Help w/a plan

[authentic]

I've done wiring in my house, but I've never wired a boat before, never fixed wiring in a boat before, and never even looked at wiring (done the right way) in a boat before. I need help w/a plan. I've been looking at switches and plugs and bus bars and fuse boxes online, and feel more lost than when I started.

Right now, I'm looking at an empty boat, so completely starting from scratch. I need to hook up a 24V trolling motor and fish finder (I suppose directly). Also, need to hook up the lights and bilge pump to a switch panel. I would also like to have a couple cig. lighter/outlets.

So, I know what I want, but have no idea how to wire it up with fuses and other necessities. I would really love the help if someone here w/the knowledge, time, and ability could possibly draw up a wiring diagram/plan for me that includes the above items, along w/anything I may be thinking.

Thanks, in advance, for any help anyone can give.

 

[russ010]

hey man... i'll draw you out a diagram tomorrow.

how many batteries are you going to have in your boat?

Do you have a motor on the transom that is gas? If you do, is it electric start or pull start. Just trying to figure out everywhere you have batteries.

Wiring is one of the easiest mods to do on your boat...

 

[authentic]

I just bought a 24V trolling motor, so at least a couple batteries for the bow mount. Right now, I don't have an outboard (hopefully, not for long). The ones I've been looking at are pull start, but that's just because I haven't come across any electric start tillers in my price range yet. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to mount the batteries. Probably, right in front of the front bench (not sure if that matters yet or not).

 

[authentic]

I'm thinking I'll go with an on-board charger as well, just to make life easier.

 

[russ010]

all you have to do is break the positive wire at the switch panel. All of your grounds can go to a bus bar, then the main neg wire from the bus bar to the battery. All of this stuff will run off of 2 batteries just fine.

If you plan to add anything else like a livewell aerator, radio, another fish finder - you should add another battery.

 

[masterangler34]

Wow Russ.. You make it look pretty easy.. Electrical is the part I was most worried about.. Ill be doin it here in a week or so might have you draw me up one of those for me if you would.. Just to make sure I get it right..

 

[russ010]

no problem... it's really easy.

The best way to do it is to run all your negatives to a Bus Bar. Then connect one line from the bus bar to the negative on your battery. Saves in a lot of long runs. If you have 4 components up front, run the negs to the bus bar, the postive wire from each to its own switch. Then another positive wire from that switch to the battery. You CAN run each of those 2nd sets of positive wires to another bus bar, then a single LARGER (like 12-14ga wire) to the battery. This will help in keeping your wiring tangles down.

One good idea is to label each wire going to your bus bar with what its connected to. You can do this with a label maker, different colored electrical tape, or a cheaper thing is to use small tie straps. Use a tie strap at your device, then another at the battery so you can keep up with which is which.

 

[authentic]

Thanks a ton, Russ. Where would one pick up the 3 amp and 50 amp breakers? I saw MinnKota had a 60 amp one for the trolling motor. Are there some better options out there? I found a cool, fairly inexpensive 3 switch panel w/a 12v socket on iboats. I may just be missing the breakers there, though.

 

[russ010]

Is it a minnkota or motorguide trolling motor? I would get whichever fuse is actually made by the company for their brand of trolling motor.

I personally don't use them, but that's me.

As far as the 3amp fuse, you can get them at any car parts store... it's just a little fuse holder with a red wire coming out of each end.

As far as the switches - they probably aren't fused. I don't fuse anything, but like I said that's me. I've been doing electronics for a long time and I make sure to take enough precaution when I wire that I don't worry about grounds getting nicked and touching bare aluminum.

The only thing you would need to do if you want a fuse, is put a 3-5amp fuse between the positive coming from the switch and the positive of the individual electronics.

 

[authentic]

Okay, new question. What gauges of wire do I need for the different connections. I know I want heavier gauge for connecting the batteries, right? How about the rest of the components, though?

BTW, I really appreciate all the help

 

[russ010]

I have my batteries about 5' away from the trolling motor... so I use the biggest I can get away with (or what I have at the house)... I'm using 4ga wire for the trolling motor connection. I'm using a double bus bar up front, so I have the 10ga wire coming off the motor to the bus bar, then 4ga from the battery to the bus bar. - here is the connector https://shop.genuinedealz.com/Items...ue Sea 2018 Power Post 5/16in and 3/8in Studs

I buy wire in bulk rolls if I can get a good deal... the majority of the time I'll use no less than 14ga for everything.

For the LEDs however, I'm using 18ga wire.

I like to use as large as line as possible, and 14 is the easiest for me to work with. I can make 14ga connectors work on anything from 14-22... and I have been known to use the 12ga wire connectors on 14ga wire (these are ring terminals that will fit on the battery studs.

