What material is this white electrical mounting board?

[John E Davies]

I need a piece, and would like to source it locally. Can anyone tell me what it is? It needs to hold screw threads very well, and it also has to bond well to fiberglass gelcoat using epoxy. Just like this:

Thanks,

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Overland]

Expanded PVC

I think it holds screws well enough for light things.  I replaced all of mine with plywood.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Overland

[John E Davies]

Thank you! That was so very fast. I appreciate the info.

John Davies

Spokane Wa

[Overland]

You might shoot an email to Jason and ask what epoxy they use to glue the PVC to the hull.  I think it's the same stuff they use to bond the hulls together.  They let me have a tube when I first did my electrical, and it really bonds those sheets well.  I think they said it was pretty expensive though.  

When I redid mine with plywood, I just left those sheets in place since they'd have been impossible to remove, and glued and screwed the plywood to them.  

Edited June 10, 2020 by Overland

[katanapilot]

I'm curious why you would install plywood over the PVC?  I understand plywood might have better retention of the screws, but the PVC is waterproof and some plywood generally is only water resistant.

[Overland]

Just for the screws.  There were a couple in the PVC that just spun in place and I wanted to make sure that all of my electrical connections had solid strain relief.  I coated the ply both sides with poly and I don't think any of it's in a place that should see water.  Hope not - my electrical will be toast.  I've got photos of what I did here.  

[Trainman]

I would probably not change out the PVC for plywood, there are too many options for attaching screws when the holes are stripped out in the PVC. I can only think of 4-5 at this time, but changing out to plywood with give some something to do, I personally don't think it's the better choice.

trainman 

[Overland]

I'm not worried about it.

 

[John E Davies]

I ordered some expanded PVC from Amazon, in the 1” thickness. I could not find a local supplier. I am going to bond it to the fender with JB Weld. I too was a little worried about stripped screws, the double thickness will take care of that. The Ollie stuff is just 1/2” thick. I might add a strip of 3M VHB tape under any bigger parts....

I won’t put any more wood in my Ollie, wood is for classic sailboats..... 😉

This is for installing the smart bus bar for my new Victron monitor,  and also a Blue Sea double bus bar, for all the ground cables that I will be relocating out of the battery compartment. I don’t mind the regular sized ones but I really hate working with the big 4/0 inverter ground cable. I’ll probably remove that one entirely, and take it to my bench so I can shorten and beat on it.... I have a vise mounted cable crimper that works well, but I have no tool that will work down in an access hole.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited June 10, 2020 by John E Davies

[mountainoliver]

John just today I was doing an electrical modification and went to Home Depo to buy a piece of vinyl board. Lowe’s has it as well. They have various thickness and shapes. 

[AndrewK]

John,

Our local plastics shop calls it PVC foam board. Jason told me to use marine two part epoxy.

I cut the removed the Prodex and sanded the fiberglass for better adhesion.

I used The PVC foam board to mount our Victron shunt and solar controller.

Worked well for the purpose.

Andrew

Edited June 11, 2020 by AndrewK
To Add Images

[Overland]

Sounds like a nice project John. Would love some photos when you’re done.  

[mossemi]

JD this is a heads up,

My negative 4/0 cable gland had failed somewhere along the line and when I rewired my battery box I took it completely out.  My cable glands are a plastic/nylon material and the clamping nut threads would no longer hold up under the strain of the 90° turn into the battery box.  This is the cable gland I used for a replacement and it was large enough for the 4/0 cable and the temperature sensor wires.  So it is just a idea if you run into trouble.

I solve the issue of loose screw holes in the PVC board by relocating the equipment an 1/8 to a 1/4" and not reusing the same holes.

Good luck,

Mossey

Edited June 11, 2020 by mossemi
Picture

[John E Davies]

45 minutes ago, mossemi said:

My negative 4/0 cable gland had failed somewhere along the line and when I rewired my battery box I took it completely out.  My cable glands are a plastic/nylon material and the clamping nut threads would no longer hold up under the strain of the 90° turn into the battery box.  This is the cable gland I used for a replacement and it was large enough for the 4/0 cable and the temperature sensor wires.  So it is just a idea if you run into trouble.

Thanks for the warning but you forgot a link or picture......
I haven’t tried loosening the gland yet but visually it appears fine. I am waiting on parts, but maybe I should go ahead and pull out that cable now, to make sure the gland hasn’t failed. I don’t understand why they drilled the hole so darned high, the cable does get almost kinked where it makes a hard turn into the belly. It should be located near the bottom, not the top. Did yours look like this?

 

I may just tape over that top hole and drill a new one 8 or 10 inches lower, where it belongs.... that would also allow for a shorter cable by getting rid of that big loop. .... comments?

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited June 11, 2020 by John E Davies

[mossemi]

I did forget the picture, but I edited my post and added it.  Yes, my cable and glands looked just like that.

