Wednesday 21 January 2009

electrickery

One of the 'I can do that properly later' jobs waiting for me to do this spring is the domestic electric distribution. It's more or less in, and fused, and safe, but just not - erm - finished elegantly, and I'm going to replace the fuse board with a proper switch/distribution unit. I'm also going to add a sneaky permanent connection to the domestic batteries for a solar panel (before the master switch, which is off when I'm not around), and a fridge power feed (switched from the charge warning light, like a split charge relay, so whilst bypassable, normally the fridge is only running when the alternator is). I should also jot down that I've used 15mm pipe clips to hold the cabling, which largely runs under the starboard gunwhale. In theory they work really well when adding/removing cables, in practice not ideal as getting at the clip to open them isn't easy when hidden behind the lining. I've yet to find anything better, though.

Jack Giles does most of the electrical work at High Line; I haven't used him myself, but he's a nice chap, and plays bass & guitar, and has even found himself playing through my bike PA system. Anyway, I bumped into him at Christmas and was reminded of his very useful Black Museum pages of electrical installations he's found and wished he hadn't. Well worth a look through if you're doing any electrical work - he points out a few things that aren't immediately obvious to the layman, and has certainly made me think about a few things.