Forums › General Discussion › Mast Wiring Plans

Viewing 14 reply threads
  • Author
    Posts
    • #67866
      Hull152_Patrick
      Spectator

      I used this site to calculate the wire gauge for my mast electrical wiring and wanted to run it by the gang to check my logic. http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

      The distances are to 1 way from end to end back to the nav station or distribution panel. The sites formula correctly uses round trip lengths. Her’es a rough drawing of what’s going on:
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/deepplaya/4194728402/sizes/o/

      Main Mast
      LED Nav LightStrobeAnchor – 12v – .5A – 82′ – 14AWG
      PA Horn – 12v – 3.33A – 59.5′ – 8AWG
      LED Spreader Lights – 12v – 2.4A – 59.5′ – 10AWG

      Mizzen Mast
      LED Spreader Lights – 12v – 2.4A – 30′ – 12AWG

      Thanks,
      -p

      —-
      s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

      Owners no more...
      Thanks Dawn and Patrick!

    • #74664
      RichCarter
      Participant

      Pat
      What is the wifi antenna at the top of your mast? At 2.4ghz line-loss in a cable will kill the signal.

      Rich

      Quote:
      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

    • #74665
      unabated
      Participant

      if you use the antenna/bridge arrangement similar to the IslandTime PC product – a CAT 5 cable is all that is needed and there is no signal loss. I have mine mounted on the mizzen spreader though. I can grab wifi signals from at least 2 miles…. maybe more.
      On my way down here – i was sailing smack dab in the middle of the chesepeake and I was grapping all kinds of free wifi from the western shore.
      alan
      unabated

      — On Wed, 12/30/09, Rich Carter <> wrote:

      Quote:
      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

    • #74666
      RichCarter
      Participant

      Alan
      I google’d it and found it. Nice looking product. Do you have one of these? If so, does it plug directly into the PC lan port or does it require something else?
      http://islandtimepc.com/marine_wifi.html

      I doubt that putting it up in the mizzen will help with range, but it gets it out of the way. I’ve lost count of the number of antennas I have on my pushpit. I think its six. I don’t have a mizzen. I have my wifi router mounted on my pushpit in a waterproof box with 6db gain antenna. The USB cable runs to my nav-station. It works OK, but it could be better. I too bootleg internet access when cruising. Its amazing how many folks leave their networks open.

      Rich

      Quote:
      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

    • #74667
      unabated
      Participant

      Rich,
      I do have one of those units. I have a Linksys WAP54g wireless router mounter under the companionway stairs. The cable from the bridge is connected to this. In this method, I can get wireless on the boat anywhere. V Berth or cockpit. Plus, if i give out my wep code I let my boat neighbor use it.
      You’d be surpised how may wifi access points along the water where there are cheap sailboat people, who have wep codes now…

      — On Wed, 12/30/09, Rich Carter <> wrote:

      Quote:
      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

    • #74668
      john stevenson
      Participant

      Patrick,
      Are you planning a Bimini for the cockpit?  If so, the mizzen spreader lights may not be of that much value.  Those LED spreader lights seem to draw a lot of current, not that much less than my sealed beam spreader lights on the main mast.  8AWG for the PA horn seems a bit excessive for something that normally is only used by power boaters who like to announce their arrival at the fuel dock.  I would re-think whether or not to fit that device.  Another thought might be how often, if ever, would you use this device when not motoring, in which case the input voltage would be about 13.8V, allowing significant voltage drop and still provide 11.5V to the device.  12AWG ought to be sufficient in that case.
      All of my in-mast wire is 12AWG – TriColor (LED now, but not when originally wired), Bow Light/Foredeck Light, spreader lights.  Wire from the terminal strips in the forward cabin to the distribution panel are all 12AWG as well.
      That is my freely given comments, worth every penny.

