Posted by Peter Kennedy on 10/23/2013 to
Electrical Standards
A-16 ELECTRIC NAVIGATION LIGHTS - JULY 2011 This standard is a guide for the design, construction, performance, and installation of electric navigation lights on vessels up to 65 ft. in length. Much of the standard relates to the specification, manufacture and testing methods of the lights themselves which doesn't much concern us here. A portion of the standard repeats the lighting section of the International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea which specifies placement of navigation lights and the visibility range requirements for different classes of vessels.
A-27 ALTERNATING CURRENT (AC) GENERATOR SETS - JULY 2004
This standard is a guide for the design, construction, and installation of AC gensets on boats. It covers general requirements such as protection for moving parts, access, protection from carbon monoxide. It goes on to discuss ignition protection, enclosures and sound shields, internal and external wiring connections. It has a more lengthy section on separating AC and DC connections. It finishes up with sections on testing, fuel systems, shields or guards, marking and instruction manuals.
A-28 GALVANIC ISOLATORS - JULY 2008
This is a performance based standard and guide for the qualification and installation of galvanic isolators, and their status monitors in AC electrical systems on boats. Galvanic isolators must have a status monitor unless they are of the failsafe type. Among the things the Standard discusses are location and operating temperature as well as labeling and testing.
A-31 BATTERY CHARGERS AND INVERTERS - JULY 2010
The standard refers to all permanently installed chargers and inverters. A large part of the standard refers to design, manufacture and testing which is outside the scope of this article. From an installation standpoint the standard discuss ventilation requirements, location away from heat sources, waterproofing, ignition protection, GFI operation when inverting, not installing over batteries, AC and DC grounding, marking and labeling.
A-32 AC POWER CONVERSION EQUIPMENT AND SYSTEMS - JULY 2012
This standard deals with transformers and other voltage or frequency converters for shore power systems.
E-10 STORAGE BATTERIES - JULY 2011
A guide for the selection, location, installation, and wiring of storage batteries for DC systems of 50 volts or less. The installation section refers to how batteries should be constrained so they cant move, how the terminals should be protected from accidentally coming in contact with anything especially metal fuel lines. It mentions ventilation requirements for batteries and containment for spilled electrolyte.
E-11 AC AND DC ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS ON BOATS - JULY 2012
This standard is a guide for the design, construction, and installation of AC and DC electrical systems on boats. As this is the most significant standard relating to electrical systems a brief summary wouldn't do it justice and this will be the subject of a separate blog post. The introduction to the standard refers to the mandatory requirements of the USCG regulations: Title 33, CFR 183 Subpart I
H-22 ELECTRIC BILGE PUMP SYSTEMS - JULY 2011
A guide for the design, construction, installation, operation, and control of electric bilge pump systems. Not much of this standard refers to the electrical part, it references E11 as the relevant electrical standard.
TE-4 LIGHTNING PROTECTION - JULY 2006
They call this a technical information report and not a standard. It is intended as a guide for the design, construction, and installation of lightning protection systems on boats. It gives safety guidance for how to protect the vessels occupants but doesn't make any attempt to help with the protection of electronic or electrical equipment.
TE-30 ELECTRICAL PROPULSION SYSTEMS - JULY 2009
The other ABYC electrical standards refer to DC systems of up to 50 volts and as many electric propulsion systems are in excess of 50 volts this standard attempts to cover some of the missing ground. It covers all the familiar subjects of electrical isolation, size of conductors, moisture, overcurrent protection, battery disconnects, grounding and fault monitoring.
Peter Kennedy has been in business since 1991 designing, installing and servicing marine electrical systems. The purpose of this blog is to offer support to both professional installers and do-it-yourself boat owners who wish to undertake this work themselves.
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