warm spot on 301 Panel

[Craig]

The Wurth Electonics P 301 Panel on my 2010 model Bav 38 cruiser has a warm spot on the panel. It appears to be just to the left of the diagram for the mast lights. The rest of the panel appears cool to touch.

All my circuits appear to be working OK at present.

My concern is that a relay might be about to fail, or worse still, the heating increase and cause a fire.

I have opened the back of the panel and all the dark plastic components ( I think these are relays but haven't checked a wiring diagram yet to be sure) appear to be a little warm. Nothing particularly hot but enough to warm the face of the panel.

The temperature here is about 30 degrees centigrade at moment.

My questions are:-

1. Do other Bavaria owners have a warmer spot on the panel in this location?
2. If others have a warm spot, has it caused any issues?
3. If a component is failing, is it an easy matter to replace particular components or should I purchase a complete, new panel?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone
Craig
"Shirley Valentine"
Gold Coast
Australia

[Mirror45184]

Just having a look at the Panel Manual, there area  couple of likely candidates for generating heat.

There is  a large multi pin plug described as "light cable" which after time may have some corrosion on it and could be cleaned. best done by unplugging and plugging back in.
Terminals for the auto pilot (option)
There is also a series of heat sinks there which could be the source.
Above these are the fuses, perhaps check these.

I will check my panel next time I am on the boat.

Cheers

[solar]

Same with mine.
Some arias are hotter then others.
In the near past no one was willing to touch the panel and try to repair it.(lightning strike)
New cost around 750 euros and I waited 2 months to find one.
If it works count your blessings.

[ANTREVELL]

Hi
My 301 panel failed . I am an electronics engineer but I was unable to obtain any service information regarding component values etc. Only the owners manual .
In conversation with Wurth they admitted they were of poor design and troublesome they say they were designed by someone at Bavaria who has since left the company.  Clearly Wurth did not want to take any credit!! for the panels .
Richard at Clipper also tried but failed to get the info.    If you have success I would appreciate a copy of the information.
I personally will make myself a new panel when this one fails again. Using mechanical switch fuses and ancillary fluid levels.  Even the mains fuse board is electronic instead of mechanical . All doomed to failure in a marine environment in my opinion.

Regards Tony Revell    Cruiser 33. Pegatha

[Craig]

Thanks guys,

Given that the area does contain heat sinks and others appear to have this heating occurring without any problems, I think I will be monitoring the situation as everything is still working at the moment.

I am more concerned about the risk of fire.

Craig
"Shirley Valentine"
Gold Coast
Australia

[MarkTheBike]

Hi Craig

Although I don't have a 301 panel, I'm interested to know how hot the 'warm spot' becomes. Where does it register on a scale between 'just above ambient' and 'too hot to touch'? Could it just be a side-effect of being in a warm climate so normal cooling is less efficient? I certainly understand your concern about fire!

Cheers

[Craig]

Mark,

the spot is just warm enough to touch.

Not excessive at this stage and does not appear to be causing any problems.

I'm surprised that the panel would generate any heat at all, thus my concern.

Since moving the boat to Australia from the Med in 2015 I'm wondering whether the higher ambient heat and higher humidity on the Gold Coast might be causing a deterioration in a relay on the panel.

Caig
"Shirley Valentine"
Gold Coast
Australia

[ANTREVELL]

Would not do any harm to have a 12volt computer fan blowing air over panel to improve ventilation

Regards Tony Revell  Pegatha   Cruiser 33

[MarkTheBike]

yep, that's what I was going to suggest. You're certainly in a warm climate so it couldn't do any harm and the current draw is minimal. Wouldn't need a big one, an old cpu fan would be fine.

[Craig]

Yes, I've been considering a fan and may install one.

I've been monitoring the heat generated and what has been causing the warm patch over the last week. It appears that heat is generated when the refrigerator is turned on. I suspect the relay for the fridge is generating the warming.

At this stage the warming is not excessive, just enough to be of concern. As I don't keep the fridge on while I am not on the boat, I'll continue to monitor the situation for awhile.

I'm more concerned about excessive current drain from the warming at this stage, so adding a fan would add to the drain, not decrease the drain at the moment.

My reason for the post was to see if the warm spot on the panel was a "normal" situation experienced by other Bavaria owners with the 301 panel.

I'm a bit worried as the posting by Solar is the only one that mentions a warm spot on other 301 panels.

The warming may be an indication of a problem developing rather than a "normal" operation of the panel.

Craig
"Shirley  Valentine"
Gold Coast
Australia

[Mirror45184]

Craig,

Age and vibration may also exacerbate any design issues or poor solder joints. not to mention the marine environment and that lovely green colour anything not tinned takes on! All leads to higher resistance across joins and temperature increases.

[Harlequin]

Hi Craig,

I have minor hot-spots on my panel 301 too, but not aboard right now, so can't say exactly where.

More importantly, I had worse hot-spots on a previous panel just before it failed, leaving me without any DC power! I'll try and attach a pic below, showing the specific hot components. If your panel is almost too hot to touch in the same areas, I suspect you have an incipient failure on your hands as well.

I was in NZ at the time and tried, unsuccessfully to have it repaired. I was quoted NZ$1,220 plus GST for a new one by the Bavaria NZ agent, Christine Bird at Busfiield Marine, and EUR 610 plus freight by Bavaria Service in Germany. Happily I was able to buy a second-hand panel for a fraction of that.

Good luck!

Jim

[Mirror45184]

hi Craig,
Was on the vessel recently and checked the panel, it seems to be the large heat sinks.
Cheers

[Craig]

I think it is the heat sinks.

I'll continue to monitor the problem and see if the problem gets worse.

I was surprised that there would be any heat generated by the panel.

Craig
"Shirley Valentine"
Gold Coast
Australia