DC ground
Back to the original idea. I have this old article by Stan Honey, describing a VHF ground/lightning arrestor that would prevent a stray DC current from finding it's way to the mast from the VHF coaxial cable shielding. Not that I have any stray DC current flowing around my boat but I do go through a shaft zinc about every 6 months so I'm likely getting some stray DC from somewhere.
Lightning protection is another subject but one that has some very solid science behind it done by Univ of Florida here in the 1990s. I agree with Stan's thoughts on the subject by the way as it applies to sailboats.
We were hit once back in about 1988-1990 or so. We anchored alongside the ICW about 100 yards from our friends. We were sailing our Tartan 34 and they were aboard their Bristol 38.8; both centerboarders, both of about the same size, both subject to the same severe thunderstorm, etc.
Our Tartan 34 was wired old style. That is it had all of the underwater metal connected with a large bare copper solid wire that ran everywhere through the bilges and under the floor. It connected through hull fittings, engine block, and even the stuffing boxes for the rudder and centerboard. The Bristol had no such connectors.
Lightning hit both of our boats. It hit mine at least twice at the masthead and I saw it hit the Bristol once also at the masthead. After that I couldn't see or hear anything for a while; I was standing in the cockpit under the bimini at the time. My wife and son were down below screaming and holding their ears.
The damage to my boat was minimal. The depth sounder (unplugged at the time) was set off, beeping a loud alarm sound. The Windex came down in several pieces; one of which I saw hit the deck. The VHF antenna was bent like a pretzel and that was about it. The Depth sounder mostly recovered although it dropped a few pixels from the LCD (it was fish finder type unit). The VHF was fine and nothing else was damaged except that the bilge and under floor areas all had a layer of fine green dust everywhere. I suspect that was from the verdigris on the copper ground strap.
The damage to the Bristol was much worse. Of course, he had more equipment on his boat to start with. He lost everything electronic including the below decks autopilot, VHF, Depth Sounder, knotmeter, wind speed/direction unit, even his alternator and batteries were fried. Back then the damage to his boat came to over $7000. Could have been worse I suppose. No one on his boat was injured either excepting their suddenly white hair ... (kidding).
The lesson? Ground that mast to the water! Here's the Stan Honey article ... but I guess the diagrams didn't come through. It's too big (with diagrams) to attach. Maybe I could email it to the webmaster and he could put it up on the site somewhere ... great reference piece.
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Marine Grounding Systems<o
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This article was originally published in the October 15, 1996 issue of Practical Sailor. The author, Stan Honey, is a renowned sailor, navigator and electrical engineer.
Marine Grounding Systems
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Figure 1. The boats electrical system should be connected to seawater at one point only, via the engine negative terminal or its bus.<o
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DC Ground[FONT="]
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Every light or appliance should be wired with its own DC return wire. Never use the mast, engine, or other metal object as part of the return circuit. The DC load returns of all branch circuits should be tied to the negative bus of the DC distribution panel. In turn, the negative bus of the DC distribution panel should be connected to the engine negative terminal or its bus. The battery negative is also connected to the engine negative terminal or its bus. The key factor here is that the yacht's electrical system is connected to seawater ground at one point only, via the engine negative terminal or its bus. See figure one.
AC Ground
See Practical Sailor August 15, 1995 for a detailed treatment of the green wire. The best solution is a heavy and expensive isolation transformer. The acceptable solution (for the rest of us) is to install a light and inexpensive Galvanic Isolator in the green wire, between the shorepower cord socket on your boat, and the connection to the boat's AC panel. Then, connect the grounding conductor (green) of the AC panel directly to the engine negative terminal or its bus. Note that this meets ABYC's recommendations. In choosing Galvanic Isolators, make sure that you select one that has a continuous current rating that is at least 135% the current rating on the circuit breaker on your dock box. Certain Galvanic Isolators (e.g. Quicksilver) include large capacitors in parallel with the isolation diodes, which in certain situations theoretically provide better galvanic protection. Unfortunately, these units cost substantially more than conventional Galvanic Isolators. If you feel like spending real money on galvanic isolation, you might as well do it right and buy an isolation transformer.
It is also a good idea to use a Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI) in your AC wiring. GFI's will occasionally "nuisance trip" due to the humidity surrounding the wiring on boats, but the additional safety that they offer (particularly to nearby swimmers) in disconnecting power in the presence of ground currents is worth the nuisance. If your GFI starts to nuisance trip, it is probably a very good idea to track down and clean up your damp wiring in any event.
