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Project Log:  Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Earlier, I cut off the battery box riser that was in the wrong place, sanded away the paint, and installed a new riser, this time positioned (hopefully) where it was supposed to be.  I epoxied it in place as before and left it overnight to cure.

    

I spent the day running many of the battery cables required, starting with the four cables running to the battery switch, which I'd installed near the engine room in the main cabin.  Although the switch was physically within a foot of the engine room, running these cables required many trips in and out of the engine room, down into the cabin, and to the switch location.  My system mated the engine alternator with an automatic charging relay (ACR) to isolate the start battery from house loads and charge it, along with the house bank, when the alternator was running.    Later I'd build a cover to protect the back side of the switch.

Two of these cables led to the port battery box, to the house and start banks there, the third cable led directly to the engine starter, and the final cable to the positive distribution buss for the ship's main electrical system.  I also ran the main ground wire from the negative distribution buss to the engine ground point.  To protect the two cables leading to the engine, I ran them through some lengths of hose where chafe points could exist.

         

         

Next I wanted to at least temporarily install the port batter box.  I hoped not to remove it, but the box (and its starboard counterpart) would be removable without too much trouble.  Before installing the box, I installed some chafe protection on one of the hoses leading to the remote oil filter, which was a very stiff hose that couldn't easily be moved or redirected, and tied it up out of the way of the battery box, and cleaned up the area that would be hidden by the box.  I installed the battery box, now with its new aft riser, with four machine screws into holes I tapped into the fiberglass "flying buttresses" extending off the side of the engine foundations. 

It was a tight fit around the box, but everything I needed was accessible, and the box could be removed for future access as needed.

         


With the box installed I could move on with the installation of the ACR unit and its associated cables.  I located this on the forward bulkhead just ahead of the battery box, and led its two cables--one for each battery bank--to the port battery box, and ran a small ground wire from one of the spade terminals at the bottom of the unit up into the console for later connection when a fuse holder I'd ordered arrived.

         


Still ahead I needed to run the negative cables for each bank from the negative distribution buss, as well as jumpers to interconnect the starboard pair of the house bank.
 

Total Time Today:  5.5 hours

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