Pull Electrical Panel and DC Main Replacement

Chesapeake

I have a FV 342 and lost all power on the DC side of my panel. The DC Main breaker will not stay on so I suspect it is bad. A few questions: How do I pull the panel? The wiring behind it seems very short. Where do I find a replacement DC Main breaker and what are the specifications? Thanks for your help?

Liberty44140

Pulling the panel is easy, remove the outer plexi glass cover and then the screws holding the panel in. You’ll only be able to pull it out a few inches at that point. Then remove the refrigerator. Once the fridge is out stick your head up in there and you’ll see that behind the fridge are all the large main power lines feeding the panel. They are zip tied which is why the panel above won’t come out very far. Once you in zip tie and clear, the panel will come out and you can sit it on the stove. Make sure to put something down to protect the stove top. 

Chesapeake

I'll give it a shot. Thanks! Any idea where to get replacement breakers? I found the whole panel, but I don't feel like spending $800+.

Chesapeake

I found the Blue Sea Systems A-Series Single Pole Black Toggle Circuit Breakers at West Marine. They are available from 5A to 50A. Any idea which one I need for the DC Main?

Liberty44140

That I can’t help with but someone here will chime in. I pulled mine to replace all 19 of the panel light bulbs with led. While you have it out i Recommend you also replace the bulbs. There are threads on here with links to the bulbs if you do a search. Was under $40

Stodge

Just curious, but have you tried turning off all the breakers under the DC main, then turning on the DC main to see if it still trips?  Reason I ask is that it seems odd for it to trip with no load.  My thought would be to turn the DC side breakers on 1 at a time to see if one of them is the cause, then trace that issue down.

Chesapeake

I wish it was that easy. Dummy me pulled the panel to plug in my coffee maker and the terminal of the breaker actually came off. At least I suspect it's the breaker. If there is a bus bar behind the panel, that could be the culprit. I will know more when I get into it.

Chesapeake

Ok, I finally got everything sorted out.  When I pulled the panel and refrigerator (after turning off all AC and DC power), I had to push a lot of the wires up into the area behind the panel from the refrigerator area in order to relieve the stress on the panel.  The DC Main is a 50 amp A-Series single pole breaker that I got from West Marine. There is a bracket glued to the top of the breaker that holds a panel light. The old bracket can be easily popped off the old breaker with a screwdriver and glued onto the new one.

Once I got everything replaced, I turned on the power and immediately popped the Cabin Panel circuit breaker that is in the battery switch box near the transom.  It took me a while to figure out that a bracket was shorting out the 12V connectors in the panel. Once I adjusted the bracket, everything worked like a charm.  Bonus: I was able to plug in my coffeemaker that had come unplugged from the electrical panel.

reneechris14

Sounds like a win win thanks for the update.

Chesapeake

I wanted to include an update because at some point, someone is going to search for the same problem and I wanted to provide a solution. This forum has been a lifesaver for me and I wanted to give back.

Liberty44140

Glad it all worked out well!

Stodge

Did you replace the bulbs in the panel while it was out?  That's been on my to-do list forever.

Chesapeake

I didn't replace the bulbs, mainly because I didn't have them on hand and I wanted to get my power up and running.  Now that I know what I'm doing, changing them out should be easy peasy.

Dream_Inn

Great update!  I'm sure someone else will benefit from this too!