Electrical problems

mmayea

Recruit
Joined
Sep 3, 2003
Messages
4
I had a overheat problem in my wiring and would like to know a few things before I repair it.<br />1. I take it that the AC and the DC system are two separate systems. Does this include the grounds? Right now there is a common buss bar where all of the AC grounds terminate but there is one heavy ground wire that goes from this bar to the engines. Is this correct or are we mixing the two systems?<br />2. Does the ground for the genny goes to the AC or DC grounds? <br />3. I have this device called a "zinc saver" and there are no instructions on how to wire it. There is a terminal on both side of this device. I was told that the AC ground goes on one side and the DC ground on the other. Does anyone know if this is true and if so does it matter which side the AC goes to?
 

Capn Tony

Recruit
Joined
Sep 24, 2002
Messages
2
Re: Electrical problems

1. Both your AC and DC grounds should be tied together at a common bonding system (your engine). Your boat is wired correctly for this.<br /><br />2. The ground for the gen also goes to the common grounding system. The generator neutral is tied to your boats ground. Your shore power neutral should NOT be tied to ground within your boat. Shore power neutral is tied to ground at the dock. The transfer switch that switches from shore to gen should disconnect both the hot and neutral wires from the unused source. This is to keep shore power neutral from being connected to your boats ground.<br /><br />3. The Zinc Saver is a galvanic isolator. You need one for each shore power source. It prevents low voltage DC current from passing between your boat to earth ground, but allows AC current to pass. It is the low DC current that will destroy your outdrive and other bonded metal fittings via electrolysis. It should be installed inline (in series) with your shore power ground wire before the common ground buss. One connection is to your incoming shore power ground and the other should go to your common AC gound buss. Nothing should be gounded upstream of the isolator. The isolator is basically a bridge diode with a capacitor; it doesn't matter which wire goes to which connection.<br /><br />You can go here to learn a lot about the boats electrical system: http://www.bluesea.com/tech.htm
 
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