View Transcript

Hide Transcript

Transcript is auto-generated.

youtubers jeff cote here with another  session of ask bys  we've got a question from a fellow  boater in spain  um the boater asks he says jeff i've  been watching a lot of your videos and  reading your articles  thank you and by the way there's i know  we're doing this youtube thing but  if some of you want to geek out via  print we have about 12  1100 pages on our website  of just sort of content just like this  but  more in the written format so  the video format is a good way but also  if you want there's a lot more  written format that goes more in detail  in a lot of these  topics so this boater asked jeff i've  been uh watching your videos  and i'm trying to basically tackle uh  under your advice  how to go about fusing a lot of the  wires aboard my boat  how do i go about sizing those fusing  and  choosing the right fuse for the  application  so there's a great question from a voter  here in spain  so the first thing is see rule number  one nothing's easy  so if you know the takeaway from this  two three minute conversation or video  here with all of you is not that there  is no cheat sheet  there is no easy way to tell you what  fuse to use that's the first thing  so what we do when we fuse a circuit on  a boat is  we start with the manufacturer's manual  so if you're going to install the vhf  you're going to install anything on your  boat  a fan it could be a water pump  it could be an inverter it could be any  electrical appliance that requires  electricity to operate  the manufacturer is actually going to be  very very  specific on the type of fuse and the  amperage of fuse that they want you to  use  so the first part which is hard is  actually figuring out what are all the  appliances on my boat  taking that and making sure you have a  manual for those appliances and in the  manual  the manufacturer will actually say i  want a 7 amp  fast blow fuse for this circuit i want  an  anl 200 amp fuse for this circuit  or if it's a windlass they're going to  say i want a 80 amp  thermal circuit breaker for this circuit  so fuses come in all size and shapes  like a car there's no such thing as just  a car cars are all built for different  purposes  minivan sports car it doesn't matter  convertible  two-seater could be whatever it's a  vehicle right  so fuses are like cars they're built for  a specific purpose  and there's quite a lot of choice so the  choices are first of all the type of  fuse right  so there's these sort of fuses are  called  thermal circuit breakers and these are  resettable and generally you're going to  have those  on circuits that need to be turned off  regularly like a windlass  or that can accidentally trip and you  want to be able to reset  quickly so these are called thermal  circuit breakers and we have the same  thing on our panels  a lot of the panels those little white  or red  circuit breakers or thermal circuit  breakers and we have those in our homes  they'll easily resettable that's called  a thermal circuit breaker  now the other thing that is often used  are what are called  basically if they blow and this is  called an ato  atc fuse if you can see it it's a little  fuses that we have in our cars  um a bigger version that is this fuse  right here it's called a maxi fuse  right it's just a bigger version of a  blade and when it blows you can't repair  it you have to swap it  okay this is called a class  t fuse and we use that on inverters a  lot that's what they recommend  this is a class t fuse and then lastly  this is another type of fuse is called  an anl fuse  and we use that on big circuits as well  you know so bow thrusters are going to  have this a fuse  so first of all choose the right type of  fuse for the application  right and it's going to be recommended  from the manufacturer and then the most  important thing  is not just the type of fuse but also  the size  and that size i see unfortunately so  many boaters go  oh the fuse is tripping let's just bring  the fuse level up  right just oh the five amp was tripping  let's put a 15. on the 15 was  tripping let's put a 30. and i've seen  boat fires where people  the fuse was tripping for a reason and  what they did is they  put a bigger and bigger fuse and then  what happened is the wire wasn't able to  handle  the overcurrent that was happening and  the wire caught on fire  so if a fuse trips you have to ask  yourself as a boater why did it trip  was it a bad choice of fuse or is there  a problem between  the battery and the appliance and as i  increased the fuse size will i be  causing  uh damage to any loads the other thing  to be cons  to consider is when you're sizing a fuse  you're sizing it for two things  one is the appliance right which the  manufacturers are going to tell you  but the other one that's really  important to remember is the size of the  wire  feeding the device you don't ever want  to have a fuse that is not a weak link  a fuse is by definition a weak link it  is the one device  in that circuit that should blow first  so remember that when you're selecting  fuses make sure that the fuse  is there to not only protect the  appliance  but also the wire and choose the size of  that fuse  based on the opacity that the wire can  handle  and there's all these tables that are  out there and i know it takes research  but remember we educate first and then  do  and then lastly as well make sure that  the rated of the fuses  matches exactly what the manufacturer  wants the manufacturer says 7 amps  you cannot use a 10 amp fuse you use a 7  amp fuse  i know that means a lot of fuses and  guess what on my boat  i have kits of fuses i have these little  tubs and i have all these little fuses  and when a fuse blows on my boat i'm  always ready so carry lots of spare  fuses on your boat as well  good question thanks for asking  thanks for watching this video glad to  donate my time to make these videos and  to share our passion for marine  electrical  help us keep this channel ad-free by  donating on paypal  linked below or also potentially buying  some of our merchandise  on our store we hear we've got a hoodie  we've got a hat and we also have some  tumblers and other gear  thanks for watching and we'll see you on  the next video  English (auto-generated)  Videolyti