Marine electrical maintenance, taught as a former Marine lecturer at the famous South Shields Marine School.
- Electrical safety and test instruments
- Switchboards, switchgear and protection
- Circuit and wiring diagrams
- AC generator operation and control
- AC motor operation and control including computer controlled drives
- Lighting and low power equipment
- Cable terminations
- Circuit fault finding
Electrical safety is paramout at sea, as on land.
Various test instruments are used in marine electrical maintenance.
Multimeters are used to test resistance, voltage and current.
‘Line Testers’, are devices incorporating either Neon or LED indicator lights.
Line Testers test for AC voltages, and are safer than using a voltmeter, which I will explain during training.
Optical revolution counters are used to check the speed of rotating machines, such as Induction Motors.
A rotating machine operating at a different than expected speed, can indicate marine electrical system issues.
Insulation Resistance Testers measure the resistance between the three Stator coils of a three-phase Marine Generator or Induction Motor.
Low insulation resistance can prevent the rotating machine to stop working, and other issues on-board ship.
Solas specify a minimum insulation resistance level.
There are various causes of low insulation resistance, and a number of fixes available to the marine engineer.