The 4/0 cables are a pain to route, but if you remove all of the other positive and negative cables like Overland suggested awhile back as well as the batteries,  it does make working in the battery box a lot easier.   If you do take the cable out you may have to remove the gland because the inside nut may not slide over the terminal lug.  After I removed everything in the box, I taped the new cable gland in place in the box and worked the nut on from the inside.  I could barely get my fingers on the cable gland nut between the battery box and the lower pantry wall.  It just takes patience and persistence.  It is easier to put a gland in without the cable in it.

I do try keep battery cables the same length between batteries and the load as I think that is a best practice.  So my cables are close to the same length even though the positive goes through a fuse, disconnect and terminates at a buss bar.  And the negative cable goes straight to a buss bar.  You may have more experience is that matter, so use your judgement.  And don’t forget that the reason for some of the cable loop in the battery box is to accommodate the slide tray, so make sure the cables will fold properly before shorting it.

Mossey

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by mossemi
Typo

[Overland]

I swapped out my 4/0 for pairs of 1/0 in many places. Victron actually recommends that and it does make it easier to deal with them in the battery box. Lots more connections though. 

[AndrewK]

When I installed solar and the battery monitor, I wired all of the negatives to the shunt under the dinette and the positives through the positive bus.  I must say it looked very clean!  Well, I couldn’t leave well enough alone and ruined it by adding a battery temp sensor.  The third wire just messed up the pristine battery box.  I almost removed it but I wanted an easier way to monitor the battery temp of my LiFePO4 batteries when it is well below freezing outside.

I considered moving the wires to the bottom of the box but was concerned there was a greater chance of them being damaged by getting caught in the battery tray as it slides and decided against it.

Andrew

[John E Davies]

Can anyone ID this probe? I think it is for the factory solar controller, is it a temperature sensor? It was mounted to a negative battery terminal. Is that the correct location? I sure did not like to see those splices wrapped in sticky tape.....
 

I have all my wires ripped out and mostly rerouted, I decided to do the positives as well as the negatives. What a mess. I will have just the two huge inverter wires inside the battery bay, plus maybe that sensor, if that is what it is.

I plan to add a positive bus for the loose battery wires, I plan to run 4 AWG or 2 AWG cable and tap off the fused side of the inverter 250 amp fuse. I think this should protect that big cable, the most amps I have ever seen on the inverter circuit is 78 amps DC. If this isn’t a good idea I will have to purchase and install another inline fuse holder, say 150 amps, to protect this new bus cable.

I really did not like the idea of a bunch of unprotected positive wires coming straight off the batteries.....

Lots of pics when I get done, I hope stuff works properly.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited June 11, 2020 by John E Davies

[Overland]

I think it would have to be a temp sensor.  I think mine is bulkier than that, but yours seems too bulky to just be covering a crimp.  

I don't know about the 250 amp fuse.  Doesn't the Xantrex inverter have a surge capacity of 3000W?  That would put you right on the limit by itself.

Although now that I think about it, I have a 400 amp main fuse and I think the surge cap on mine is 6k.  

Edited June 11, 2020 by Overland

[John E Davies]

Overland, I monitored current into the inverter with the microwave turned on, I did not see any huge surge at startup..... it was pulling 78 amps pretty steadily. Of course you could,overload the inverter system but I think the inverter would just kick off line. That 250 amp fuse is there to deal with a dead short, so the trailer won’t burn down .I also suspect that it has a delay, like a slow blow fuse, but that is a guess.
 

I will try the new circuit off that fused terminal, if it has any problems I can add a deadicated fuse and tap off the other terminal.

Thanks for your comments.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[mossemi]

Yep, that’s the Zamp temp sensor and the other end is at the controller.  And my fuse block has a plastic snap on cover over all 4 of those studs.Mossey

[Overland]

Man I hope that's not wood that I see your cutoff switch mounted to.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Overland

[John E Davies]

22 hours ago, mossemi said:

Yep, that’s the Zamp temp sensor and the other end is at the controller.  And my fuse block has a plastic snap on cover over all 4 of those studs.Mossey

Thanks for the info on temp sensor, it should go on a negative stud, correct? I will fix the crappy splice job....

My fuse block has a cover, it was removed for that picture. I decided to go ahead and add a second fuse block for my new 4 AWG hot bus cable, just in case. I will use a 150 amp MEGA fuse

 

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited June 13, 2020 by John E Davies

[mossemi]

Busted!  That is a piece of oak, oh the horrors of it all!  I am not sure which Ollie commandment we broke, but I consider myself in good company.  I probably could have used some square aluminum tubing, but I am saving that for another project.  And if you search for my Caframo Sirocco II fan mount you might find another piece of oak with matching grain.

I had the cutoff mounted to the piece of PVC board that the positive buss is now mounted to and due to the strain the 90° turn of the 4/0 cable puts on the cutoff, I wanted something more substantial to mount the cutoff to which led to the piece of oak.

And a sincere mea culpa to all Ollie purest.

Mossey

[mossemi]

JD said "Thanks for the info on temp sensor, it should go on a negative stud, correct? I will fix the crappy splice "

I don’t remember which post the temp sensor was on because I replaced mine with a Victron sensor when I put a BMS in.  The Zamp Charge Controller manual does not specify.  I do know you can tape it the the side of a battery.

Mossey