Breaker panel lights and engine room 110 outlet

[dpiano]

Recently I discovered that the breaker panel labels on our R29 are illuminated when the nav lights are on.. We had gotten in the habit of keeping a flashlight near the panel since the labels are hard to see, even during the day. With Ronnie and Andrew's guidance and a friend's help I rewired the panel so that an unused accessory breaker now turns those lights on. Much easier! It took about 15 minutes to do and just requires clipping the wire that goes to the helm and changing the panel light feed to a breaker. Not a big deal but sure makes evening use of the boat more convenient.

Another change we made this weekend was to install a 110 outlet in the engine room. There are unused 110 cables running from the breaker panel to the cockpit cabinet, stubbed off and labeled on each end for elect. grill and icemaker. It was super easy to remove snap ties, bring one of the cables back from the cabinet into the engine room and hook up a GFI plug for winter heat. Much more fun and probably safer than running an extension cord from the salon each time we leave the boat during the cold weather. That project took maybe 45 minutes, and worth the trouble since we use the boat all winter.

 

[Paul and Tanya]

The 110v outlet in the engine compartment is a great idea. I recently installed an extreme heat heater in my engine compartment and planned on doing the same thing. My plan was to run a wire back up to the electrical panel to a spare breaker. Does anyone know if there is a spare 110 cable in the R25 in the cockpit area?

 

[Spinner]

Thanks for the description of the process! Adding a 110 outlet is also in my "must-do" list for exactly the same reason 🙂

 

[Levitation]

Remember to use marine wire (tinned) 😀

 

[Tugbuyer]

Denis:
I like the idea of switching the breaker panel label lights from the nav light switch to an empty accessory switch. The panel labels on my 2011 R-29 don't seem to illuminate with the nav lights, however the lower 3 gauges (DC & AC voltage meters and rotary switch) DO illuminate when nav lights are on. Any suggestions? (Kenny/Andrew?) Thanks.

 

[gerlots]

I found a 110vac unused cable that ran from the helm to the cockpit area. It was a heavy cable that I thought might have been pulled for a future Genset. Worked great for me as I used it for the installation of a Inverter.
07 R-25

 

[jimschu]

If one were to install a 110 outlet in the engine room on an R 29 is a GFI wired the same as a convential outlet ?

 

[bbrh842]

Yes.

 

[knotflying]

There should be a tab that says load side on the outlet. Just make sure you hook the wires up there. If you do not, then you will not have protection.

Mike Rizzo

 

[CAPTCRUNCH]

Not sure of your specifics, but: power being supplied to GFCI outlet goes to "LINE"; power to outlets (if any) downstream of GFCI outlet comes from "LOAD."

 

[knotflying]

I should have been more clear. Here is a Youtube video explaining http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc9f6iea1s0

 

[Andrew Custis]

If the lights on the volt meter light up and the panel doesn't, the backlight wires are not hooked up at the panel. Pretty simple to pull the panel and find them. They are clearly labeled. You will need to splice all of the wires together.

And to answer Pauls question. The 25sc does have a wire run from the panel to the battery switch compartment for the optional generator. Call me if I can help you out.

Hope this helps and I think its a great idea Dennis. Could you post photos?