AC Terminal Block Wiring

[Jon W]

Hi Stu,
     I recall seeing a wire diagram you made of the AC terminal block behind the nav station in one of these recent posts. I've been searching for a while, but can't find it. Can you attach here or point me in the right direction of where it is? Thanks.   Jon W.

[Stu Jackson]

Jon, could be one of these Incoming AC Wires sketches

[Jon W]

Thanks Stu. In my rush to replace the OEM terminal block with Blue Sea dual busbars, I didn't pay enough attention to how the white neutral wires were tied together. I've bussed them all together, now outlets don't work. After a closer (after the fact) look at the OEM terminal block I see not all whites were tied together. Lesson learned, don't always believe your eyes.    Jon W.

[Noah]

Jon-the A/C GFIs on my boat were orginally wired stangely with each side of the boat on a different circuit powering four plug outlets, two standard and two GFIs  Alan sorted it out for me. Now every plug is a GfI. Better way to go. When something doesn't work or trips you know where/which outlet the problem originates from.

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

Noah, was that Alan Katz that helped you with your wiring?

Mike

[Jon W]

Alan is stopping by this afternoon to give me some guidance. Yes Mike it is Alan Katz.   Jon W

[mainesail]

Hi Stu,
     I recall seeing a wire diagram you made of the AC terminal block behind the nav station in one of these recent posts. I've been searching for a while, but can't find it. Can you attach here or point me in the right direction of where it is? Thanks.   Jon W.

Jon,

I would urge you to not re-wire the AC panel the way Catalina did in 1987, if it is a single pole AC Main breaker.. Even then it did not meet the minimum safety standards for AC wiring... Catalina, during this vintage, often used a single pole main AC breaker and interrupted only the hot/black wire. This does not meet the safety standards for on-board AC wiring.

The Main AC breaker should interrupt both hot and neutral. One way to meet this standard is to put an additional 30A breaker near the AC inlet, in its own J-Box, before hot & neutral heading off the the AC panel.

This:
https://www.bluesea.com/products/3131/Circuit_Breaker_Enclosure

Plus this:
https://www.bluesea.com/products/7238/A-Series_White_Toggle_Circuit_Breaker_-_Double_Pole_30A

Will get you a double pole, neutral & hot, surface mount breaker.

You can also use one of these and cut it into a Carlon box..
https://www.bluesea.com/products/8077/AC_Main_30A

Carlon box example:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-6-in-x-4-in-Junction-Box-E987RR/100404096


Also don't forget:

AC White/Neutral & AC Green/Earth are never connected on-board unless you are away from the dock and operating a generator or inverter. An AC neutral to Earth bond should only ever be made; on shore, at a generator while in use, or at an inverter while inverting.

AC Green/Earth is bonded/connected to the boats DC ground point, usually the engine but one can easily jumper between AC green/Earth and a DC negative bus behind the AC/DC panel.

If you don't have an inverter or gen set then the wiring should look like this for the AC system:



If you don't want an ELCI main breaker then a 30A double pole breaker would be the bare minimum.

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

Jon and Noah,
Alan is fantastic. He set up my navpod for me and did an excellent job. Please give him my regards.

Mike

[Jon W]

The new main panel I will be installing has an ELCI breaker for the AC as described in my other post. What I'm doing now is temporary to get AC to an outlet for heat shrinking. The adapter the PO left doesn't fit the dock outlet so this is the best way to get power for now. I'll tell Alan. Jon W.

[mainesail]

The new main panel I will be installing has an ELCI breaker for the AC as described in my other post. What I'm doing now is temporary to get AC to an outlet for heat shrinking. The adapter the PO left doesn't fit the dock outlet so this is the best way to get power for now. I'll tell Alan. Jon W.

Excellent!!!!