Chuck wrote in news:1176743785_1169
@sp12lax.superfeed.net:

Thanks for the clarification, Peter. It
really doesn't change anything though.
The point is that the more often you
switch a breaker on or off, the greater
the chance of failure. If you do it once
a week, the breaker may outlive your
boat. If you do it several times a day,
then depending on the breaker design and
a whole lot of other stuff, it may fail
before your boat does. Switches, on the
other hand, will usually sustain many
more operation cycles before failure.



I disagree. The more you move them, the less likely you are going to
find them inoperative from being corroded up by the sea air and open.
Using them as a power switch, the regular movement of the wiping contact
surfaces and a little arcing on the DC circuit under load, keeps the
contacts clean and free of interfering corrosion that cause them to
nuisance-trip because the corroded contacts get hotter than normal,
causing the bimetal strip to trip the breaker when nothing is really
wrong.

I know lots of 60s sailboats that have no power switches for any of their
DC lights other than to flip the breakers on and off for everything.
Those breakers are over 40 years old and STILL functioning fine....from
being constantly cleaned by the arcing and metal scraping across metal as
they are opened and closed.

I DO wish the boat breaker companies would spend a little more money on a
better product and the damned boat manufacturers would stop putting
electrical components in FLAMMABLE WOODEN BOXES, not fire/flameproof
enclosures. You're not allowed to install the breakers in your house on
a piece of plastic or plywood and just screw it into the sheetrock. Why
is this acceptable by the standards authorities for installation in a
damned boat?! ALL boats should have NEMA-approved AC and DC breaker
panels in proper NEMA panel boxes. Hell, just carve out a hole in the
mahogany and screw a double AC outlet to it with some wood screws. You
all know exactly where these AC and DC outlets are installed with NO
HANDIBOX to prevent fires from overcurrents. I'll rant about the
FLAMMABLE WIREWAYS another time....I wanna see CONDUIT, DAMMIT!

Damned cheap boat crap.....(d^

Larry
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