Four Sockets

A reasonably relaxing day.  The morning commenced with the installation of the four 12v sockets collected from the chandlery late yesterday.  They’re not a deluxe model but then they are out of sight so that isn’t an issue.

The first was installed in the bow wardrobe on the starboard side and supplies the power to the TV aerial amplifier.

The wiring will be tidied up prior to the fitting of the oak trim on the ceiling.  The socket is a very simple affair consisting of a cheap plastic moulding with a hole in the end that takes a cheap cigarette type socket with two male ‘spade’ connectors.  I walked to Maplin two weeks ago and purchased the plugs to make up the connecting lead between the socket and the consumers (in this case the TV aerial amplifier).

A second socket was fitted in the back of freezer compartment at the other end of the boat.

You might notice the ventilation holes in the base of the freezer compartment.  We’re pleased the freezer is now running on 12v via the Empirbus system instead of the 240v as it gives us more control.

The last two sockets went into the small compartment in the top of the narrow display cabinet which is in the saloon.

It wasn’t until late in the boat planning process that I realised the Network Media Tank NMT (black box on the shelf below) actually operated on 12vDC via a 240vAC transformer.  So the second 12v socket was included to power the NMT.  The other 12v socket is “future proofing” Waiouru in case we fit a satellite dome.

After fitting all the sockets I started thinking about improving the control of the media systems and had a play did some serious reconfiguring of the Empirbus system.  There is a single wall plate consisting of six individual switches beside the bed and some of the switches are spare (more future-proofing).  The TV aerial, NMT bedroom TV and saloon TV are all interconnected.  It should therefore be possible to control the ON/OFF functions for all of them from more than one location using the power of the Empirbus system.

The saloon switch for the NMT is located on the side of the display cabinet.

right arrow

The same switch turns on/off the TV aerial amplifier in the front wardrobe.

There is a second switch in the bedroom that also turns on/off the aerial amplifier and a third switch turns the bedroom TV on or off.

Today I configured one of the spare switches beside the bed to turn off all three devices.

Yes….. very lazy I know!  But now there is no requirement to get out of bed to turn off any of the media equipment before counting the sheep. 

There is yet another spare switch beside the bed and I’m contemplating configuring it to turn everything off, apart from the essentials (water pump, fridge, freezer, toilet, bilge pumps).  That way we could head off to the land of nod knowing nothing had been accidentally left running and consuming battery power.  Of course I don’t have to change the wiring….. just tap away at the keyboard!