Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

[duskur1981]

I have a 14ft V-bottom Lund fishing boat. Use it for fishing and whatnot. It is a pretty basic boat, no previous wiring. Here is the setup I am thinking of doing..

Batteries will be up front under one of my seats. I am going to parallel two 12Vs together, and then run 4 awg wire to the back of the boat. The positive side will have a 20amp fuse. I am going to run these into two ground bars, one for the positive side and one for the negative side.
All my components i wanna run will then hook up to these ground bars as well. I have a trolling motor, navigation lights, and going to put a CD player in it as well. And maybe a cigarette lighter.

Do i need to be worried about anything or will this work fine? Should have more fuses or run a fuse panel instead of the ground bars?

Any help would be great. The wiring is expensive, and i dont want to ruin it somehow. Thanks.

 

[Rip Tide]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

I would definately run all Positive wires from a fuse block. If you don't and you have a problem with one circuit, say radio it will kill your nav lights, and vice versa. Are these going to be your main batteries as well? If so, your starter draws well over 20A so that one main line fuse would be insufficient. Also if your run too large of a fuse for smaller gauge wiring it could overheat and melt the wires. Fuses are cheap, wiring is not. That's my 2 cents, it may be worth less.

 

[duskur1981]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

Sounds like i should run some fuses then. I do not have a starter on my boat though, like i said it is little and i just run the trolling motor. If i get a fuse box, do i really need the grounding bars? Do the positive and negative both run to the fuse box?

 

[flargin]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

Sounds like i should run some fuses then. I do not have a starter on my boat though, like i said it is little and i just run the trolling motor. If i get a fuse box, do i really need the grounding bars? Do the positive and negative both run to the fuse box?

Some concepts which may help.

You always want to put some form of fuse near the Positive terminal. You are essentially helping to ensure if you somehow get a short, the fuse/circuit breaker will blow, not create a really hot wire as it melts...
running 4AWG, at 15 feet you can run 60 Amps,

so what you may want to do is with your 4awg wire:
Battery === (40-50A fuse)=====(to back of boat)===== Fuse Box

Your fuse box could run a lot of fuses, many more than you described, even if you have 20A fuses on each one, because you normally don't pull all the amperage at the same time. but what I would do is this:

Fuse 1(?amps) ===== trolling motor (this may need higher gauge - see your instructions)
Fuse 2(10amps) ----- Nav lights
Fuse 3(15amps) ----- Stereo
Fuse 4(20amps) ----- Cig Lighter(s)
(2-4 could likely use 12-14 guage, your trolling motor-- don't know)

Sounds like i should run some fuses then. If i get a fuse box,

For the positives, you would use a fuse panel or distribution panel

If i get a fuse box, do i really need the grounding bars?

The negative sides, no, you could use a bolt if you want. The formal way would be to use a busbar, or even a bolt. and then run that back to the battery (No fuse needed, and should not be used either). You should also connect the ground to the boat if it is aluminum.

If i get a fuse box, do i really need the grounding bars? Do the positive and negative both run to the fuse box?

See above, but no. Battery to fuse to equipment to negative is normal install model.



A couple other thoughts... you may want to put a switch between the 2 batteries and the fuse box. That way you can put it on "battery 1", run that all day... when you find out you don't have any juice left, you can switch to "battery 2", and then you can get back.

but that is an expensive option, but the line would look like this
Battery1 =(SWITCH)= (40-60A fuse)=====(to back of boat)===== Fuse Box
Battery2 ====^

sorry for the ASCII drawings

 

[duskur1981]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

wow that is really helpful!! Thanks so much. One more thought i had... Currently i have an inline fuse on that 4 guage positive wire, but it is probably only about a foot away from the rear end, so basically it will only be about a foot away from the 'soon to go in' fuse box. Making it about 14 feet away from the battery side. Will this matter? It might be hard to move the fuse back toward the battery, but if it will prevent it from melting my wire, that is what i should do i guess... but does it matter?

 

[flargin]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

wow that is really helpful!! Thanks so much. One more thought i had... Currently i have an inline fuse on that 4 guage positive wire, but it is probably only about a foot away from the rear end, so basically it will only be about a foot away from the 'soon to go in' fuse box. Making it about 14 feet away from the battery side. Will this matter? It might be hard to move the fuse back toward the battery, but if it will prevent it from melting my wire, that is what i should do i guess... but does it matter?

it is better to have the fuse close to the battery. Reason: if 8 feet from the battery, the wire rubs against an aluminum hull rib, and shorts, it will be a really big heater.

Good news is you don't need to remove the other one, just add one in line at the battery. You can use a circuit breaker like this one

 

[duskur1981]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

it is better to have the fuse close to the battery. Reason: if 8 feet from the battery, the wire rubs against an aluminum hull rib, and shorts, it will be a really big heater.

Good news is you don't need to remove the other one, just add one in line at the battery. You can use a circuit breaker like this one

I dont have any knowledge of how to use a circuit breaker. Is it basically the same as a fuse that you dont have to replace? By looking at the picture, how does it connect to the wire? I see one end has the bolt, but what about the other side? what is that? sorry if i sound stupid about this. Want to learn what i need to do though.

 

[flargin]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

I dont have any knowledge of how to use a circuit breaker. Is it basically the same as a fuse that you dont have to replace? By looking at the picture, how does it connect to the wire? I see one end has the bolt, but what about the other side? what is that? sorry if i sound stupid about this. Want to learn what i need to do though.

They have a number of different ones, some are exactly like a fuse (use once) or resettable, or automatically reset. But which one you use is your choice... remember they won't trip unless something bad is happening. You could also use a fuse and fuse holder, but I don't know one that has 4 guage wire, that is where the circuit style come in.

Connection, there are a number of different options, this one you would screw onto the bolt on the positive terminal, and then screw to the end of your 4 gauge wire.

If you swin into the boat shop you will see how they are built,

 

[duskur1981]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

Thanks a ton, you have been most helpful. Once i get my cd player and speakers, i can get this project done! Thanks.

 

[flargin]

Re: Will this wiring setup work for me???? No previous wiring in boat...

Thanks a ton, you have been most helpful. Once i get my cd player and speakers, i can get this project done! Thanks.

Good luck, and welcome to iboats.