Engine control panel wiring

G

GeorgB

Member
130
4
Helsinki, Finland
I'm planning to make a custom engine control panel since my yanmar b-type panel is not doing so well.  The current plan is  to salvage the wire harness & tach and replacing the ignition key with pushbuttons for engine on, start and stop.  My question concerns the idiot light/buzzer assembly.  In the current panel the lights and the buzzer are wired in parallell with diodes giving reverse current protection between each light and the buzzer. Schematic below:

b-panel.png

I would like to avoid making a pcb for this so i've been concidering what components i could leave out and how to wire everything neatly point to point and one solution could be wiring the buzzer in series with LEDs instead of the parallell incandescents.  Indeed resistance would be greater but i reckon the circuit would work fine anyway.  Schematic:

proposed.png

What do you think? 

 
G

GeorgB

Member
130
4
Helsinki, Finland
Good question Daddle!  I couldn't find any spec sheet with electrical carachteristics for the buzzer but it is piezo so i assume it's probably not more than that of the leds.  However,  reason enough to mock it up before final installation to see that everything works correct.

 
WoobaGooba

WoobaGooba

Anarchist
636
3
New England
I did  panel B rebuild  a couple years ago.  Left the circuit unchanged, but moved  / replaced the lights and buzzer and added fuel guage and hour meter.  PM me and I'll send you the details. 

 
A

Alex W

Super Anarchist
3,365
328
Seattle, WA
Do a buzzer per circuit and you don't need the diodes. You can get a half dozen buzzers for $10 on amazon.  Just hide them behind the panel.

I did this on my boat because the Yanmar buzzer died.

Note that the plastic b panel is only about $30.  I was going to machine my own out of aluminum, but at that price why bother?

 
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IStream

IStream

Super Anarchist
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This is the corollary to Costco math, but for engineering. Yeah, half of that giant bag of onions will rot before you can eat them but it's still cheaper net-net. 

 
WoobaGooba

WoobaGooba

Anarchist
636
3
New England
Alex W said:
Do a buzzer per circuit and you don't need the diodes. You can get a half dozen buzzers for $10 on amazon.  Just hide them behind the panel.

I did this on my boat because the Yanmar buzzer died.

Note that the plastic b panel is only about $30.  I was going to machine my own out of aluminum, but at that price why bother?
Click to expand...
$30 is a deal if you are going back to the exact panel configuration.

If not, 1/8" G10 and paint it black.

 
A

Alex W

Super Anarchist
3,365
328
Seattle, WA
IStream said:
This is the corollary to Costco math, but for engineering. Yeah, half of that giant bag of onions will rot before you can eat them but it's still cheaper net-net. 
Click to expand...
Using 3 or 4 (depending on if you have a sail drive) is a lot cheaper than the custom Yanmar that has diodes built in.

Wooba: I hadn't thought of g10 for some reason, but that is a good idea.  Since I have a little cnc machine I was thinking of an engraving plastic so that I could engrave labels.

The stock layout isn't awesome, but it works.  I have thought of making a new one that ditches the silly Yanmar "key".  Silly because they are all the same.

 
IStream

IStream

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I wasn't criticizing, Alex, just noting how the engineering calculus has changed with cheap Chinese components that are widely available. Same thing goes in the mechanical world with desktop CAD/CAM democratizing complex machined parts and SLA/3D printing taking it even further for low load/low temp applications.

 
G

GeorgB

Member
130
4
Helsinki, Finland
Thanks for the suggestions!  The cheapest  faceplate for a b-panel i've managed to find is 90 € and i'm not over the moon about the quality of the one i have.  Further, i want to get rid of the key.

I already have all the components including G10, ip67 certified pushbuttons and even a nice ip50 certified buzzer.  I do enjoy tinkering with electronics and find pleasure in building something bombproof.  I guess i'll just have to prototype the circuit before putting it in the boat.

 
ryley

ryley

Super Anarchist
5,578
709
Boston, MA
Alex W said:
Using 3 or 4 (depending on if you have a sail drive) is a lot cheaper than the custom Yanmar that has diodes built in.

Wooba: I hadn't thought of g10 for some reason, but that is a good idea.  Since I have a little cnc machine I was thinking of an engraving plastic so that I could engrave labels.

The stock layout isn't awesome, but it works.  I have thought of making a new one that ditches the silly Yanmar "key".  Silly because they are all the same.
Click to expand...
they're worse than all the same. my key got lost overboard and I improvised with a key from an old lockbox I no longer have. It's been working fine for over a season now.

 
A

Alex W

Super Anarchist
3,365
328
Seattle, WA
Check eBay, I've seen some custom Yanmar panels listed there that are the same size as the stock one, but made of other materials. They usually sold as fully wired, so they aren't cheap. Must search for yanmar panel.  

 
thereefgeek

thereefgeek

Member
467
24
very not cllearo where end up
sonofasailor4x said:
we just got a yanmar panel from ACDC Marine,  https://acdcmarineinc.com/

Ramsey (the proprietor) gives great tech support too.
Click to expand...
I was also going to recommend ACDC.  They build some nice custom panels.  We ordered all the gauges, buttons, and key switch from them and then installed them into a recesses panel housing I got from SSI Custom Plastics.  I also installed an oil pressure/water temp alarm and an idiot light and wired it all up to our existing engine harness.

panel.jpg

 
Last edited by a moderator:
jamhass

jamhass

Anarchist
788
133
GeorgB said:
I'm planning to make a custom engine control panel since my yanmar b-type panel is not doing so well.  The current plan is  to salvage the wire harness & tach and replacing the ignition key with pushbuttons for engine on, start and stop.  My question concerns the idiot light/buzzer assembly.  In the current panel the lights and the buzzer are wired in parallell with diodes giving reverse current protection between each light and the buzzer. Schematic below:

View attachment 237108

I would like to avoid making a pcb for this so i've been concidering what components i could leave out and how to wire everything neatly point to point and one solution could be wiring the buzzer in series with LEDs instead of the parallell incandescents.  Indeed resistance would be greater but i reckon the circuit would work fine anyway.  Schematic:

View attachment 237109

What do you think? 
Click to expand...
Just replace incandescents with leds.  No need to change the circuit.

 
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