Adding a cabin fan

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
I want to add a cabin fan to my aft cabin and I want to do it sort of right... I want to tap into an adjacent cabin lamp and share power with a Caframo fan (<0.5 amp). Plan to use a marine junction box, possibly a Newman from the site store. Question: do the lugs on the box buss connect such that I can bring in power and split it out to two loads? Is there a better way to do this? Trying to avoid bring power leads back to the ships panel.
 

NYSail

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Jan 6, 2006
3,064
Beneteau 423 Mt. Sinai, NY
Gunni....... my 423 has pre-run wires and a circuit already dedicated for fan...... just have to find the run but according to the schematic I think there are three locations. Have you checked the wire schematic?
 
Apr 8, 2010
1,953
Ericson Yachts Olson 34 28400 Portland OR
This spring I added a third cabin fan to our boat. Since this was in the aft cabin and a long ways from the dedicated fan wiring for the two fans forward in the boat, I installed a small terminal strip so it could share voltage with a nearby reading light. I have all "Hella" brand fans -very low amperage and good air flow. When the temp got over 80 inside a few weeks ago on vacation it really helped with sleeping at night. I used the little tinned "bridge" jumper pieces on the strip. With a cover on it, it's a tidy installation, if I do say so. :)

http://www.hellamarine.com/en/products/accessories/fans/turbo-fan.html
 
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Nov 26, 2012
2,315
Catalina 250 Bodega Bay CA
If I were doing it I would just connect the fan wires to the incoming lights wiring. The fan draws such low amps it should be fine. Chief
 
Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
If I were doing it I would just connect the fan wires to the incoming lights wiring. The fan draws such low amps it should be fine. Chief
That's the way ours is wired. Interior lights and fans on the same breaker. Now that we are all LED, the load is even less than as-built. There were several light/fan circuits attached to the back of the breaker. It looked messy so I installed a bus behind the panel, ran a single heavier gauge wire to the bus, and let it distribute the circuit power.
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Gunni....... my 423 has pre-run wires and a circuit already dedicated for fan...... just have to find the run but according to the schematic I think there are three locations. Have you checked the wire schematic?
Yes, there is supposed to be a wire run in the cabin and it is not there. Like Justin said I have converted everything to LED so the lamp load is 1/10 of orignal. I am just confused by the buss bar, it looks like I need to create my own jumpers to split power to two loads (lamp and fan).
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,776
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
Nope, just use these: http://www.defender.com/product3.js...-jumpers&path=-1|328|2289986|2289997&id=52100

West should also have them as well as Fawcett's.
I used those on the power side of my terminal block. One wire from the breaker to the block and all of the rest of the terminals on the "+" side daisy chained together with those jumpers. Then on the supply side of the terminal block I connected and labelled each circuit. So in effect you have a power bus on one half with separate feeds off of the opposite terminals

Mine look like these. The longer one
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
The buss bars that Justin shows are different than the waterproof Newmar box at the site store. Probably don't need a watertight box as it will be in a hanging locker but I would like to protect the buss. What do you guys use to protect that buss bar?
 

NYSail

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Jan 6, 2006
3,064
Beneteau 423 Mt. Sinai, NY
Yes, there is supposed to be a wire run in the cabin and it is not there. Like Justin said I have converted everything to LED so the lamp load is 1/10 of orignal. I am just confused by the buss bar, it looks like I need to create my own jumpers to split power to two loads (lamp and fan).
I bought the fans but have not looked in depth for the wires yet. Let me ask, what leds did you buy for the cabin lights? I bought imtra mini tower led's for the reading lights.... great lights. But have not yet bought for the ceilings lights yet. Defender only has imtra blue.... want warm white. Tried an amazon cheapie and the light sucked. 5 for $10 no loss.....
Greg
 
Jun 9, 2004
615
Catalina 385 Marquette. Mi
Just added 2 Caframo 757 ( nice fans) to our boat. Light circuit and butt spliced. As Stu said...kiss.
 
Nov 6, 2006
9,893
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Installed Caframo Sirocco using a crimped bayonet connectors at the light fixture hot connector and ground .. lights are all LED fan is very low draw.. Works fine.
 

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Dec 19, 2006
5,810
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
I just tied into a light wire and hid it with the light fixture and have about 6 fans on my boat.
Nick
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
I just tied into a light wire and hid it with the light fixture and have about 6 fans on my boat. Nick
That's what the dealer did on my new B323. Seems to work okay in spite of what looks like too small wires.