New boat, 393 Beneteau, my dealer was saying they intend to connect the
Hella fans I orderd to the electrical wiring for the lighting, and
upgrade the breaker. They said it was to time consuming and expensive
to run additional wiring thru the boat. This is what is normally done,
has been no problems in Benetau boats. The guage of the wire is think
enough.

I am uncomfortable with this. Has anybody done this, what were the
results?

Largely depends whether the wiring will take the additional load and
not suffer too much voltage drop. Manufacturers quite often use
thinnest cables possible to save copper=money, so with all design load
switched on there won't be any spare capacity for addl load. If the
cables are fat enough, there should not be a problem.
You need to find out the current total lighting load when all are
switched on, the extra load of the fans, the size of wire installed and
the length of the cable runs. Having done that you are in a position
to work out if it is really OK. The company will also argue that it is
unlikely that you will have everything switched on at the same time, so
it is OK. The breaker should still be sized to protect the cable - not
the size of the load.

wrote:
Largely depends whether the wiring will take the additional load and
not suffer too much voltage drop. Manufacturers quite often use
thinnest cables possible to save copper=money, so with all design load
switched on there won't be any spare capacity for addl load. If the
cables are fat enough, there should not be a problem.
You need to find out the current total lighting load when all are
switched on, the extra load of the fans, the size of wire installed and
the length of the cable runs. Having done that you are in a position
to work out if it is really OK. The company will also argue that it is
unlikely that you will have everything switched on at the same time, so
it is OK. The breaker should still be sized to protect the cable - not
the size of the load.


If you replace the lighting on the same wire with LEDs you have spare
capacity for the fans, and wouldn't need to upgrade the breaker.

--
Kees

Turns out there is wiring already in place for six fans in the existing
wiring harnesses.

Thats the way I am going to go

Turns out there is wiring already in place for six fans in the existing
wiring harnesses.

Thats the way I am going to go

b393capt wrote:
New boat, 393 Beneteau, my dealer was saying they intend to connect
the Hella fans I orderd to the electrical wiring for the lighting, and
upgrade the breaker. They said it was to time consuming and expensive
to run additional wiring thru the boat. This is what is normally done,
has been no problems in Benetau boats. The guage of the wire is think
enough.

I am uncomfortable with this. Has anybody done this, what were the
results?

If there were no other options but to use the switch/breaker that supplies
the lighting, then running a live from this to the fans would be OK so long
as you upgraded the breaker. They are surely not breaking into the lighting
circuit to feed the fans? It's possible the dealer has misunderstood what is
involved, and has explained this to you rather badly?

On 4 Mar 2006, "b393capt" wrote:

New boat, 393 Beneteau, my dealer was saying they intend to connect the
Hella fans I orderd to the electrical wiring for the lighting, and
upgrade the breaker. They said it was to time consuming and expensive
to run additional wiring thru the boat.

Has the dealer also said the dealer has confirmed that there isn't
already wiring in place (as there is on other B models) for the fan?
Isn't it a fact that that model's switch panel has at least two
available circuits? OTOH, why, in any event, would they want to
"upgrade the breaker" if all you're referring to is the sort of Hella
fans usually associated with this sort of (sized/configuration) boat,
i.e., ones with their own on/off switches and comparativley low load
when running?

This is what is normally done, has been no problems
in Benetau boats. The guage of the wire is think
enough. I am uncomfortable with this.

Given what (by your reference to the sort of fans involved) you appear
to be suggesting is comparatively low-load devices with a wire gauge
sufficient to take both the reading light in place and fans on the
same circuit and also that this is what this particular B-authorized
dealer normally does, why are you uncomfortable? And if despite what
the dealer says you still feel uncomfortable, have you spoken with Joe
Foss or other technical support folk at the B factory to ask their
opinion?

Has anybody done this, what were the
results?

Your checking out the yhe "yahoo groups" forums devoted to this model
and to the onext smaller and next larger models very likely will
elicit confirmation both that, as you prefer, confirmation of what the
dealer says is likely and also that a separate circuit is
comparatively easy to install too.