ode 0 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Hi, I need a power point fitted in cockpit for autohelm ,am located at Westhaven,any recommendations for a good sparky thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I'm in Christchurch, so can't recommend a sparky, but I fitted a power supply for a tiller pilot myself recently. I'm not that clued up mechanically or electrically beyond the basics, so assuming the plug setup on a tiller pilot is similar to an autohelm setup it is definately something you could do yourself. Or you might just not want to......... Link to post Share on other sites
Atom Ant 0 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 It's a simple job as C29 said - even I've done my own, but if you want a marine sparky to do it then Electrics Afloat is close enough to Westhaven. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I put mine in and I'm a specialist at electrocuting myself due to too much 'having a go' in true kiwi style. My AP works fine, far better than the usual dick pushing the stick. They are easy to do, must be if AA and I did it All I've seen come with good diagrams. Link to post Share on other sites
ode 0 Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Yes can put up with the odd shock ,but then boat prob catch on fire and I will end up with the worlds first 8.4 paddleboard with a dangly bit Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Na, take it from a master of electrical cock-ups, it's damn hard to start a decent fire with 12volts. I've tried many times... so I often found out after the fact. Maybe I've just been damn lucky But as a massive believer in the most important thing when picking something for or doing something on your boat is the 'feel good' factor, if it takes a Pro to make you feel good, so be it, that's the way it must then roll. No point doing it yourself if you're going to spend the next season thinking your bum is on fire from dodgy AP wiring, no good comes of stuff like that. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 it's damn hard to start a decent fire with 12volts. You're doing it wrong then Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 No point doing it yourself if you're going to spend the next season thinking your bum is on fire from dodgy AP wiring, no good comes of stuff like that. Sure KM, but you'd really have to be trying hard to muck this up I would have thought. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Hi Ode, Just been doing mine. Just need a 10 amp fuse near the battery. Good thick cable if its a longish run, I used 2.5mm mainly because I had some. Mine is a ferro cement beauty so I've hooked it up to the NMEA 0183 output from a Garmin GPS Map handheld. That should improve performance as the ferro bit interferes with the Tillerpilot compass. Only finished doing it last night so I may be back to it again... Yeh only 12 volts but huge amounts of current can be accessed so do take care. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Yeh only 12 volts but huge amounts of current can be accessed so do take care. So what would you have to do to get a decent electric shock off of 12 Volts? I thought the whole point of a 12 Volt system was that you couldn't! Link to post Share on other sites
oliver 0 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Bloody hard to get a shock off it, probably impossible, but a short across a big fat lead acid battery can draw buckets of amps till the cables are melting hot and the insulation is on fire like Wheels's example above. That's the problem with lots of available current. Link to post Share on other sites
ode 0 Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Thanks guys for the advice ,my electrical knowledge is largely a switch with on and off on it,and the odd fuse,and Sue said I am good at changing light bulbs (might have been taking the piss?)Paulr has offered his services so its all good. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 So what would you have to do to get a decent electric shock off of 12 Volts? Dip both hands in Salt water and then take hold of the Battery terminals. You will soon find out that 12V can indeed give a damn good tingle. Apparently, a guy died by placing a 9V battey on his Tongue.But I don't know if it is one of those Internet myths or not. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Paulr has offered his services so its all good. I thought his Court Order saying to stop doing things like that still had 2 years to run??? You do remember that big black out of Auckland a couple of years back? Yeap, twas Paul trying to change a bulb in a Nav light. First Westhaven went down and then rippled right thru Auckland Na just joshin, he's good but just don't let him near your rum locker, that will end in tears Link to post Share on other sites
otto 31 Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Yeh only 12 volts but huge amounts of current can be accessed so do take care. So what would you have to do to get a decent electric shock off of 12 Volts? I thought the whole point of a 12 Volt system was that you couldn't! Something many forget, get close enouth to the battery and it is easy for an excess of 1000A to flow. Usually this is via a cable which soon melts and perhaps just gives the sparky a splattering of copper. The closer to the battery and the better the conductor the bigger the zap. Try dropping a spanner across the terminals, at a distance tho. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Try dropping a spanner across the terminals, at a distance tho. I did just that a few years ago on a 12v battery on my 4WD to create some sparks to light a bit of paper to light a fire when I was in the middle of nowhere and had no lighter or matches. Was spectacular but I was holding on to the spanner and got no shock.......??????? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Dip both hands in Salt water and then take hold of the Battery terminals. You will soon find out that 12V can indeed give a damn good tingle. Are you sure about that???? I would have thought my post above would have produced a good shock if it was going to at all........ I'm not game to give it a go all the same! Link to post Share on other sites
Farrari 4 Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Dip both hands in Salt water and then take hold of the Battery terminals. You will soon find out that 12V can indeed give a damn good tingle. Are you sure about that???? I would have thought my post above would have produced a good shock if it was going to at all........ I'm not game to give it a go all the same! Dry human skin has a high resistance (up to 100,000 ohms) so at 12 Volts thats only 12v/100,000 amps (12 micro amps) i.e. not much. With wet skin that can reduce to 1,000 ohms so you will get a bit more of a tingle. If you hold one terminal with each wet hand then the current will be traversing somewhere near your heart (don't try this at home ). C - I am assuming that you were using one hand to hold the spanner and the other to hold the paper so there wouldn't have been a circuit unless you had some other bodily appendage touching the other battery terminal. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 C - I am assuming that you were using one hand to hold the spanner and the other to hold the paper so there wouldn't have been a circuit. Oh yeah, good point .....details, details. Link to post Share on other sites
otto 31 Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I did just that a few years ago on a 12v battery on my 4WD to create some sparks to light a bit of paper to light a fire when I was in the middle of nowhere and had no lighter or matches. Was spectacular but I was holding on to the spanner and got no shock.......??????? Lucky, this could have been a Mt Gay winner covered in acid or splattered in lead. Next time try a steelo (i think they're called) mesh scrubbing thing. Hold that over a 6V battery terminals and it'll start to glow, the rest you'll figure. Link to post Share on other sites
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