Homemade rocker switch panel

[sbritt23]

Alright so i was going to buy a switch panel but i was like you know what ill just make one. I get a sense of accomplishment when i make my own stuff. So im going with some marine toggle switches with rubber boots since this boat will be in salt water and im doing a pvc 4x4x2 junction box that will be mounted under my legs on the bench. i will be having 3 switches and plenty of room for others if needed in the future. I will be powering Nav lights, bilge pump, Led gunnel lights. Also will be adding a cig. lighter plug. So my big question here is when i get all this and run my wire back to my battery do i need to put a fuse on each and every single thing or do they make something where i can run 1 power wire to something and then hook the wires up to it with fuses already installed. I was thinking a bus or something but i wasnt sure of the exact product i needed. any help or pictures would be appreciated

 

[BassBlaster]

I dont know a whole lot about electrical stuff but I did a whole bunch of reading before wireing my boat. I have a breaker in line to the switch panel and then my switch panel has a seperate breaker to every accessory at the switch. If you only put in a breaker or fuse to the panel then the panel itself is protected but you havnt protected anything beyond it. My understanding is that the breakers/fuses arnt to protect the accessory but rather the wires too the accessory. Something about fires. Every hot wire should be protected. I would suggest a seperate fuse panel or do like I did and buy a switch panel with built in breakers.

 

[TheMaestro]

You definitely need a breaker or inline fuse before the switches, as close to the battery as possible. You then need either breakers or fuses to your accessories, as close to the switch as possible. You can group some items (eg, led lights) under one, but should keep bilge pump, nav lights, 12v outlets separately fused, as close to the switch panel, or as you say buy an all in one. I just bought this one for my boat: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00AMYRUCA/ref=gno_cart_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2GPBYL3XFFRAU

Heres a quick story to illustrate the need for proper fusing/breakers. My friend has an 18' Legend, all factory except for some electronics added after market. A main breaker was installed on the primary hot wire coming from the battery to his control panel. Unfortunately, it was installed closer to the panel than the battery. He had a short in the console, but the breaker didnt trip, the wire overheated instead and it caught fire. Luckily it was contained but the wiring harness had to be replaced, not cheap. The breaker was functioning, but as the marine repair olace said, it was installed to far up the length, so the wire was not protected.

 

[rickybobbybend]

TheMaestro makes a good point...nothing between the battery and the first fuse/breaker is protected. However, in his illustration I suspect there was a problem with too high a rating on the breaker given the size of the wiring. Assuming it was not defective, the breaker should have a rating low enough to protect all the wiring in the circuit for any fault occurring downstream of the breaker.

 

[kofkorn]

The main reason for fuses at each branch is so that the various sizes of wiring and equipment can be protected properly. If you wanted to run one fuse at the battery for all of your equipment, the fuse would need to be sized for the smallest gauge of wire used anywhere in your system. It's quite likely then that you will be blowing fuses on a regular basis.

Using a large trunk wire, with a large fuse, then individual fuses at the switches, you can size the fuse for each individual branch. This eliminates the issue with a small main fuse.

If you are only using some very small electronic equipment, you might be able to get away with one fuse, but again, it needs to be sized to the smallest gauge of wire or piece of equipment in the system.

 

[sbritt23]

Thanks for the feedback guys I think I'm going to put a fuse gang block between my battery and my rocker panel