Fire scare

[Mambo42]

This^^

They have them so that they will tell you which location is going off.

That would be a great solution, cause otherwise you could be searching all over the boat and loose valuable time. Any idea which ones I should look for ?

 

[CharlieO.]

That would be a great solution, cause otherwise you could be searching all over the boat and loose valuable time. Any idea which ones I should look for ?

I have not purchased any yet, but it is very high on the list. Hopefully others will have recommendations on what works for them.

 

[lwarden]

I was investigating an issue with the AC when running off the generator. Found one leg of the AC breaker inside the NL generator had completely melted and the terminal had dropped out of the breaker once the plastic shell of the breaker melted. Scary. I went through and tightened every connector I could get my hands on after that. I also used Loctite when installing the new breaker along with lock washers.

I believe the problem was caused by water ingress into the breaker, not from a loose screw on the terminal. I had water dripping onto the generator from the deck hatch above.

 

[Barking Sands]

As someone mentioned, the IR camera is really essential equipment on any boat that travels any distance from shore or has extensive electrical work. As I began to rewire portions of my boat I initially bought a Seek thermal cam that attached to my cell phone. It did work but was glitchy and performance was low and consumed the phones battery quickly. But it showed me that it was an indispensable tool. So I spent about $400 for the Hikmicro B1L. Its amazing and has paid for itself 10 times over by discovering failed batteries, loose terminals, bad crimps and other issue before total failure. Here is a short video showing the ease of use. I believe they are even cheaper now. I just looked on Amazon and the B1L is still $399 but has an $80 coupon. And I noticed other brands with higher resolution right around the $350 to 450 range.

When I first bought it I walked around and scanned every place that has wires and terminals. I identified 3 wires immediately that needed attention. One was undersized carrying too large a load. The entire wire was heated. One had a loose terminal nut causing poor connection and high resistance. It had excessive heat emanating out from the loose terminal to surrounding area. And one had a crimp that was either not crimped properly or had internal corrosion, again with heat emanating outward. All that took about half an hour to find and repair. All of those items had been like that for probably years and were just ticking timebombs.

https://youtu.be/gQKYiHhxBos

 

[STB]

That would be a great solution, cause otherwise you could be searching all over the boat and loose valuable time. Any idea which ones I should look for ?

I have these. I bought two of the 3 packs. They all work together and verbally describe the type of alarm (co or fire) and the location (as set at installation) at all units if any go off. I out one in my flybridge helm console as an annunciator so I can't miss it while underway withbthenroar of wind, engines, rain, radio, etc.

First Alert Battery Powered SCO500B Wireless Interconnected Photoelectric Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Combo Alarm with Voice and Location https://a.co/d/hAfxcQ8

 

[Brooksie]

I was investigating an issue with the AC when running off the generator. Found one leg of the AC breaker inside the NL generator had completely melted and the terminal had dropped out of the breaker once the plastic shell of the breaker melted. Scary. I went through and tightened every connector I could get my hands on after that. I also used Loctite when installing the new breaker along with lock washers.

Be careful using Loctite near plastic. Over the long term it ruins many types plastics

 

[HONUHYC]

My Meltdown was Yesterday

A very timely post. Yesterday, I was sanding brightwork outside and talking to the neighbor when the beeping started. Went inside and smelled smoke. Had the neighbor shut off power at the pedestal while I shut off all the on board breakers and investigated. Found the neutral from the air conditioner was burned up at the bus and it burned several wires above it. Called out my brother in law, who is an electrical engineer specializing in forensic investigation, mainly of fires, to get an expert set of eyes on things. When I removed the connector for the offending wire, I discovered it was loose and the 28 amp load created enough heat to cook it off.

I tightened it down, but plan to bring my thermal imager down here to examine all the other wires and connections on the boat.

 

[Takoradi]

Ours had an ER fire in her previous life
Would have been traumatic.

As I sit in my main cabin over my ER with twin 454's, those are terrifying pictures.

 

[Adopo]

Naxos? How cool is that, what a beautiful part of the world. We were just there with Ponant and my wife said we had to go to a resturant that was on a crazy show she was watching White Lotus.

LA Cambusa

https://www.lacambusaristorante.com/

Thank goodness you are ok and smartly caught it.

A few pictures of the area and our boat. Highly recommend Ponant. 170 passengers, French Butler, great food, 5 star. What's not to like. I hope before I age out we will at least get a boat and cruise the East Coast. But what you are doing is just fantastic! Our cruise was Malta to Nice, Corsica was stunning, Pompeii, you are in a beautiful area.

 

[Mambo42]

Naxos? How cool is that, what a beautiful part of the world. We were just there with Ponant and my wife said we had to go to a resturant that was on a crazy show she was watching White Lotus.

LA Cambusa

https://www.lacambusaristorante.com/

Thank goodness you are ok and smartly caught it.

A few pictures of the area and our boat. Highly recommend Ponant. 170 passengers, French Butler, great food, 5 star. What's not to like. I hope before I age out we will at least get a boat and cruise the East Coast. But what you are doing is just fantastic! Our cruise was Malta to Nice, Corsica was stunning, Pompeii, you are in a beautiful area.

It is indeed a very nice area, but we were only passing by. Currently in Didim, Turkey. Arrived this Sunday, boat is out of the water again and on Friday they will start installing the CMC Stab 25 stabilizers on the boat. Also will get the lithium batteries and have lots of other things done, one of them being a full inspection of the complete electrical system. Don't want to have another fire scare.
Then back in the water in about 3 to 4 weeks and off along the Turkish coast.

 

[Mambo42]

A very timely post. Yesterday, I was sanding brightwork outside and talking to the neighbor when the beeping started. Went inside and smelled smoke. Had the neighbor shut off power at the pedestal while I shut off all the on board breakers and investigated. Found the neutral from the air conditioner was burned up at the bus and it burned several wires above it. Called out my brother in law, who is an electrical engineer specializing in forensic investigation, mainly of fires, to get an expert set of eyes on things. When I removed the connector for the offending wire, I discovered it was loose and the 28 amp load created enough heat to cook it off.

I tightened it down, but plan to bring my thermal imager down here to examine all the other wires and connections on the boat.

Good to hear you also caught it in time. Just imagine you would have been asleep with the airco on.......could have ended in a disaster.

 

[Maui]

Every six months or traveling offshore I go through every connection on my boat and loosen and tighten every nut and screw on my electrical system. Surprising how powerful vibration is. Check hose clamps, too. Side benefit: keeps me in touch with everything else on my boat.

 

[Mambo42]

Every six months or traveling offshore I go through every connection on my boat and loosen and tighten every nut and screw on my electrical system. Surprising how powerful vibration is. Check hose clamps, too. Side benefit: keeps me in touch with everything else on my boat.

It is indeed a good idea to check all the nuts and bolts on a regular basis. Now we even check the temperature of the cables while underway every 15 min. I know that everything is now bolted down, but my wife really insists on checking the ER every 15 min. At least it keeps her busy and once she sees everything is fine she relaxes a bit. The fire scare really shook her well.