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[Music] everyone hello hello Jeff Cote here with boatingtechtalk.com we've got a question from Othello Boulder John John asked Jeff we've noticed that some of the original DC Breakers are broken on the back and since two boats have caught fire and being destroyed at our Marina how terrifying we are on pretty high alert right now as you should you know that's that's just insane uh we decided to build a new panel with new Breakers will a switch panel be okay instead of a breaker panel for the house DC loads hmm okay well let's define some terms because sometimes we all mean different things so I'm gonna qualify or maybe Define a little bit of the terms that John used in this question so what's the purpose of a breaker versus a switch right a switch is really on about simply a device that turns on or off a circuit a little bit like a light switch and it's a way for you to break the circuit manually a circuit breaker or breaker panel can have fuses which can trip right whenever an exceeding an amperage is exceeded whatever you've deemed to be an exceeding average so on some panels you literally have a small little switch like on a Catalina for example which is what I have as a boat um a Catalina panel is switches and fuses they actually have a little switch on and off that has provides no circuit protection other than giving you the ability to turn a circuit on or off and then right beside it they're going to have a little fuse holder glass fuse holder or a tiny little circuit breaker right that will trip if ever the amperage is exceeded so on a Catalina boat and that's not all that common anymore they have basically a switch and a circuit breaker on most other boats they've actually aggregated or collapsed the function of circuit breaker and a switch in one device and these are these toggle circuit breakers that you see on honestly endless amount of boats and these are a little like white or they're black or red and they're little switches but they sort of have it's a little bit like these magnetic latch Breakers that some of us will have in our homes in an AC panel it's very similar so if for example the circuit breaker is has an exceeding amperage it will trip and go to the off position even though you had turned it on it will actually reset and go to off so it's a visual way for many of us to know if the breaker tripped so when you're redoing a DC panel or an AC panel but let's assume it's just DC it's really important that you actually have circuit protection on every single individual load on your boat like we do in our homes or commercial buildings on land every single outlet or group of outlets or Appliance at the end of the day is protected by at least one breaker you can have one circuit breaker for many things but there is not a single thing that does not have a circuit breaker so it can be one to one or one to many but there can never ever be one circuit that is unprotected and by the way John that is generally where a lot of boat fires happen is that people add circuits without protection and so they might have the ability of turning a circuit on or off but they never thought about what happens if I have an over current situation on that wire and the current that's on the wire exceeds the rated capacity of that wire and when that happens if you don't have a circuit breaker the wire becomes the circuit breaker it can and does on rare occasions literally catch on fire it becomes the fuse and that happens that is a common way for an electrical fire to happen on a boat so when you're replacing your DC panel always make sure that all your circuits have circuit protection and a really convenient way to do that is to have a toggle circuit breaker that not only gives you the convenience of turning the breaker on or off but also is rated at whatever Max amperage your wiring and your Appliance can handle so circuit breakers can come in five amps 10 amps 15 amps 20 amps and if you need further protection because let's say the load needs a 7 amp let's say for example fuse that's okay what you'll do is you'll put a 7 amp fuse near the appliance and then you'll make sure that the wire that is let's say rated for 10 amps or 15 amps has a 10 amp or 15 amp circuit breaker at the start of the circuit and so long-winded answer a little bit for John but make sure that all circuits aboard all our boats without an exception because these exceptions are what causes these boat fires all too often not always but way too often so have circuit protection and at the same time be able to turn on and off but never just a switch it's asking for trouble it's playing with fire so great question John and thanks for asking because that is a good reminder for all of us to take our safety on our boats right at the top nothing's more important especially for us at pleasure boaters there's no point in risking or alive or the lives of others to have fun on the water so thanks for asking and thanks for tuning in and if you've got further questions or you want to geek out check all our resources on YouTube or even on our website we'd love to share thanks so if you're curious again go on our website and find out more answers and solutions with this sort of setup and thanks for asking and thanks for all of you for listening and tuning in English (auto-generated)