Jules Richardson wrote:
On Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:43:43 +0100, tinnews wrote:
Then, in addition, I want to protect the 'heavy' stuff. The starter
battery also feeds the starter motor (surprise!) and the bow propellor.
Currently (no pun intended) these are wired direct to the battery and
I'm thinking some sort of protection for this wiring would be a good
thing too. The connection to the bow propellor in particular is long
and circuitous and a fault could easily start a nasty fire in an
inaccessible place. The wires from the batteries to the existing bottle
fuses are also unprotected (only a couple of feet or so, but still a
fault is possible).

Not just a fuse, but fit a physical kill-switch too. I remember last year
when the starter solenoid on the tractor jammed closed - cue starter
motor turning the engine over continuously even with the ignition off; by
the time I'd run to the workshop for a suitable spanner to disconnect the
terminals, there was smoke billowing from the starter. Left a bit longer,
I probably would have had a fire...

If there had been a fuse in the circuit it probably would have gone
eventually, but a simple physical switch would have been nice.

There are battery isolation switches which are fairly accessible so
that's covered at least.


I'm thinking that the easiest approach for this is a fuse in the ground
wire to the batteries

I take it it's a wood / fibreglass hull then, with no chance of an
accidental ground path back to the battery?

No, it's steel hull. What sort of accident/problem are you thinking
of when you say "accidental ground path back to the battery". Surely
I'm protecting against just that, the chance of one of those big,
heavy wires shorting to the hull/superstructure - which can't happen
on a wooden/plastic boat.

--
Chris Green