HI, can someone point me towards info on
how to ground the electrical system on a 26X.
How to ground the neg. bus bar.
Crick
How to ground electrical system-26X
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K9Kampers
- Admiral
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- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
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On a DC electrical system, a negative buss bar is grounded to the battery's negative post via a heavy gauge insulated cable. Is this what you are trying to accomplish, or do you have something else going on?
I recommend a book by Nigel Calder: Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual, published by International Marine. A very comprehensive and thorough source for all things marine, power and sail.
I recommend a book by Nigel Calder: Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual, published by International Marine. A very comprehensive and thorough source for all things marine, power and sail.
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Duane Dunn, Allegro
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- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
- Location: Bellevue, Wa '96 26x, Tohatsu 90 TLDI and Plug In Hybrid Electric drive
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No, a mac has no grounding plate or strap. Putting in a negative buss bar for all the grounds to land on is step up from the standard factory system.
Don't get a Mac's electrical system confused with a true big boat marine system. It's a very simple system, really nothing more than some light bulbs hooked to the battery with white lamp cord. A switch here and there and you now have all the components.
I'm a proponent of K.I.S.S. even as you add more lights and electrical devices. What you'll see described elsewhere as a basic marine electrical system is overkill for a Mac.
Don't get a Mac's electrical system confused with a true big boat marine system. It's a very simple system, really nothing more than some light bulbs hooked to the battery with white lamp cord. A switch here and there and you now have all the components.
I'm a proponent of K.I.S.S. even as you add more lights and electrical devices. What you'll see described elsewhere as a basic marine electrical system is overkill for a Mac.
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ALX357
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- Location: Nashville TN -- 2000 MacGregor 26X, Mercury two-stroke 50hp
adding just a few elecrical componenets will quickly result in a mess of wires all over the place, connected to different hot wires and/or power sources directly. IMHO, the use of a central buss bar to collect terminals together is not over-complicating things, but actually simplifying them.
For a given amount of added electrical items on your boat, the number of wires and connections will be the same, but being uncentralized, here and there about the boat, one thing ganged to another and sharing hot wires, and ground wires, MIGHT seem to have less stuff to deal with, but the total connections are the same. Collecting the connections in one central place keeps the components independent, able to be disconnected and trouble-shot easier, and lets you see it how much is connected. Two batteries and a switch, some lights, one or two 12V outlets is a start, maybe needs no buss. Stereo, short wave or ship-to-shore radio, galley stuff, fans, chargers, convenience items, and anything else you want to have hard-wired .... consider a buss bar or two.
For a given amount of added electrical items on your boat, the number of wires and connections will be the same, but being uncentralized, here and there about the boat, one thing ganged to another and sharing hot wires, and ground wires, MIGHT seem to have less stuff to deal with, but the total connections are the same. Collecting the connections in one central place keeps the components independent, able to be disconnected and trouble-shot easier, and lets you see it how much is connected. Two batteries and a switch, some lights, one or two 12V outlets is a start, maybe needs no buss. Stereo, short wave or ship-to-shore radio, galley stuff, fans, chargers, convenience items, and anything else you want to have hard-wired .... consider a buss bar or two.
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Duane Dunn, Allegro
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- Contact:
I agree, I installed a buss for the negative's to land on. This keeps things much neater. I see no need for positive buss, all these land on a switch/fuse panel on individual circuits by function. Some things have more downstream junction points.
I feel a simple yet reasonable system is best for the mac. To me this consists of:
A single battery bank. (I have 2 group 24 batts in parallel, 130 amp hours. This gives a larger pool of power to pull from, each discharge is smaller as a percentage of capacity, and your batteries will last longer. Plus there's more there when you need it. My next set of batteries will be 2ea GC2 6v batteries in series. This will give me 12v with 210 amp hours. Their footprint is the same as the Group 24's but they are about 2" taller. They are made for very deep cycle, high vibration environments, yet the can be had for $70 each)
As a backup I carry a simple small jumpstarter battery. Plenty of power for our small motors.
A single on/off switch in the hot line lets you kill all loads to the battery. (Skip all the combiners and triple switches you see recommened in the West Marine catalog.)
From there the power feeds directly to the motor and the various switch/fuse panels. ( I have 3, the original with just lights that was installed in between the front windows, the new main that is on the aft side of the galley, and one at the pedestal for all the instruments.)
All the negative conections come back to a single buss bar.
The one expensive addition I am a big advocate of is good amp hour meter such as the Link 10 (note west has the wrong picture). With this you can know at a glance the true state of your power system. You can see amp load, voltage, and amp hours remaining as well as hours left at the current load. This lets you make proper decisions about your power usage before it becomes a critical problem. As you most likely know, a simple voltage meter is a total waste during active cruising. It will not give you a true reading on the charge state of your battery until the battery has been at rest for 24 hours. Looking at the voltage when there is or has recently been any load on the battery will give you a false reading. An amp hour meter is the only way to really know how much power you have used and how much is left.
I feel a simple yet reasonable system is best for the mac. To me this consists of:
A single battery bank. (I have 2 group 24 batts in parallel, 130 amp hours. This gives a larger pool of power to pull from, each discharge is smaller as a percentage of capacity, and your batteries will last longer. Plus there's more there when you need it. My next set of batteries will be 2ea GC2 6v batteries in series. This will give me 12v with 210 amp hours. Their footprint is the same as the Group 24's but they are about 2" taller. They are made for very deep cycle, high vibration environments, yet the can be had for $70 each)
As a backup I carry a simple small jumpstarter battery. Plenty of power for our small motors.
A single on/off switch in the hot line lets you kill all loads to the battery. (Skip all the combiners and triple switches you see recommened in the West Marine catalog.)
From there the power feeds directly to the motor and the various switch/fuse panels. ( I have 3, the original with just lights that was installed in between the front windows, the new main that is on the aft side of the galley, and one at the pedestal for all the instruments.)
All the negative conections come back to a single buss bar.
The one expensive addition I am a big advocate of is good amp hour meter such as the Link 10 (note west has the wrong picture). With this you can know at a glance the true state of your power system. You can see amp load, voltage, and amp hours remaining as well as hours left at the current load. This lets you make proper decisions about your power usage before it becomes a critical problem. As you most likely know, a simple voltage meter is a total waste during active cruising. It will not give you a true reading on the charge state of your battery until the battery has been at rest for 24 hours. Looking at the voltage when there is or has recently been any load on the battery will give you a false reading. An amp hour meter is the only way to really know how much power you have used and how much is left.
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ALX357
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most wired things have a pair of equal length wires, so running them both together from the device back to a buss panel seems more organized than running its negative wire there and its positive wire elsewhere. Not that the length is critical to be equal, but that tracing the circuit is more obvious when the negative and positives are both connected up near each other.