Adding a DC breaker/switch in salon panel

Tomco

Active Member
Aug 16, 2012
455
Ottawa, Ontario
Boat Info
2004 420 Sedan Bridge
GHS Hydraulic Lift
11' Walker Bay, 30hp
Engines
Cummins 6CTA 8.3M
I am adding a sea water anchor wash to our boat (2004 420DB) and would like to add a Carling breaker/switch in one of the blank accessory locations to power the pump. When I opened the DC panel it appears sealed with connectors mounted on the back for the wiring to enter/leave. Thought I'd check if anyone has added a switch and how they ran the wiring. If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the round connector in the middle (beside the ground bus bar) appears to have one empty pin with a white plug in it. The wiring from this plug goes to the AC switches on the right side of the panel ... guess you could use any empty pin. Hoping someone has experience they can share before going too far with this.
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Thanks,
Tom
 
I suppose you could... you'll have to identify the connector and find the proper pin/sockets for it.
 
I am curious why and how you plan on doing this.

Where do you plan to tap a raw water source.....a new thru-hull and strainer or at the AC strainer?

Is the idea to run a water line from the pump to the bow and nozzle it at the chain/anchor?

Is the idea to turn the system on from the Helm as you raise the anchor?

As to the reason.....is it just to get mud off the anchor?
 
WORX make a nice portable pressure washer that we use. Operates on a battery and the water source is from a screw on 2 liter soda bottle. Works real nice for cleaning anchor and surrounding area. Think they run about $100. Has many other uses as well such as cleaning off bird droppings, etc. Just an option to consider. :D
 
The 44 DB has an anchor wash spigot in the forward anchor rode locker that is just plumbed into the fresh water system. There is not a ton of pressure but seems to be adequate for cleaning off fresh mud.
I have used it to supply a small pressure washer to clean the front off the front of the boat at times. It seems like it would be a hell of a chore to run the plumbing.
 
The 44 DB has an anchor wash spigot in the forward anchor rode locker that is just plumbed into the fresh water system. There is not a ton of pressure but seems to be adequate for cleaning off fresh mud.
I have used it to supply a small pressure washer to clean the front off the front of the boat at times. It seems like it would be a hell of a chore to run the plumbing.

We do use the current anchor wash but it doesn't have much pressure and I'd prefer to not use the fresh water. Plumbing is pretty straight forward, the pump will be in the ER near the bow thruster batteries and pull from the AC line after the strainer. Its a straight run beside the Stbd engine into the locker with the water manifold under the galley floor. I'll just connect to the existing line that currently runs from the manifold to the locker.

It is the electrical side that I haven't nailed down. I lean towards putting a switch in the salon panel vs the bridge. I always turn off those (DC) switches before leaving the boat and I wouldn't accidently leave it powered with an unlimited amount of water to pump should a hose let go. I was hoping SR might have included a wire for the 'Accessory' in the cable bundle but that doesn't seem the case.

I added a anchor wash on my 340 and with a larger pump (4.0gpm) than the fresh water pump there was a good volume and pressure. We like anchoring out and this just makes the cleanup much easier.
 
I am curious why and how you plan on doing this.

Where do you plan to tap a raw water source.....a new thru-hull and strainer or at the AC strainer?

Is the idea to run a water line from the pump to the bow and nozzle it at the chain/anchor?

Is the idea to turn the system on from the Helm as you raise the anchor?

As to the reason.....is it just to get mud off the anchor?

The current wash pulls off the fresh water manifold and is insufficient to keep the rode and anchor clean. With all chain we drag up a lot off the bottom when raising anchor. I added a similar set up on my 340 and it worked great! It is easiest to tap off the AC line after the strainer - I probably wouldn't do it if a new thru hull was required.
 
Sounds like you are going to use a 12v water pump. If it were me I'd just tie into one of the existing water pump power circuits. Either double wire crimp it where it's crimped at the pump itself, or run the power wire to the output screw of the existing water pump breaker switch. The first one is easiest because power and ground are right there. The second one you'll have to connect ground to a ground post near the breaker. I've used a ground post on a 12v gauge at the panel for that in the past. It's rare that you'd ever have both pumps on at the same time since the wash down is so infrequently used, but if you are worried about current draw and wire and breaker size should they both be on simultaneously, do the current draw math and select wire size and possibly change breaker size accordingly.
 
