bobofthenorth
Guru
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2009
- Messages
- 570
- Location
- Canada
- Vessel Name
- Gray Hawk
- Vessel Make
- Defever 43 Offshore Cruiser
If we ever get done our current trip with its list of projects, we're going to haul Gray Hawk and I intend to replace the 110 volt wiring.* She's got a typical 1980 era electrical panel which wouldn't meet code today and which is frankly inadequate for her equipment complement.* In particular she is wired so that we can only use 3600 watts of our 6500 watt genset capacity but that's not the only issue I want to deal with.
My initial goal was to rewire her to 2 x 30 amp services.* I've seen that configuration on other boats and I ass/u/me the two 30 amp services are wired to opposite sides of the electrical panel.* Further reflection has lead me to question why I wouldn't just wire her to one 50 amp (240 volt) service.* Is there something I'm missing here?* What is the point of 2 x 30 amp service on boats?* I'm pretty familiar with RV wiring configurations and that one is something you never see in RVs.*
The question that kicked this off for me is, if I do go with 2 x 30 amp services, how do I wire a transfer switch to handle that?* Currently there is no auto transfer switch on Gray Hawk - there are 2 breakers in the panel with a flapper to prevent them both being "ON" simultaneously.* One of the outcomes of the electrical refit will be an auto transfer switch to handle the generator/shore priority and to remove the manual breakers from the system but I can't think how to easily do that with 2 x 30 amp service.* For that matter I can't think of any way to securely handle the transfer manually with a 2 x 30 service either.
My initial goal was to rewire her to 2 x 30 amp services.* I've seen that configuration on other boats and I ass/u/me the two 30 amp services are wired to opposite sides of the electrical panel.* Further reflection has lead me to question why I wouldn't just wire her to one 50 amp (240 volt) service.* Is there something I'm missing here?* What is the point of 2 x 30 amp service on boats?* I'm pretty familiar with RV wiring configurations and that one is something you never see in RVs.*
The question that kicked this off for me is, if I do go with 2 x 30 amp services, how do I wire a transfer switch to handle that?* Currently there is no auto transfer switch on Gray Hawk - there are 2 breakers in the panel with a flapper to prevent them both being "ON" simultaneously.* One of the outcomes of the electrical refit will be an auto transfer switch to handle the generator/shore priority and to remove the manual breakers from the system but I can't think how to easily do that with 2 x 30 amp service.* For that matter I can't think of any way to securely handle the transfer manually with a 2 x 30 service either.