H'mm. Convenient, but it violates KISS. Where (electrically) do you put
the radios -- you may use both VHF and SSB while not at sea? What does the
relay coil draw -- 5 or 10 watts?

On Swee****er, all the "at sea" equipment was in one column on the panel,
next to the nav station. Convenient. Simple.

On Fintry we'll probably have color codes on the switches and maybe a master
"at sea" breaker (breakers are cheap). All the electronics will be on a DC
subpanel in the wheelhouse. Simple.


--
Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com


..
"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
The RFI in the boat is caused not by RF backing up the HF DC leads,
which are VERY filtered inside the radio, but by the wiring in the
boat acting like an antenna in the RF field of the HF transmitting
antenna, itself. There's always been lots of RF from your HF radio in
the wiring. If it's not causing any problem, don't worry about it.

Seeing as how you are rewiring, let me suggest what I did aboard
Lionheart that everyone has enjoyed so much......a master relay.......

Lionheart has a #2 primary coming from the master switch through a 60A
fuse block to a continuous duty power relay, rated at 100A. It looks
like a car starter solenoid used in a Ford but has a continuous duty
coil so you can leave it on, not just bump it intermittently. I found
a nice marine push-pull power switch in a bargain bin and use that to
ground the low side of the coil (it has two terminals) to energize the
relay. The relay energizes a power panel all the electronics in the
boat is connected to. It also energizes a red LED next to the switch
so you can look up on your way ashore to see that the electronics is
on or off. Dock the boat, push in the switch, and every piece of
electronics except the stereo we might want to run while docked is
shut down all at once. No more going off forgetting you left the
breaker to the sonar on. Some equipment refuses to come on
automatically when you power up its DC lead, so you have to turn them
on separately, but pull that knob and the whole extensive electronics
suite comes alive with ONE BUTTON.

Think about it...(c; My forgetful captain loves it. He no longer has
to figure out which switches to leave on and which to turn off while
his guests are pressing him to get the bar in operation....(c;



On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 08:55:46 -0500, Kelton Joyner
wrote:

Larry,
I am rewiring my boat and have a question on wiring for the HF radio.
Best engineering practices would be to wire to power leads directly to
the battery (about 6-7'). I want to wire it to the DC distribution panel
with a CB (also about 6-7' from the radio) so that both battery banks
could be used. If I use ferrite on each end of the wire, would this be
sufficient to prevent RFI being radiated at the panel? Do they make
ferrite's for 6AWG wire?

Kelton
s/v Isle Escape



Larry W4CSC

"Very funny, Scotty! Now, BEAM ME MY CLOTHES! KIRK OUT!"