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Hi Bill, I have considered this approach as well. Wouldn't be that hard to run power/ground from the existing FW pump to the new anchor wash pump. Very low likelihood of both ever being on at the same time so the breaker should be able to handle it. We leave the power to the FW pump on all the time we are on the boat - I would prefer to be able to switch off the anchor wash pump when not being used.

Disappointingly, it seems that while SR left a couple slots on the panel for adding accessory breakers they didn't include the wiring in the cable bundle (which they did do on the 340, so it was simple to wire) that you could pick up in the ER.
 
I wonder if the check valve in your AC pump will be sufficient to prevent you from simply sucking air through the AC plumbing anytime you use the washdown pump?

Rather than a new pump/new plumbing would it be feasible to simply add a "booster pump" for your existing anchor washdown spigot? Obviously this doesn't resolve your fresh water capacity concerns.

One last thought - you could simply mount a pump in your anchor locker with a 10 foot feeder hose and makeshift strainer on it. Drop the hose over the side, flip the switch (in the locker) and pump away. Save yourself the plumbing. Perhaps borrow power from your windlass...
 
Hi Bill, I have considered this approach as well. Wouldn't be that hard to run power/ground from the existing FW pump to the new anchor wash pump. Very low likelihood of both ever being on at the same time so the breaker should be able to handle it. We leave the power to the FW pump on all the time we are on the boat - I would prefer to be able to switch off the anchor wash pump when not being used.

Disappointingly, it seems that while SR left a couple slots on the panel for adding accessory breakers they didn't include the wiring in the cable bundle (which they did do on the 340, so it was simple to wire) that you could pick up in the ER.
Then you'll have to install a dedicated breaker. Pretty easy access to run the wire and do it on my boat. Yours may be tougher.
 
I wonder if the check valve in your AC pump will be sufficient to prevent you from simply sucking air through the AC plumbing anytime you use the washdown pump?

Rather than a new pump/new plumbing would it be feasible to simply add a "booster pump" for your existing anchor washdown spigot? Obviously this doesn't resolve your fresh water capacity concerns.

One last thought - you could simply mount a pump in your anchor locker with a 10 foot feeder hose and makeshift strainer on it. Drop the hose over the side, flip the switch (in the locker) and pump away. Save yourself the plumbing. Perhaps borrow power from your windlass...

I used the same approach on my 340 of tapping off the AC line and we didn't experience any difficulties running both the AC and the wash pump at the same time or just the wash pump. Path of least resistance for the wash pump was not thru the AC pump check valve. I found that I also used the anchor wash hose to wash the boat, one more reason I prefer to not draw down on the FW tank. This works since we boat in fresh water. My thought is that by connecting to the existing anchor wash line at the FW manifold I can easily switch it back to the FW tank if need be. On my boat the manifold is half way up the boat so it is only a run from there to the ER for a new pump that I need to do - and that is a pretty straightforward exercise to accomplish.

Adding the pump to the locker with a feeder hose is an interesting idea. It would simplify the plumbing side but maybe not the electrical side. In the 340 there were occasions that seas were choppy when we were pulling anchor and my wife was busy enough dealing with the anchor while trying to maintain balance that I wouldn't want her to also have to worry about a feeder hose as well. This is a boat we intend to keep for a long time and travel extensively on - I prefer to have a more permanent and factory like install (I'm a bit fussy that way!)

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions!
 
To circle back with an update. Decision was to add a breaker on the AC panel for a new anchor wash pump, which will be tied into the sea water feed for the AC. Original question was access to the panel (all wires have a plug on the back of the panel vs thru hole). Turns out, the electrical panel box is (1/8"?) aluminum! Simply drilled a new hole in the back of the box, added a rubber grommet and pulled the wire(s) thru. I have three un-used breaker locations on the AC panel so I pulled three wires so future wiring will be easier and I don't have to pull the cockpit fridge out again - two unused are tied up in the ER and the third is for the anchor wash pump. Running the wires was easily done.

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