 

[russ010]

someone just sent an email asking about using bus bars.... so I drew up this real quick. I would use the 1 stud connector, only because I don't like the bus bars where you either have to run a jumper wire making each connection hot, or where the whole bus is hot (also called a "common" bus bar). S1, S2, S3 are all separate switches which run the individual accessory

I just realized the jumper wire is not shown on the right diagram. All it is is one wire connecting to each terminal on the right side. This gives power to each connection without running separate power wires to each screw.

I think I got it right this time....

 

[authentic]

Putting my list of electrical supplies together that I need to order, based on the diagram. Help me out, if I'm missing pieces, or if there would be better choices.

100' - 14 Ga. Tinned wire. (should need about 75')
4 - Battery terminals - Are these the right ones? https://shop.genuinedealz.com/Items...tle=6 AWG Tinned Battery Terminal - UNIVERSAL
Busbar - Would this work for the negative wires? https://shop.genuinedealz.com/Items...t High amperage Cable Connector 3/8 inch Stud
pkg - 3/8" ring terminal (if that single post busbar works)
Switch panel
Butt splices
heat shrink
Trolling motor breaker (I have a question about this posted)

I'm still feeling totally lost trying to order this stuff, w/o even getting to look at it. I don't know what will connect with what, or how it will fit. I feel a lot more comfortable with wiring my house.

 

[russ010]

The only thing I'm going to ask about is the Battery Terminals - are you going to run 6ga wire from the battery to the post?

I had them make my larger cables for me because I didn't want to do the connections. I had them put the ring terminals on both ends, along with the heat shrink. This is the terminal I used - https://shop.genuinedealz.com/Items...rine Terminal Epoxy Coated - Pair RED and BLK. This way, I can just mount the terminal, then put the ring terminal on that stud. This also allowed me to use the top mounts and the studs on the batteries to hook whatever up I wanted.

That is the bus bar I am using.. one for positive, one for negative.

 

[authentic]

Thanks, I was thinking about having them build my battery cables for me (when I saw it on the website), but hadn't really gotten that far in my planning process.

What do you mean, from the battery to the post?

I'm also unsure what gauge exactly to run, to connect to my trolling motor.

Did you directly wire your trolling motor in, or put a plug in?
-If a plug, what plug did you use?
-If directly wired, how did you connect the cable from the trolling motor, and the one from the battery.
The trolling motor has 2 wires, if that makes any difference in what I need. I've read some have 3 wires.

BTW, thanks so much for the help. I'm excited to get going on this thing, and feel fairly confident I can get done quickly, once I get everything I need here.

 

[Froggy]

Russ, is it the same with 12v setup?

 

[russ010]

Russ, is it the same with 12v setup?

both of the illustrations up top are running off of one 12v battery... so yea, it would be the same.

 

[russ010]

What do you mean, from the battery to the post? the post I'm referring to is the Single Post Busbar

I'm also unsure what gauge exactly to run, to connect to my trolling motor. (I'm using 4ga from my battery to the Post Busbar, then the trolling motor has 10ga wire coming out of it)

Did you directly wire your trolling motor in, or put a plug in? Directly wired, I never take it off, and even if I want or need to, all I have to do is unscrew the Post Busbar and take the wire off)
-If directly wired, how did you connect the cable from the trolling motor, and the one from the battery. I used ring terminals for everything. Positive from Battery to the Postive Post Busbar, then Negative from the battery to the other Negative Post Busbar. Then I just hook up the positive from the trolling motor to the positive, and the negative to the negative.

In this picture you can see where my wires come up from the bottom, and go to their own Post Busbar. Then I just have the trolling motor wires going to their respective spots

 

[WhiteMoose]

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I had a similar plan for my boat. Attached is what I was thinking. Are there any changes you would make? I guess I'm still foggy on why to use bus bars. My understanding was that they allow you to merge all your wires into one larger wire to make the connection to your battery cleaner, correct? Couldn’t this be done by just merging them into a battery terminal ring like this (except heavier)

My batteries, outlet, cabin lights, switch panel, and fish finder will all be located in or around my middle seat. If the point of the bus bar is just to save wire, would they really benefit me?

Thanks for your help.

View attachment wiring diag.pdf

 

[russ010]

moose - that's how I have all of my stuff running.. I don't use a bus bar because none of my connections are long runs to the battery except for the radio.

Bus bars just make it easier running the wires - especially if your battery is far from your switches. You can just run all of your accessories to your switch, then from the switch to the busbar (which will be close to your switches) and then 1 single wire (pos & neg) to the battery. It just makes it a lot cleaner and easier to tell which wire goes to what.