Systems

A lot of marine equipment is extremely complex, and we've found that it helps us figure out how to install new gear if we diagram the connections before we start. Then, we do the actual wiring or plumbing to match our diagram exactly. If something goes wrong we can trace the problem easily, because it's a lot simpler to identify a wire by its position on a terminal block than it is to try to trace all the connections of several dozen wires to find the one we need.

The following wiring and plumbing diagrams are for the basic boat systems and for a few pieces of equipment which form parts of those systems (e.g., the wind generator is part of the boat's electrical system) or which needed complicated wiring. Some complicated installations don't appear in detail here because wiring boxes were provided, and we just hooked them up. For more information on the actual equipment we installed, see our equipment page.

Main electrical system
Overall view of our power system. Subsequent diagrams are details of its individual parts. (Updated to reflect various small changes and new batteries, 2/2005)
Fuse block
All our small fuses are in a single fuse block. (Most equipment is protected by breakers on our electrical panel rather than by fuses. Our 400-amp main fuses are on the main power distribution bars.)
Eliminator
The Ample Power (Powertap) Eliminator is a siphon charger which detects when our house batteries are being charged, and automatically diverts some power to charge the engine batteries. (Minor updates, 2/2005)
Bilge pumps
A PAR diaphragm pump keeps the shower sump dry and is our first line of defense. We also have a much more powerful Rule 2000 which is hooked to a high-water alarm. The refrigerator's water pump is mounted nearby, and we have an electrical circuit going to it so that we can run the pump alone (without running the fridge) to test it or prime it after cleaning out the sea strainer. (Minor updates, 2/2005)
Engine charging
Alternator, regulator, and engine gauges. There is an unused sense wire from when we had the Balmar MC-612 (we preferred the earlier MC-512 and returned to using it).  (Minor updates, 2/2005)
Alternate energy charging
Wind generator and solar panel wiring. The switch to throw the wind generator into reverse is for stopping it when there's a lot of wind; when it's stopped, we tie it down. When we installed the solar panels we replaced our earlier complicated wind-gen wiring (to switches that for the most part we rarely used) with a couple of relays. Power generation is monitored by the Link 20's "alternate energy mode" which displays amps contributed by all panels and the windmill combined, and the voltage at any of the panels or the windmill (selected by switches). (Updated to show new regulator wiring and reflect other changes, 2/2005)
Navigation interface
We wired our GPS to transmit position information as NMEA to our autopilot and to our computer navigation program. Our Autohelm-brand nav instruments "speak" SeaTalk, so we installed a SeaTalk-to-NMEA translator box so that our computer navigation program and autopilot can echo our instrument readouts. (Minor corrections, 2/2005)
Diesel heater electrical connections and flow diagram
This hot water heating system from Webasto heats domestic water and optionally blows warm air into the living spaces, either from engine heat or from its own diesel furnace.
Refrigerator
The manufacturer-provided junction box failed, so we built our own new improved version. (Minor corrections to show switches properly, 2/2005)

Fuel system flow diagrams:

Photographs of the installation of our Balmar large-frame alternator:


[updated 2/26/2005] back to boat page