Electrical manual needed

[Mauricio]

Good morning.
My name is Mauricio I have a Grampian 34-2 and Iwant to make a new electrical rewiring. Please I need info about a good and simple book that I can get for this enterprise......Saludos from Chicxulub in the ýucatans.

[Al Schober]

Welcome to the Atomic 4 bulletin board. Always good to hear from our 'non-USA' Atomic 4 owners.
I can't recommend a specific book. I looked through my library and found several, but they're all rather out of date. I'd recommend you do a search on Amazon, and see what's available. a) be sure to get a book that's for boats - you're not doing a barn or an RV. b) get one in a language that you don't have to work too hard to translate - no sense in missing some of the fine points. c) get a fairly recent book - one that talks to circuit breakers for the main panel. Fuses have their place, but.. You can still use fuses in a main panel, but you'll have to know the options.
Good luck with your project!

[sastanley]

Mauricio, My favorite electrical book is Nigel Calder's "Boat Maintenance and Electrical Manual" link to Amazon

Somewhere around this site is Don's PDF with the ignition wiring diagram.

[roadnsky]

Mauricio, My favorite electrical book is Nigel Calder's "Boat Maintenance and Electrical Manual" link to Amazon

Somewhere around this site is Don's PDF with the ignition wiring diagram.

En español...

"Mauricio, mi libro eléctrico preferido es de Nigel Calder - 'Mantenimiento del Barco y Conexión Manual Eléctrica'

En alguna parte alrededor de este sitio es esquema el eléctrico de la ignición de Don"

(Didn't we do this last week on another thread? )

[romantic comedy]

If I only had one book to have aboard, it would be the above metioned Nigel Calder book.

There is a good electrical book... I think it is called "12 volt bible" I cant find mine.

[Mauricio]

Muchas gracias

Muchas gracias...

"Mauricio, mi libro eléctrico preferido es de Nigel Calder - 'Mantenimiento del Barco y Conexión Manual Eléctrica'

En alguna parte alrededor de este sitio es esquema el eléctrico de la ignición de Don"

(Didn't we do this last week on another thread? )[/QUOTE]

[domenic]

I just rewired my Columbia 28.
There were wires all over the place...most were old wires not removed when somebody had replaced them...it was a big mess.
I cut all of them out, and started over.

It's simple to replace wires. The battery has a plus, and minis.

Example:

Black wire from minus to light. Red wire from light to plus.

If you have a control panel, the red wire goes to the control panel. (on and off.)

The control panel has to go the plus on the battery. The ground goes from the minus to any spot on the engine. (ground.)

A number ten marine wire is good for this.

A buz box is used for all the minus wires from all items.

If you don’t use a control box, you need to put a toggle switch on each red wire(plus) and a fuse.

It’s all very simple once you get the idea how it works. I call it a circle.
Wire from minus on battery to light (or whatever), wire from light (or whatever) back to the plus on the battery.

A large wire from minus on battery to a spot on the engine as the ground. You must have a ground.

Note: when take the two wires, red and black, and touch the plus and minus on the battery to see id the item (light or whatever) works. If you get a spark at the battery, you have your wires crossed.

Use only marine grade wire. If you buy your wire at a marine store, show them this, and ask them to draw it out for you.

[edwardc]

I would recommend against using the engine block as a general ground return.

Instead, install a heavy ground buss strip, with one #4 (or heavier) to the battery minus and one #4 (or heavier) to the block in close proximity to the starter. All other ground returns should then go to the ground buss instead of the engine.

This will avoid a myriad of strange problems when one or more of the engine grounds gets corroded and intermittent, and will leave all boat systems functional when you need to remove the engine.

[Mauricio]

Gracias

Thank you very much..........

I just rewired my Columbia 28.
There were wires all over the place...most were old wires not removed when somebody had replaced them...it was a big mess.
I cut all of them out, and started over.
.
It's simple to replace wires. The battery has a plus, and minis.

