One of the start battery main
switches.
Another 12-volt battery located in the bow of the boat powers the bow thruster, as noted
in the “Thruster” section on page 4.46. This is charged by the vessel’s battery charger.
What redundancy!
In the event of an electrical fire, there must
be a way to disconnect the batteries. This is done
with:
(1) The emergency House battery switch
located on the main power panel (normally
left on “Both”);
(2) The starting battery switches on the
sides of the engine room just forward of
each engine (also normally “On”); and,
(3) In the cable from the generator battery to the generator, the generator battery switch
(also normally “On”.;
4G4: DC Breaker Panel
The right side of the power
panel controls the DC power
distribution to the boat’s various DC
equipment.
Author’s note: The electrical
switch panel is photographed
at an angle to avoid glare.
The nerve center of the DC
electrical system is the DC circuit
breaker panel by the helm. On this
panel are the switches that control
power to the boat’s various systems.
As for the breaker panel itself,
just as in your home, most of these
switches are true “circuit breakers”:
they feed power to somewhere in the
boat where there is another switch which, in turn, turns the item on and off. An example of this
would be the circuit breakers for the cabin lights: If the breaker is turned on, the light won’t
work unless you turn it on!
But some of the other breakers also serve as the switch for the item. An example of this
would be the underwater lights breaker or the macerator pump breaker. So here is the list of
switches and how they're used: (“B” means used as breaker, “S” means used as switch AND
breaker). The colors in the descriptions below mean:
Green = Leave this breaker on Always;
Yellow = Use when Item is Needed;
Red = Use with Caution in Exceptional Circumstances
The house battery switch. Leave
on “Both”.
Section 4G: Electrical Systems, DC 4.18