      On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 9:42 AM, Alan < ([email][/email])> wrote:

      Quote:
      if you use the antenna/bridge arrangement similar to the IslandTime PC product – a CAT 5 cable is all that is needed and there is no signal loss.  I have mine mounted on the mizzen spreader though. I  can grab wifi signals from at least  2 miles…. maybe more.
      On my way down here – i was sailing smack dab in the middle of the chesepeake and I was grapping all kinds of free wifi from the western shore.
      alan
      unabated

      — On Wed, 12/30/09, Rich Carter < ([email][/email])> wrote:

      Quote:
      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

    • #74669
      madsailor
      Moderator

      Patrick,

      I don't know what kind of horn you have – but if it's a pa/fog horn connected to your VHF then 12 gauge is more than enough – I doubt there are 3.3 amps going to it.  The little speaker coil would turn into a heater core before you could put that power in it. I have the Standard Horizon speaker mounted below the radar antenna and used simple speaker wire to attach it – it works like a champ.  In fog horn mode, I really can't stand being in the cockpit!

      Bob

      —
      Bob Fine
      s/v Pelican
      Pearson 424 Hull #8
      http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
      Follow me at: http://www.tinyurl.com/WhereIsBobFine

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

    • #74709
      Hull152_Patrick
      Spectator

      Sorry, I didn’t back to y’all about the mizzen antennas (AIS and WiFi). To be honest, I have not completely closed my plans with respect to both of those, I just sort of drew them on for my own memory. Here’s some rough thoughts though. As I write this up I’ll do my research and maybe I’ll figure it out. 🙂

      I have a stack of stuff in my living room which is part of all the new electronics, including a Digital Antenna VHF. I was thinking, I’d also get a Digital Antenna AIS and Digital Antenna WiFi antennas. The AIS seems pretty straight forward. I know I coudl use a swtiching device but given I have everything down, why not put in a dedicated antenna which can also serve as a backup VHF antenna.

      The wifi is more complicated. Today, I use a Ubiquiti Nanostation 2 bridge zip-tied to the bow pulpit to access wifi and then “bridge” it to my boat’s wifi access point which is Linksys WRT54G. Both of these are off the shelf items and required no hacking. The only real problem with this is the line-of-site visibility is pretty poor at deck level in a marina/ I moved slips a year ago and I used to have the bridge on the stern, but in my new location the bow pointed toward the wifi service I use so I had to move it to the bow. The Nano2 has a builtin 4db gain antenna and a RP-SMA jack for an external antenna. Now that I’m looking at all this I see Digital Antenna doesn’t sell an RP-SMA connector so I guess that antenna might not work with my bridge. More to look into….

      I do one option would be to mount the bridge on the mast directly or mount it on a post on the mashead. It only needs an ethernet cable going to it. I wanted to get a higher gain antenna though and keep the Nano out of the UV (they are designed for outdoor usage though). It was about $85 so I could carry a spare pretty cheaply for the inevitabel UV breakdown.

      I was just poking around on the UBNT forums and they were reccomending using their Bullet M product (Still only $80) attached to an omni directional wifi antenna to another sailor. The Bullet M has a standard N type connector and an ethernet where bot the data and the power travel (AKA Power Over Ethernet (POE)). I purchased my setup from these guys: http://www.metrix.net/ here in Seattle. I’ll give them a shout tomorrow and see what they think.

      -p
      —-
      s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com

      From: “Alan” <>
      Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 7:30 AM
      To: “Pearson 424 owners listserve” <>
      Subject: Re: Mast Wiring Plans

      Rich,
      I do have one of those units. I have a Linksys WAP54g wireless router mounter under the companionway stairs. The cable from the bridge is connected to this. In this method, I can get wireless on the boat anywhere. V Berth or cockpit. Plus, if i give out my wep code I let my boat neighbor use it.
      You’d be surpised how may wifi access points along the water where there are cheap sailboat people, who have wep codes now…

      — On Wed, 12/30/09, Rich Carter <> wrote:

      Quote:
      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

      Owners no more...
      Thanks Dawn and Patrick!

    • #74710
      Syringa
      Participant

      Patrick

      I did not see the required series 41, 225 D white Masthead/Steaming light on your main mast you need when your vessel’s under power.

      Also are you running a single ground wire or two lead wire?

