Electrical upgrades

This was the most time consuming task I have done on this boat so far. To install the solar and a motor battery charger, battery monitor and the depth & speed instrument, it took me some weekends pulling cables behind carpeting and various fiberglass layers. I had to use almost all tools I have and weird body positions to sort out this task by myself alone.

First, I had to pull some wires from the cockpit lockers into the distribution panel for battery charging, monitoring and also for the depth sounder, but I will write about this later, because it deserves its own post.

pulling cable from the aft-berth...

...into the head room and then right...

...to the distribution panel

all wires were then hot-glued onto the hull behind the carpeting

Then I've installed the "real" battery monitor Victron Energy BMV-700 which is really great in giving you precise information about the charging/discharging, battery voltage and even the remaining capacity. I've installed it instead of the car lighter socket next to the switch panel.

drill the hole

insert the monitor and simply plug in the cable from the shunt

this the example of properly labeled cable with transparent heat shrink

This is the original wiring behind the switch panel. They are using ordinary and cheap DIN rail-mounted system used for home installations and I believe this is not marine rated. Maybe this is suitable for freshwater environment, but we will see what happens on the sea. If there will be a problem with corrosion I will replace this.

factory wiring using the ordinary DIN rail-mounted system

Then I've replaced the simple analog gauge battery monitor, which was mounted in a strange position to look at anyway, by the 12V car socket. I cut a thin piece of oak to hide the original cutout.

Now get back to the cockpit lockers. Here I've installed the main electrical subsystems. The junction box in the middle is the combining the output of the solar panel and the outboard charging coil. The connection is pretty simple - solar panel has there blocking Schottky's diode to prevent the current from the motor going into the solar cells and a fuse. The outboard motor has the bridge rectifier and the fuse already installed inside the motor so there is no need to add an additional blocking diode or fuse. And finally the MPPT charger has the fuse for the battery already inside.
On the right you can see the battery monitor shunt and bellow there is a main fuse housing.

battery charge, junction box, battery shunt, main fuse

The final complaint about the wiring is the cheap and poorly crimped ring terminals on this main 10mm2 cables. I was almost able to pull out the cable from the terminal!!! Anyway, I've crimped better quality terminal with the proper crimping tool and used the heat shrink to prevent the corrosion.

proper wire terminals

There is still a plenty of space for the main battery charger from the 230V power line. I've bought the smart CTEK M200 charger. This is a marine rated, quiet and very easy to use charger.
We don't have power line sockets on our boat so I will simply use the extension cord and put it into the locker.