Work is progressing on several projects. This narration is about the installation of the new Fischer Panda 5000i Neo generator. (For technic freaks: https://www.fischerpanda.de/en/products/marine-generators-for-boots-und-yachts/perfect-power-generators-with-variable-speed-technology/perfect-power-i-serie-230v-50hz/panda-5000ineo-pms) It turned out to be a bit more complex than I expected, but step by step I’m solving the problems.

In the meantime the external fuel pump is installed and the fuel hoses (feed and return) are connected to the old ones and ready for connection to the new generator. The same is done for the raw water (sea water) supply hose and the coolant supply and return line. The inverter is mounted and the layout of the electrical cables decided. The remote operation panel is built in. I added a Deutsch connector to a short piece of remote panel cable and connected it to the remote connection cable of the old generator. Using the old remote cable saved me at least a day of work to replace the old cable for a new one. (About Deutsch connectors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch_Group) The newly needed Deutsch connectors and the crimping tool I found at the web outlets monotaRO (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/MonotaRO) and Rakuten (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakuten).

One of my headaches was the installing of the shock mounts, the vibration dampers, for the new generator on the platform. To access the equivalent mounting screws for the old generator was always very troublesome. I needed to remove a few parts of the Volvo engine to just reach far enough under the platform. While I was thinking about the needed again removal of the saildrive parts, I had a flash of inspiration. The new generator is mounted not on top of a baseplate covering the platform, but only on four “legs”. This means that I can reach the bolt-on spots for the shock mounts if I make a hole in platform. Making a 15 cm diameter hole in my cardboard template to position the generator on the platform, I could test, if I can get one arm through this hole and reach the spots where the shock mounts need to be fixed. As the test was positive, I started with opening the hole on the platform. When I had to leave, I asked Kikuchi-san of ASB (Arari Ship Builders) to please complete the opening and seal the edge of the hole with glass fiber material. The result I saw when I came back to the boat was perfect. He even painted the platform newly.

In order to protect the 230 V circuit from any current surge from the generator, I need a 25 A breaker. This simple thing turned out to become a major work. The breaker is not more specified by Fischer Panda than with “slow fuse, max 25 A”. As I don’t want to use a fuse, which will blow in the middle of the ocean, I want to install a suitable breaker. I sent an inquiry to support at Fischer Panda got in contact with a supporter in the USA. The information I got from him was less then what I knew already. Perfectly useless!

Beside the 25 A slow fuse limit in the generator manual I know that the watermaker needs 230 V, 3 kW power. Starting the watermaker results in a sudden very short surge of current, which may not trip the breaker.

Looking at the homepages of Japanese breaker manufacturers, I had no clue about which breaker I need to select.

So I asked AIs and in these long chats and from information I got from a sailing friend in Germany, who happens to be an expert in electricity, I could develop the 4 important specs for the needed breaker.

Because AIs can search the web very fast, I asked the five AIs to search me a breaker from Mitsubishi Electric, Fuji Electric, Panasonic based on these four specs. They all came back with different breakers and non of them was matching the given specs. I wasted a few hours without any success. AIs can fail is the statement made for all AIs and this is true. I clearly saw the limits of the AIs being available for normal people. In this case they were absolutely useless and I lost a lot of time.

I decided to contact the Japanese manufacturers directly, and Siemens Japan as well as ABB Japan. The company from which I did not expect much from came in with the first reply, an exactly specs matching breaker, and a sales outlet in Japan. As the other companies replied late and I wanted to make a checkmark behind the purchase breaker task, I ordered the Siemens breaker and made my checkmark.

However, I need to mention Terasaki, an Osaka based breaker manufacturer. I got in touch with a sales rep already earlier. The sales rep did the best he could do but Terasaki doesn’t make 25 A breakers. With 20 A I can’t charge the batteries while making water, and with 30 A I’m above the generator specs. To help me as much as he could, he made me a contact to a shop for ship electricity in Arari. I’ll visit the shop and buy the piece of cable to connect the breaker to the 230 V board network and the inverter.

The final topic is one I still have to deal with. How to get the mixture of exhaust gases and raw water out. I have an installed hull through, an exhaust hose with swan neck, and a waterlock from the old generator with a 50 mm inner diameter. The Fischer Panda generator has an exhaust outlet of 40 mm diameter. The same for the in- and outlet of the Fischer Panda waterlock.

Waterlocks protect the engine of the generator from cooling water flowing back through the hose into the engine when the boat moves in waves. (The cooling water is the raw water, which passed through the heat exchanger of the diesel engine and enters at the engine’s exit of the exhaust gases into these gases, cool them down additionally and existing the boat through the exhaust hose via the hull through, the outlet at the boats wall. )

As the volume of the Fischer Panda waterlock is on the limits for the installed hose to the hull through, the exit of the water on the boats wall, I want to use the waterlock of my old Onan generator additionally because it can hold back all the water in the hose after this waterlock.

However, there is a static and dynamic pressure in an exhaust system and each waterlock adds it’s own resistance to the outflowing exhaust-gas-water-mixture. This increases the complexity of the exhaust system.

For every problem there is a solution and I am curious how I will solve this one.