Exposed buss bar

[jeffrey.bean]

Im redoing the Electricail on my 1860 grizzly. I want to attach a ground buss bar to the transom, it will be exposed to moisture, as it isn't a closed compartment. Will this be ok?

 

[PSG-1]

I had the same setup on my jetboat, before I re-wired it. Had the buss bar mounted on the transom, one for the + wires, and one for the - wires. Although it was covered by an engine cowling, it was right near the corner of the cowling, and it wasn't really a waterproof design, so, my buss bars were partially exposed to the elements.

This kind of buss bar is what I used:



To connect all the sets of terminals, you could use a strip, or, you can make short jumper wires.

I sealed both of the buss bars with liquid electrical tape, using the red color for + and the black for -

Never had any problems with mine. Just be sure to use closed-ring terminals, not the open 'forked' type, to ensure a good solid connection.

 

[Bob Landry]

Buss bars by the marine manufacturers such as Blue Sea are made to hold up to the external environment and will do well unless you are going to expose them to a lot of salt spray. Even then, with proper maintainance, they will be fine. Just do a fresh water rinse and spray them with Corrosion-X. The key to success here is going to be to make your wire terminal connections as water tight as possible. The issues will be with water that wicks up under the wire jacket and causes corrosion.

 

[jeffrey.bean]

Thanks for the replys,
I picked up a blue sea buss, I only need a negative buss back by the battery, my pos line will run to my switchs and fuse panel up in the console.

I've crimped all my ring terminals and sealed the end of the terminals with liquid tape and heat shrink. Its in a place where I can keep an eye on it.