a problem is each of the 10 wires in the harness were different colors. Which could be confusing down the road in trying to figure out which wire was positive or negative when connecting or trouble shooting. But this was easily solved after I first assigned the color coded wires to each battery:

Because of the various colors used to connect the batteries I decided to cover each wire with two different colored heat shrink at the battery end. Red for the wires that went to the positive battery terminals and black for wires that went to the negative battery terminals. These would help avoid confusion and mis-connections even though the Anderson Powerpole connectors where color coded. It just adds helps eliminate confusion. It would also add another layer of protection for the wires:

.I also put on some  General Purpose 1/4-inch Braided Cable Sleeve over the heat shrinked wires. This not only kept the wires together making for neater wire runs but, also added another layer of protection to the wiring harness:

All I needed to do now was crimp on the Anderson Powerpole pins and insert them into the proper color coded powerpole housing and the battery end of the instrumentation project was done:

 For the helm end of wire I chose to enclose each pair of wires in white heat shrink:

and connect them to the helm panel meters box:

After an operations check out the project was just about complete. All that I needed to do was to add a little sealant to the back of the Anderson Powerpole connectors to water proof the wires and also inside and outside of the meter enclosure box where they connect up. I used Marine Goop. Once that was done it was time to move on to wiring the battery current meter.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART 8 CLICK HERE


INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART 10 CLICK HERE

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART EIGHT: Wiring the Panel

The instrumentation project is pretty simple setup whose purpose is to give me real time access to battery voltages and battery current readings while at the helm. Boats with a diesel usually have an instrument panel to monitor the internal combustion engine in the cockpit. On a boat with electric propulsion it's also good to monitor what is going on down below too though they are different parameters. So the initial setup for the project included a digital voltmeter on each battery, a total pack voltage meter and a current meter to monitor how much current the battery was providing (or how much current was flowing into it if charging).

The above schematic shows the DC Voltmeter wiring. Installing and wiring up the panel was not difficult. The hardest part was deciding what to use to connect the batteries to the panel. I decided to use Anderson Powerpole Connectors.

As this would allow the panel to be disconnected easily for repair or storage as needed. I've started to use them elsewhere on board with good results. They are quality connectors with wiping contacts that hold up very well in my experience.  I already had several  4PDT Heavy Duty Toggle Switches on board that I was originally was going to use for the solar bimini. But, after finding some 48 volt solar panels I no longer needed  to use the switches for charging. So I used it to switch the four digital panel meters for the individual batteries on and off. I installed the switch first since it is rather large and I wanted to make sure it fit correctly:

Then I found a location for the eight Anderson Connectors that connect to the fuses on the batteries:
One nice thing about Anderson Connectors there are various mounting clamps available to install the connectors securely in panels or enclosures like I am using for this project:

With the switch and the Anderson connectors installed it's time to wire the panel up:

I did a bench check of the DC Voltmeters using triple connection jumper. This allowed me to check three meters at a time.:

The second small switch on the side of the box is to turn the whole  pack voltmeter on and off. I did make one mistake with this whole pack voltmeter. I wired it just like the other four meters. The meters I bought can read up to 99 volts but, in order to measure a voltage over 30 volts the meter needs a separate lower voltage power source. If you are just measuring 12 volts you can tie the meter supply and measuring leads together and it will work. I did this for all the meters and tested them using a 9 volt battery. But, when I installed it in the boat the pack meter failed because the 48 volts was too much for the meter. I'll need to replace it and provide a separate voltage to power that meter to measure the whole pack voltage.

Another Anderson connector was installed to provide power for the current meter from the helm power distribution bus. So with the panel wired up and bench tested. It was time to move on the final connections from the battery to the helm. Which I will do in the next instrumentation post.

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART SEVEN CLICK HERE

INSTRUMENTATION PROJECT PART NINE CLICK HERE