Wiring the ELCI

My new blue seas flashy panel came with a 30amp dual breaker, which is pretty standard. I decided I wanted to have more safety than that though, so bought an ELCI. This device is like a GFCI for your whole boat – as soon as it detects a leak to ground, it disconnects the whole breaker – both saving me (if I was touching something I shouldn’t), and also anyone swimming near the boat.

Here is the front of the standard panel

panelfront1

And here is the back, with the ELCI next to itback1

 

After an hour or so studying the wiring diagram, and the instructions, I managed to get the thing installed. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, since  I had to pass both load wires through a little plastic circle (current sensor), but after a bunch of fiddling I finally got it.

Here is the back with it installed

back2

 

And the front

front2

As you can see, it takes up three slots, instead of the old breakers two, so I had to move the topmost 15amp breaker down a slot.

And here is the finished thing, with the circuit diagram. All connections were made with heatshrink connectors, like all my connections I’ve been doing.

circuit

 

Matt

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