Example:

Black wire from minus to light. Red wire from light to plus.

If you have a control panel, the red wire goes to the control panel. (on and off.)

The control panel has to go the plus on the battery. The ground goes from the minus to any spot on the engine. (ground.)

A number ten marine wire is good for this.

A buz box is used for all the minus wires from all items.

If you don’t use a control box, you need to put a toggle switch on each red wire(plus) and a fuse.

It’s all very simple once you get the idea how it works. I call it a circle.
Wire from minus on battery to light (or whatever), wire from light (or whatever) back to the plus on the battery.

A large wire from minus on battery to a spot on the engine as the ground. You must have a ground.

Note: when take the two wires, red and black, and touch the plus and minus on the battery to see id the item (light or whatever) works. If you get a spark at the battery, you have your wires crossed.

Use only marine grade wire. If you buy your wire at a marine store, show them this, and ask them to draw it out for you.

[Mauricio]

Gracias

Thank you very much..........

I just rewired my Columbia 28.
There were wires all over the place...most were old wires not removed when somebody had replaced them...it was a big mess.
I cut all of them out, and started over.
.
It's simple to replace wires. The battery has a plus, and minis.

Example:

Black wire from minus to light. Red wire from light to plus.

If you have a control panel, the red wire goes to the control panel. (on and off.)

The control panel has to go the plus on the battery. The ground goes from the minus to any spot on the engine. (ground.)

A number ten marine wire is good for this.

A buz box is used for all the minus wires from all items.

If you don’t use a control box, you need to put a toggle switch on each red wire(plus) and a fuse.

It’s all very simple once you get the idea how it works. I call it a circle.
Wire from minus on battery to light (or whatever), wire from light (or whatever) back to the plus on the battery.

A large wire from minus on battery to a spot on the engine as the ground. You must have a ground.

Note: when take the two wires, red and black, and touch the plus and minus on the battery to see id the item (light or whatever) works. If you get a spark at the battery, you have your wires crossed.

Use only marine grade wire. If you buy your wire at a marine store, show them this, and ask them to draw it out for you.

[Jim Bates]

Mauricio, this is all good information on this thread.

I just rewired my engine electrical and the entire boat on my Islander 32. The electrical panels were mounted on the frontside of the bulkhead under the companionway with all the wiring in the engine compartment -and it was an absolute and complete rat's nest - WRONG! And my boat is a 1963 so I had 50 year old wiring that I replaced.

I bought BlueSea DC and AC panels and placed them at new locations outside of the engine compartment. I read five marine electrical books - you can find all of them doing an online search - each one had some helpful tips.

The Moyer Marine engine electrical harness kit is good for your engine. It comes with a color coded wiring diagram. For everything else, you will have to buy the stuff at the local marine store.

My best recommendation is to do the "A" job - everything according to the ABYC color codes so if you ever want to sell that boat. Also, for DC wiring ground is "yellow" not "black" (they don't want anybody confusing the DC ground with the AC hot wire which is black). If you are rewiring the entire boat, get the 100' roll of safety boat cable - it comes with the yellow and red wires together. If you are doing AC wiring, get the 3 wire boat cable - black, green and white. Make everything neat with zip ties that you can zip through those little plastic holders that you screw into the boat (the zip ties are better than the ones that you have to screw open and closed every time you need to add a wiring to the run of your wires).

Do one wire at a time replacing each wire as you go. If you have to remove all the wiring because you have a rat's nest, make sure that you get one of those wiring numbering booklets at the hardware store and identify each wire and hook up and what it runs by the same number so that when you put the wiring back you know what goes where. Sometimes you have to follow each wire and go to the next wire. Also, get yourself a heat gun so that you can use it on the shrink connections.

Remember, it is going to take a long time to do this if you wish to do it the right way. But I am a whole lot happier with the new panels and wiring and you will be to.

Good luck.