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Figure 2. Ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) should be installed in each AC circuit. A GFCI will disconnect power in the presence of ground currents, helping prevent an electrocution.<o
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Connect a 4 AWG battery cable from the base of your aluminum mast to the nearest keel bolt from external ballast. If you have internal ballast, you should install a lightning ground plate. One square foot is recommended for use in salt water; fresh water requires much more. Do not rely on a thru-hull or a sintered bronze radio ground (e.g. Dynaplate) for use as a lightning ground.[FONT="] [/FONT]
For additional comfort, also run a 6 AWG wire from your keel bolt or ground plate to the upper shroud chainplates, and to your headstay chainplate. Don't bother with the backstay if it is interrupted with antenna insulators. Have each of the cables that are used for lightning ground wires lead as directly as possible to the same keel bolt, with any necessary bends being smooth and gradual.
Given that you have grounded your mast solidly to the ocean, your mast will be at exactly the same electric potential as the ocean. There is no chance that you can dissipate the charge between the ocean and the atmosphere, so don't bother with a static dissipater at the masthead. Wire "bottle brush" static dissipaters may be useful to dissipate seagulls, however, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
RF Ground[FONT="]
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Your VHF doesn't need to use the ocean as a counterpoise, so here we are dealing only with the ground needed for your HF/SSB radio.[FONT="] [/FONT]
Mount your automatic tuner as close to the backstay as possible, preferably just under the after deck. Run copper ground tape from the tuner to the stern pulpit/lifelines, to the engine, and to a keel bolt. It is good practice to include the HF/SSB radio itself in this network of ground tapes. If the builder of your yacht had the foresight to bond into the hull a length of copper tape or an area of copper mesh, be sure to run a copper ground tape to this as well, and say a blessing for builders such as these. Sintered bronze ground plates (e.g. Dynaplates) can be used as radio grounds in situations where the ballast or engine is unavailable or awkward to connect. If the ballast, engine, and lifelines are available, however, they generally make a high performance ground.
Bonding and Electrolytic Corrosion Due to Hot Marinas[FONT="]
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Do not bond any thru-hulls or other immersed metal that can be electrically isolated. Specifically, keep your metal keel/ballast, your metal rudder shaft, your engine/prop, and all thru-hulls electrically isolated, from each other, and from the engine.
It's worth understanding the reason. In an increasing number of marinas, there are substantial DC electric currents running through the water. If your bits of immersed metal are bonded, the electric current will take the lower resistance path offered by your boat in preference to the water near your boat, and the current will flow into one of your bits of metal, through your bonding wires, and then out another bit of metal. The anodic bit of metal or thru-hull that has the misfortune to be on the "out current" side of the current running through your bonding system will also become "out metal" and will disappear, sometimes rapidly.
Your zinc is only intended to protect against the modest galvanic potentials and therefore currents that are caused by the dissimilar metals that are immersed and electrically connected together on your own boat. Your zinc is incapable of supplying enough galvanic potential to protect against substantial DC currents that may be flowing in the water. These DC currents in the water will cause electrolytic corrosion to your bonded thru-hulls or metal parts.
Zincs and Protection from Galvanic Corrosion
Use zincs to protect against the galvanic currents that are set up by dissimilar metals on your boat that are immersed and that are in electric contact with one another. The best example is your bronze propeller on a stainless shaft. The best protection is to put a zinc right on the shaft next to the propeller, or a zinc on the propeller nut. An isolated bronze thru-hull doesn't need protection because it is not in electrical contact with another immersed dissimilar metal. If electrically isolated, high quality marine bronze, is electrochemically stable in seawater; nothing good can come from connecting wires to it.[FONT="] [/FONT]
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Figure 1. Conductors running from the external keel or ground plate to the mast, stays and to the metal fuel tank will protect against a lighting strike, and there will be no DC connections to the engine or to the electrical system. <o
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Stainless steel is a special case. Generally, it is a bad idea to use stainless steel underwater, because it can pit. When it pits the "nobility" of the metal changes locally, and you end up with tiny galvanic couples that are made up of different parts of the same piece of metal and the pits grow deeper. One school of thought suggests that if you must use stainless steel underwater (e.g. you need its strength), then you should connect a nearby, immersed zinc to it; this protects the stainless steel from itself, reducing the rate of pitting. The electrochemistry of this assertion is compelling enough to recommend that you protect a stainless steel rudder shaft with a zinc. This may be done by mounting a zinc on the hull near the rudder shaft, and electrically connect it (inside the hull) to the stainless rudder shaft. For the reasons described above, ensure that your metal rudder shaft is not electrically connected to anything else. Your stainless steel propeller shaft will be protected from itself, by the same shaft zinc that protects the propeller from the stainless steel shaft. In both cases the pits, if they appear, will appear where the stainless steel is not exposed to the water. Trouble areas are in the cutlass bearing, inside the rudder bearing, and just inside the top of the rudder.
Keep your metal keel/ballast electrically isolated from all other bits of metal. If you have the misfortune to have an external iron or steel keel, however, mount a zinc directly on it to reduce the rate of corrosion. Leave lead keels/ballast isolated.