    • #74711
      Hull152_Patrick
      Spectator

      I left that off the drawing because I wasn’t planning on changing it all.
      Someone else caught that too. In actuallity, since I’m putting in conduit,
      I should just replace that wire too since none of the wire in the boat is
      tinned. Might as well do it now instead of trying to do it later with the
      mast up or having to drop the rig again to do it.

      When you say grounding wire, I’m not sure what you mean. Do you mean to
      ground the mast to the bonding system or somehting else?

      -p

      —-
      s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com



      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

      Owners no more...
      Thanks Dawn and Patrick!

    • #74712
      john stevenson
      Participant

      Patrick,
      I think Don was referring to a single negative wire for a multiple light
      fixture (e.g., Tricolor, Bow/Foredeck), where the lights are operated
      independently. It saves on the number of wires in the conduit. Many of
      these fixtures have a single negative terminal and separate positive
      terminals for each light. Of course the negative wire must be sized to for
      the combined load of both lights in the fixture.

      On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 2:15 PM, Patrick Walters <>wrote:

      Quote:
      I left that off the drawing because I wasn’t planning on changing it all.
      Someone else caught that too. In actuallity, since I’m putting in conduit,
      I should just replace that wire too since none of the wire in the boat is
      tinned. Might as well do it now instead of trying to do it later with the
      mast up or having to drop the rig again to do it.

      When you say grounding wire, I’m not sure what you mean. Do you mean to
      ground the mast to the bonding system or somehting else?

      -p

      —-
      s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com



      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

    • #74713
      Syringa
      Participant

      John is right-on about the single negative wire. Also don’t be temped to ground the mast and all negative to it as you will have a real corrosion problem.

    • #74714
      Hull152_Patrick
      Spectator

      Gotcha… I was planning to pull dedicated wiring for each component with
      the exception of the spreaders which I planned to run off two wires in a
      10AWG/4 pull to the spreaders and run the PA off the second pair for the
      main mast. ICOM just got back to me on the PA though and said I only need
      14AWG so I am probably going to run the lights off a 10AWG2 pull and run a
      seperate 14AWG2 pull for the PA. In the mizzen I planned to pull a 12AWG/2
      pull to the spreaders and run both lights off that common pair.

      The altenative to that would be to pull three wires in the main and mizzen.
      I don’t think that woudl allow me to step down the wire gauge though so I’m
      not sure there’s any advantage, but I hope you’ll all enlighten me if I’m
      wrong about that.

      I should also add, I’m not pulling primary wire for these, I’m using paired
      wires that have insulation around them. I’m preferring round boat cable
      over flat for no real reason. But I’ve not done a price comparison on
      anything yet. Round just seem smoother to me to pull throgh the conduit,
      but it might not be relelavant except that it has the option of containing

      3 wires whereas the flat seems to only be duplex or triplex.

      As for sourcing the wire, this site has come highly recomened by several
      Puget Sound sailors: http://shop.genuinedealz.com/Marine%20Grade%20Wire/

      Since we’re thinking of stuff I migth have missed, I also need to determine
      how I’m going to add stress relief so the wire isn’t just hanging by it’s
      connections or by it’s mast exit hole. I’ve not looked into that yet.

      -p

      —-
      s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com



      <.. snip>

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

      Owners no more...
      Thanks Dawn and Patrick!

    • #74718
      Syringa
      Participant

      Patrick

      You may want to a messenger line in case you want to run some more wires later.

    • #74726
      Hull152_Patrick
      Spectator

      I actually plan to run two messenger lines, one that goes to the masthead and one that stops at the spreaders height too.
      But yes, definitely a must-have!

      -p

      —-
      s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com

      From: “Syringa” <>
      Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 8:19 AM
      To:
      Subject: Re: Mast Wiring Plans

      Patrick

      You may want to a messenger line in case you want to run some more wires later.


      Don Gardner
      S/V Syringa #124

      /)+/)+~=:)


      next part


      An HTML attachment was scrubbed…
      URL:
      _______________________________________________
      maillist mailing list

      https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

      Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

      Owners no more...
      Thanks Dawn and Patrick!

Viewing 14 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.