A rant, I'm sure most will understand.

[Portage_Bay]

When you decommission wires, pull them out. If it's not practical at least disconnect them from the power source and terminate properly. If, for some reason, you want to preserve the run for future use then label both ends after disconnecting from the power source. Never just cut a chunk out of the middle and call it good. Ever. It's a good idea to disconnect DC (-) or AC neutral as well. I had more than one surprise when a connected but dead end (-) or neutral hits a hot.

Follow color codes. If you can't label what it is DC (+) or (-), AC hot, neutral, ground. If you can't get the supplies to follow color codes, either current or original, then at least be consistent.

There. I had to get that off my chest. No I feel better, then you for listening.

 

[mvweebles]

Ummm......dare I ask what the backstory is that prompted this post now???

Peter

 

[tiltrider1]

I hate it when people take short cuts on decommissioning wires. I always disconnect at both ends and then label both ends with a note as to where the other end can be found if I choose not to remove the wire.

 

[Barking Sands]

LOL...Its amazing what you find. Its actually kind of interesting because if enough is left over you can surmise what was there...and in some cases what happened.

I pulled about 15 lbs of unused wires when I rewired 3/4 of the boat.

I had a very large shunt mounted to a stantion below deck near the start battery bank. When I redid the battery and inverter wire runs I was cataloging existing wires. The shunt had some 2/0 wire coming off each end so I attempted to follow it. Both ends went to the middle of large bundles about three feet away and were just lopped off. I pulled the wire and shunt out. I also found the same size power wire not connected. After some additional work and cataloging, it was clear the shunt and large wire was from an old inverter/charger that was mounted on the back bulkhead. Obviously the inverter was long gone. So they just dyked the large wires to remove the inverter and tucked them in..lol.

 

[Portage_Bay]

Ummm......dare I ask what the backstory is that prompted this post now???

Peter

A relatively new to me old boat. November 23, boat is 1986. Been working through a number of electrical puzzles as anyone with an older boat will need to do. I want to install solar on the pilot house roof. I need to find the path from there to the house bank. It's well hidden. So, find a wire that is on one end or the other and start following. Nothing unusual in that. Along the way this AM I found a 4/0 cable with a 6" chunk cut out mid-run. I think, hope, it is a DC (-) cable, not sure yet. A 12 AWG red wire just cut, followed it back to one of the DC (+) busses. Yes, I said one of. Along with that a 12 AWG black wire back to the DC (-) buss. The red still had it's fuse in, still connected to the (+) buss. An unused 9 pin serial cable. 3 coax antenna leads going nowhere. Numerous audio cables going nowhere. That's just this AM.

The crowing glory was found before this season's cruising. Output from the stbd engine's alternator to a 120 AMP thermal breaker to a 60 AMP Maxi fuse labeled "Watermaker". Blown of course. Supposedly feeding the house bank through one of the DC (+) busses. At the same time that was uncovered if you want to see a puzzle that truly had me stumped check out this thread. Start / House / Combine conundrum. Took far too long to get the start and house banks charging correctly.

Lesser puzzles are fore example changing out salon flourescent lighting to LED I found confusing DC wiring. Sometimes black was (+) and sometimes (-).

It's been a continuing battle since I took possession, I don't see any end in sight. The trigger for today's rant was hours of crawling around in the engine room and under the dash. Asking my old arthritic joints to do things that I will pay for later. Getting my size 12s stuck in places I had to use my hands to extricate.

At some point in the past the boat was "re-wired". AC and DC. Lovely new blue seas panels were used. Much of the labling is nonsense. Many of the old wired are simply cut and left dangling, too many are hot. Mostly the rewire is butt joints from the blue seas to the old wires.

A complete boat re-wire is the only thing that will really fix this mess. I don't have a big enough checkbook for that.

As my sweetie will as when I get home. "Are you a little fussy?"

 

[Portage_Bay]

tiltrider1 and Barking Sands, like my post title says, I'm sure most will understand. Far too many of us have been through these miseries. I'm just one of many.

 

[porman]

I replaced a friend's inverter and found that whoever installed it connected the start and house banks together with a big 4/0 cable.

 

[Comodave]

On our last boat Iwas doing some rewiring. I found a #6 cable pair that was just cutoff under the brow of the flybridge. Got the volt meter and they were hot. Tracking them down they went to the house bank were directly connected to the batteries without any overcurrent protection. Dangerous.