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Many battery switches come with a pair of small terminals labelled "Alternator Field Disconnect" or AFD. Of all my years working on marine electrical systems I have never once seen these terminals hooked up correctly. What are they for and how should they be wired.........

The circuit breaker panels on this Sabre 54 Fly Bridge Sedan and custom made from the Blue Sea Systems 360 Series modular panel system.

ABYC Standard 11.10 OVERCURRENT PROTECTION is a key section of the standards. The principal is very clear, an overcurrent device, such as a fuse or circuit breaker, needs to be placed within seven inches of where the conductor is connected to the source of power. The overcurrent device is protecting THE WIRE from carrying more current than it is able. What follows is an outline of this part of the standard but please see the disclaimer at the end.

I use this Blue Sea Systems digital multimeter as my every day meter. It does almost everything I need. I also have a couple of other meters for specialized uses but this is what lives in my toolbox and gets used every single day

Federal Regulations on electrical systems for boats are covered by 33 CFR 183.401-460. The regulations, although mandatory, are somewhat limited in scope. They are available for free online:  33 C.F.R. PART 183—BOATS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT  In addition the ABYC has published a booklet explaining and simplifying the rules. What follows here is a brief discussion of the material covered by the regulations, please see the disclaimer at the end.

This is an outline review of the ABYC standards relating to Electrical Systems. It just highlights the subject area of each standard. Further Blog Posts will delve into the details of the standards. The ABYC standards are a voluntary set of standards written and maintained by the American Boat and Yacht Council. They cover the design, manufacture and outfitting of small craft built in the US and compliment the compulsory standards written by the US Coast Guard. Each ABYC standard is updated every five years.  The USCG standards are covered in a separate Blog post.

ABYC standard E11 covers AC and DC wiring on boats. In this post we are going to look at one small part of the standard relating to installation. In particular this standard refers to how electrical conductors should be routed and supported. In the standard its referred to as 11.14.6 Installation-General

I carry this simple and inexpensive AC circuit tester on every job too

I carry this little gizmo on every job I go on

This panel was designed for a 40 ft. sailboat. It was designed by PKYS in conjunction with the owner who installed it all by himself.

This boat from Annapolis MD got a new Blue Sea Systems custom 360-Series AC/DC Panel. It was supplied by PKYS and installed by Yacht Electronic Systems.

Blue Sea Systems Custom 360-Series Circuit Breaker Panels.