If you switch on the appliance, then resistance will be low. If the circuit is open (the appliance/device powered is turned off or disconnected), then resistance will be high. This measures the resistance of the circuit. The "no voltage" method is to do a continuity check on the circuit. There are two easy methods for "shooting" your wiring with a multi-meter to find out what’s what. And the AC system is relatively simple as well. The factory-installed DC system is fairly easy to run down, even without an accurate schematic. The original rat’s nest behind the stock panel. For example we ran a new duplex wire aft for a future autopilot upgrade.įigure 1. You might also consider adding wiring for future upgrades. ![]() Now is a great time to remove the deadweight from the system. Label as much as you can, but chances are you’ll have a mystery wire or two left over! If your boat is older, you may also have wiring that doesn’t go anywhere. All of the factory installed wiring in our boat terminated in the junction box behind the original panel. Ensure that you have plenty of masking tape available and a pen with permanent ink (that won’t smear when handled) so that you can label all of the wires during disassembly. It’s fairly easy to sort wires connected to a labeled switch. If you have a schematic, that’s a good place to start. The very first step in this project is to sort out the wiring. The original panel had a single pole 30 amp AC breaker, and the reverse polarity indicator had been removed at some point in the past. Due to what turned out to be a bad dock receptacle and the convoluted wiring, it was tripping nearly constantly. Just forward of the panel was the GFI outlet that protects the cabin outlet circuit. At one time, these were glued to hull, but had come lose. Although it’s tough to make out in the picture, there are a couple of "floating" terminal strips mixed up in the bundles of wire. Additionally, the DC harness in our boat only used three colors (aside from the mast harness): red for power, black for ground and blue for the cabin light system. The factory schematics were largely useless due to years of modification. ![]() Our boat was equipped with tinned wire for the AC system, but all DC wiring was old-fashioned copper, and quite a bit of it was corroded. The basic Catalina wiring harness design was sound, and we were able to reuse most of the original wiring, although it was necessary to cut off corroded connectors and replace them. ![]() This was sufficient motivation to clean up the entire electrical control system, including new panel components.įigure 1 shows the original rat’s nest behind the stock Seaward panel. If we weren’t onboard, however, there could have been a fire. The damage was confined to end of the AC wire that failed. Fortunately, I was on the boat when this occurred and was able to power down and trouble shoot. One AC common fitting failed and grounded against a nearby DC ground. AC and DC systems were not isolated from one another, and 16 years of neglect had taken their toll-including some fittings that had corroded through completely. Our boat, a 1988, hull #563, came with a fully-developed "rat’s nest" behind the stock Seaward panel. 4 Building the Electrical Control Panel.
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