One of the things I always like to remind readers about is that the primary by-product of lousy electrical connections is heat. Enough heat, and things catch on fire. That's pretty easy for just about anybody to understand.

What's not so obvious to most people is that there are some relatively easy and inexpensive ways to see if too much heat is being generated. In the photo below I'm checking the quality of the main positive feed cable to the starter motor on a friend's outboard engine.

The infrared heat gun shown is one made by ExTech, but these guns are widely available today from a number of vendors. Radio Shack sells them. I've seen them for sale for as little as $29.95.

So, besides using them to check for engine cooling system problems or to see if your steaks on the grille are at the right temperature, these guns make a great tool for finding loose or not so obviously corroded electrical connections. The way I do this is to scan the cable in question using the red laser light on the gun. This way I can establish a median temperature in the cable in question. With the engine cranking in this example, I close in on the connection with the laser light. If I see a temperature rise of 25 degrees F or more, I am immediately suspicious of the quality of the connection. This is a simple technique that can help you find some elusive problems, and save you from burning your finger tips!

There's a good reason the gun above is also shown in Eds Tool Box.

Don Wilson, the "Tech Doctor"

I have had a chance to check out a press release that came in over the wires yesterday regarding our friends at XANTREX. Online training videos with their TECH Doctor, Don Wilson are now available to answer common questions about not just their products, but all things related to their products like types of electricity, battery info and the like. So, head over to: www.xantrex.com and click on the new "Tech Doctor" link. Don is going to walk you through some really excellent and easy to understand lessons about things you want to know about your boat's electrical system. Highly recommended.

Its hard to believe it but it has been two years since I first introduced a device known as an ELCI to you in a post linked here: http://www.edsboattips.com/maintenance-a-diy/21-introducing-the-elci 

Well, it's time for an update on this life saving device, especially since in a couple of weeks I'll be in attendance at the ABYC's annual "Standards Week" an the ELCI will most assuredly will be one of the many topics of conversation during the week.

First the bad news. The ABYC technical committee has had to allow yet another year of exemption for these units to be a required part of all new boat builds, most especially those attempting to get certified under the NMMA's program, which I have also discussed here several times.

The problem is that some boat builders have experienced unexplainable nuisance tripping of the ELCI device when keying a VHF radio and under certain inverter related circumstances, specifically switching from shore power to inverter AC power. To date, we cannot duplicate the problem at any kind of a 100% level, so there are many questions unanswered about this phenomena. So, the status is, if you have an inverter installed, you may wish to wait before jumping on board the ELCI band wagon, and as for the VHF, my gut feeling is that as long as the ELCI device is located at least six feet away from any part of your boat's VHF antenna or the coaxial cable that runs from the base of the antenna to your radio, you are not likely to experience nuisance trips.

Now the good news. One of my sponsors, Blue Sea Systems has been working on a kit that I hope will enable you or the electrician at your marina to easily retrofit your older boat to provide ELCI protection. They have also created a really nice brochure that explains in detail the why you need it and how to install it of ELCI's. The new box is shown here:

I'm encouraging everyone to contact Blue Sea using the hot button over in the upper left column here on the Eds Boat Tips website to get your brochure and look over the information provided within it. Upgrading your boat with ELCI protection for your shore power system is going to go a long way toward saving lives if you keep your boat in a marina and plugged into shore power all the time. Check it out. 

Its that time of year when things begin to slow down a bit. The holidays are just about over, the boatyard is filled to the brink with shrink-wrapped splendor and I begin to get into a winter funk as I wait patiently for Memorial Day weekend. Until then, there are some things we need to do to make sure we are good to go when the boating season returns. One area that gets overlooked way too frequently is safety related and an easy fix, if you remember. Your flare kit and some of the medications in your first aid kit have expiration dates and now is the time of year to give them a good look over and replace things as needed.

All of the flares in your kit will be marked like this one. Check those dates!

Some of the medications, like this antiseptic creme will also have expiration dates. Its time to update folks!

As some of you know one of my favorite jobs over recent years is to act as one of the judges for the Cruising World Magazine Boat of The Year contest. Contrary to what some have accused us of over the years, the Cruising World program and the judges get deep into the weeds as they say. We bring in experts in all areas related to sailing, cruising/living aboard, construction and systems all get covered both on land and on the water.

My role is as the systems guy. I actually take things apart on the boats we inspect, much to the chagrin of some of the sales people who are trying to make their boat yours.....Hey, its part of the program guys!

Anyhow, I often get asked about what some of the things I look for actually are and what influences me one way or the other so today I thought I might share one area that has a big influence in my area of interest.

One of the areas that the ABYC talks about in its electrical standards has to do with identification of the wiring used on boats so that someone attempting to service the electrical system has a clue about what a given wire is being used for. This makes a huge amount of sense when you think about it, and especially in light of the fact that the electrical systems on modern boats are not exactly getting simpler..

Now, the ABYC offers pretty broad latitude on how one might go about identifying low voltage DC conductors. Numbers are allowed, color codes are allowed and some colors are recommended, individual conductor labeling is acceptable.

In the case of conductors that use insulation color as the identifier, we are at the point where I feel this may not be enough to really get the job done. Some builders have certainly realized that and have figured out some great ways to get the job done. This is one of the things I always look for on the boats we inspect. Let me show you some examples. Below you see the back side of the DC panel on one of the boats we inspected this year:

What is immediately noticeable as you look at the photo is that most all of the wires shown use red insulation, which based on ABYC E-11 Standard indicates a DC positive conductor. Great, but that does not tell me anything about what circuit on the boat is being supplied by that red DC positive conductor, and that is my gripe with the way things have evolved in some cases. The builder in this case could have built a completely standards compliant boat using the red wire only, but in my view would have been missing the spirit of the standard which is to help and and enhance safety.

So, what the photo does not show well because of the resolution of the photo is that each and every one of those many red wires you see has a number heat shrinked to it at the terminal and the boat has a number decoder in its owner's manual. A similar manual is shown here(I don't think it is the same boat):

So as you can see, the owner's documentation above gives them the wire number, its gauge size and a nice description of its purpose. You can see that on the boat above, we are talking lots of red and yellow wires(the preferred choice now for the DC negative return conductor). Not a problem folks, I really don't care what color the builder uses, with the decoder page above, and as long as those numbers are still on the end of the cable, I have more than enough information to get to servicing the aft running light or the port sail locker light.

So, the boat above gets high marks from me in the wiring area based on all of this. A nice neat installation and more than adequate cable identification. Just don't lose that decoder table!