Posted by
James Maynard-2 on
Apr 04, 2011; 3:25am
URL: http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/K3-Why-fuse-the-negative-lead-from-a-battery-tp6233377p6237212.html
Not completely off-topic, Joe.
It bears on why I am wiring my boat to ABYC standards rather than the
model National Electric Code (NEC) from the National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA) -- and on why I am *not* fusing the negative lead in
runs from my batteries to branch circuits such as the one that feeds my
ham equipment.
The recent additions to the ABYC E-11 standard (effective July 2009)
requiring ELCIs (Equipment Leakage Circuit Interrupters) were added as
a result of a similar ESD incident some years ago here in the Portland,
Oregon area. Kids were floating downstream past a local marina's docks
to cool off on a hot summer day. One of them, 12-year old Lucas Ritz,
was floating on his back with his PFD keeping his head out of the water,
when he decided to join his mom, who was walking along the marina in
parallel with the kids and keeping an eye on them. As he swam toward
his mom, he was electrocuted by the AC voltage gradient in the fresh
water. Mom saw that her son was in trouble and leaped in the save him,
as suffered electric shock herself, but fortunately did not drown. Dad
came rushing to the scene, too late. He suspected that it wasn't a
simple drowning, researched the matter, and changed careers to become a
teacher of ABYC standards and promoting changes to those standards to
prevent future so-called electro-shock drownings (ESDs), some of which,
like his son's are not drowning at all, but electrocutions.
See this link for the story:
<
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-gardner/esd-hidden-danger-in-fres_b_693454.html>
I recently heard the dad, Kevin Ritz, tell the tale at a seminar he gave
at the marina where my boat is being refurbished, and I had read about
the story earlier in the local boating press. So I ordered an ELCI
(Equipment Leakage Circuit Interrupter) with an automatic disconnect
relay to cut both the hot and neutral leads coming from the shore power
inlet on my boat in case of either a fault current being detected
flowing through the neutral lead from the shore power cord or in case of
reverse polarity (white wire "hot", black wire "neutral"). And I added
an isolation transformer, too.
All these things led me to trust in the ABYC standards rather than the
K3 Owner's Manual in deciding how to wire the DC power cable that leads
to my K3. And led me to pose the question that started this thread.
Jim K7KK -- K3 #5263
"Remember, Ignorance is the Mother of Adventure!" -- Hagar the Horrible
In 2011-04-03 12:20 PM, W8JH wrote:
> Sadly enough we had a local man in his early 20's who was killed by ESD when
> he dove in to retrieve a pair of glasses a woman had dropped off the dock.
> This was in fresh water (Lake Erie) at South Bass island. A bit OT for sure
> but I do think about that when in a marina with power.
>
> Joe, W8JH, K3 1713
>
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