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Figure 1. To avoid making another DC ground to the engine via the HF/SSB radio copper ground strip, fasten the copper tape securely to an insulating piece of phenolic or to a terminal strip, cut a 1/10" gap across the tape, and solder several 0.15 uF ceramic capacitors across the gap.<o
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Inconsistencies in the Ground Rules[FONT="]
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So now, you are annoyed with the inconsistencies. We said to leave all bits of immersed metal electrically isolated when we described electrolytic corrosion and hot marinas, but then we said to connect wires and copper tape to your keel and engine for lightning and RF grounds. So what to do?[FONT="] [/FONT]
RF ground. The RF ground needs to be a ground for RF signals only. It does not need to conduct DC, and as described in "Bonding and Electrolytic Corrosion..." above, you do not want to connect another DC ground to your engine and to your keel etc.
The solution is to find a dry secure place along each of the copper RF ground tapes that are running to your engine and keel. Fasten the tape securely to an insulating piece of phenolic or to a terminal strip, cut a 1/10-inch gap across the tape, and solder several 0.15uF ceramic capacitors across the gap. These capacitors will be transparent to the RF, which will be happily grounded by the ground tape system, but they will block any DC currents from running through the RF ground system, and will avoid any resulting susceptibility to hot marina electrolytic corrosion. It is worth selecting the capacitors carefully, because they may carry a significant amount of RF current. An acceptable choice of capacitors and vendor are listed at the end of this article.
Lightning Ground. The lightning ground needs to be a direct DC connection to the keel or to a ground plate to handle currents due to lightning strikes. So how do we keep the keel or ground plate electrically isolated as required in "Bonding and Electrolytic Corrosion..." above?
The solution is to connect the keel or ground plate directly to the mast, but make sure the mast is not electrically connected to the boats DC ground system. If your steaming light, masthead light, tricolor, Windex light etc. are wired carefully and correctly, they each will have their own DC return wire; there should be no ground connection between their wiring and the mast itself. Make sure that this is the case. This should also be true of your masthead instruments. The unintended DC connection between mast and DC ground is typically made by the masthead VHF whip, which connects the shield of the coax to the bracket connected to the mast. That shield also connects to the VHF radio which is DC grounded by its power connection. The easiest solution is to insert what is called a "inner-outer DC block" into the coax. This RF device puts a capacitor in series with the center conductor, and another capacitor in series with the shield. This device is transparent to the VHF RF signals in the center conductor and shield, but blocks any DC current in either the center conductor or shield. This device can be made by a good radio technician, or purchased from radio supply houses, pre-fitted with any kind of coax connection on both ends. The commercial units look like a coax "barrel" connector. A vendor is listed at the end of the article.
Once the DC connection from the mast to the VHF is broken, check for any other connections with an ohmmeter, and straighten out any other wiring errors or unintended connections. If your metal fuel tank is also bonded to the lightning ground system (per ABYC) then make sure that it does not have DC connections either to the engine via the fuel line or to the electrical system via the fuel level sensor. A piece of approved rubber fuel hose in the fuel lines to the engine solves that connection, and a well designed fuel level sensor will not make electrical contact with the tank.
When you're done, there will be heavy conductors running from the external keel or lightning ground plate to the mast, stays, and to the metal fuel tank, but there will be no DC connections to the engine or to the yacht's electrical system. See figure 3.
Summary[FONT="]
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By using capacitors to block DC connections in a few key areas, it is possible to have perfect ground systems for AC, DC, RF, lightning, and corrosion, and have a boat that is immune to stray DC currents that are traveling through the water in "hot marinas."[FONT="] [/FONT]
In the old days, the technique of bonding everything together worked okay. In its defense, the "bond everything together" approach makes your boat less sensitive to electrolytic corrosion that can result from faulty wiring on your own boat. The problem is, the "bond everything" approach leaves your boat totally defenseless to wiring errors in nearby boats and nearby industry, that cause stray DC currents to run through the water.
Today the technique of bonding everything together would still work fine if your boat spent all of its time on the high seas, in remote anchorages, or in marinas that were wired perfectly and in which all of the nearby yachts were wired perfectly. Having underwater metal bonded together in crowded marina's today, however, is asking for expensive trouble. As outlined above, it is avoidable trouble. It is possible, with careful wiring and a few capacitors, to have the best of all worlds, good RF and lightning grounds, ABYC approved DC and AC grounds, and security against electrolytic corrosion caused by hot marinas.
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Sources:<o
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Inner-Outer DC Blocks: PolyPhaser, Model IS-IE50LN-C1, This Inner-Outer DC block also contains a lightning arrestor. It costs about $120 from www.aesham.com 800 558 0411 It uses type N connectors.<o
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Capacitors for use to block DC in SSB grounding tape: Digi-Key, (800) 344 4539. Type X7R Monolithic Ceramic capacitor, 0.15uF, $0.91 each, Digi-Key part number P4911-ND.<o
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