With apologies in advance to Larry Brandt, I am posting this photo of what the back of my electrical panel looks like. I know, there are some things you just can't unsee.
I just read this article that says the white (neutral) and green (grounding) legs of the AC system should never be connected, except at the power source (i.e. the shore power box or an onboard genset). https://www.proboat.com/2011/10/demystifying-the-neutral-to-ground-conne...
As you can see, on my boat there are several white and green connections that share the same bus bar. In fact, there are white and green connections on TWO different bus bars. I'm not sure, because I'm not at the boat, but it also appears that there's an actual jumper going between these two bus bars.
So I am asking for the wisdom of the community here to tell me whether a) anyone else has both green and white on the same bus bars on their boats and b) whether there's any other plausibly acceptable explanation besides a wildly uninformed PO or marine electrician for doing it this way?
Depending on the answers to those two questions, I think my initial plan is to try to determine which of those bus bars is the actual ground (I assume it would have a thick cable running to the ground on the engine?) and then switching all the greens to that, while putting all the whites on the other one and eliminating any jumper between the two.
I would do this, of course, with the shore power completely disconnected from the boat. I'm just wondering if I will blow something up when I plug it all back in and flip the switch.
Thanks in advance.
Joe
S/V Sylbo
1994 Mk 1.5, Hull 1337, M35AC
San Francisco Bay
Joe Bousquin, San Francisco Bay
Sausalito Yacht Harbor
SV "Sylbo"
1994 Catalina 36 Mk 1.5, hull number 1337
M35A(C)
The pile of spaghetti made me laugh out loud...it reminded me of my first few boats and how the electrical panel looked after I installed a lot of things myself. They say the you can see the signature of the electrician in his/her work! At any rate, I'd think the first order of business is to figure out what each wire is, what it does, where it goes. I'm guessing, based on what I see, that the color coding on some of the wires is not what it might seem to convey to you. I.E. they may be randomly colored wires, green not meaning green etc. Good luck.
Al Fricke
S/V Jubilee San Francisco Bay
Catalina 36' MkII #1867
Universal 35-B
We did a full review of the electrical panel five years ago.
Here the result.
Regards,
Eladio Vallina
C-36 TR EUREKA II
Hull 1122 (1991)
Home port Barcelona (Spain).
Eladio, Nice work, that is how I would eventually like to get mine. Did you upgrade your original switches to circuit breakers? I'm wondering how much effort and cost that entails.
Joe Bousquin, San Francisco Bay
Sausalito Yacht Harbor
SV "Sylbo"
1994 Catalina 36 Mk 1.5, hull number 1337
M35A(C)
Al, Thanks, the point you make about the wires not necessarily matching their color codes was made to me by a dock neighbor as well. That being a possibility, how can I use my digital voltage meter to test the green and white connections? What should I be looking for on each?
Also, what part of SF Bay are you in? We keep our boat in Sausalito Yacht Harbor.
Joe Bousquin, San Francisco Bay
Sausalito Yacht Harbor
SV "Sylbo"
1994 Catalina 36 Mk 1.5, hull number 1337
M35A(C)
Here attached picture of the new electrical panel. Yes new breakers.
Regards.
Eladio Vallina
C-36 TR EUREKA II
Hull 1122 (1991)
Home port Barcelona (Spain).
Eladio, What panel/brand is that? It looks like a great fit.
Joe Bousquin, San Francisco Bay
Sausalito Yacht Harbor
SV "Sylbo"
1994 Catalina 36 Mk 1.5, hull number 1337
M35A(C)
Hi,
It's a Spanish brand call Pros by Ditel, www.pros.es
Eladio Vallina
C-36 TR EUREKA II
Hull 1122 (1991)
Home port Barcelona (Spain).
That is correct. You never want to connect neutral and ground together on a boats electrical system. Neutral and ground should only be connected at the power source (pedestal). Don't go by the color code you are seeing. Somebody may have used green for neutral and while for ground. Follow the wires and know for sure.
2003 Catalina 36