Need some quick advice- wiring

[gajet31]

Well you might remember my post a few months ago about my onboard fire. I have been too busy with work to do anything about it until now. The first thing I did was order a Blue Sea Systems Fuse Panel with negative bus bar. This whole unit cost me $35, and it will be the central hub for my new wiring design. Now I have a simple and easy question that I am sure has been asked hundreds of times, but what size wire should I use for all my applications. WAIT... Now before you reference me to a chart with amps and distances, know that I don't know how many amps any of my accessories use. So that method has not worked. I actually tried to figure it out, but I now come to yall asking for advice.

Just consider my different accessories to use an average and normal amount of power. I need wire for the following accessories:
-2 small headlights that are mounted 10 feet away from my fuse panel
-Front and Back navigation lights, again mounted 10 and 3 feet from the panel
-Humminbird FishFinder 565, located 1 foot from the panel
-1000 gph bilge pump located 3 feet from panel
- 1 cigarette lighter 6 inches from the panel (used to charge my phone or power a small handheld spotlight)

Someone recommended that I use 10ga from my battery to the actual fuse panel. And then use 14 ga for all the accessories. Does this sound right? If yall have any suggestions please let me know. THanks!

 

[Captain Ahab]

10 and 12 gauge MARINE Tinned stranded wire would seem about right.

The pump and accessory outlet should have the 10 gauge and lights 12

 

[chavist93]

Navigation lights should be under 1 amp each. Most fishfinders are less than 1 amp also. The bilge pump will be 3-4 amps. So on those wire as small as 16ga will be fine. I usually wire cig. lighters with a 15 amp fuse because who know what will be plugged into it. I cant say on your headlights, I would see if you can find the manufacturer specs on them.

 

[gajet31]

Thank yall for the help and advice. I think I am going to do 10 ga on the wire from the battery to the fuse panel, and also for the cig lighter and the bilge. Then I will do 14 on the headlights, navigation lights, and fishfinder. I think this will be playing it safe. I am just trying to avoid another on-board fire, and clean up the electrical wiring so it is correctly done and organized. Any other tips/advice is appreciated. Again, thanks guys.

 

[chavist93]

Sounds like a good plan, but 10ga is overkill on the bilge pump, and 14ga may not be enough for the headlights depending on what they are. No worries though as long as the 14ga circuits are fused correctly.

Is this the same fuse panel you have? I really like mine. It makes for really clean simple wiring.

 

[gajet31]

Yes that is the same fuse panel I have. I think it is going to work great. I actually learned about it at bass pro. I was looking at their fuse panels and one of the mechanics and I got in a discussion about them. He took me to the boats, and showed me the blue sea systems units, which by the way is used on all the tracker boats. So I ordered it, actually for cheaper than the bass pro junk, and now I have to wire. Thanks for your recommendations, I think im gonna change the bilge to 12 ga and up the headlights to 12 ga from my earlier posting. Question: You said that I need to fuse them correctly. Are you talking about selecting the right size fuse for the wire? For example, on my headlights, if they are wired with 12 ga, I need a fuse that says 12 on it. I suck at electrical, its my least favorite part of working on boats. Thanks again.

Oh and I see you have yours mounted right by your battery. Even though it says it water proof, I didn't want anything to corrode so I am putting mine under a lip by my switches. Are you running the wires straight to the accessory or do you have a switch in between?

 

[chavist93]

You would fuse it according to what the size wire can handle. It gets a little complicated because it depends on the length of the run. Here is a good chart to use. https://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/WestAdvisorView?langId=-1&storeId=11151&catalogId=10001&page=Marine-Wire

I have switches between mine just in front of the rear bench seat. No switch on the cig. lighter thoug.

 

[gajet31]

Thanks for the chart. I ordered an assortment of fuses yesterday, along with wire and a new bilge pump from west marine. I noticed that in the pic, you dont have the negative or positive from the battery hooked to the fuse panel. Any reason why? When you charge, do you keep it hooked up or disconnect?

I am surprised that more people don't have the blue sea systems fuse panel on their boat. Lots of people are are buying them from cabelas and bass pro, but I think this unit is far superior in quality. Another quick Q: So from the panel, you run a positive and negative to the accessory, but the switch is located somewhere along the positive wire? If that is correct, then I should be able to finish and wire up my boat quick, all I need to do is run all the positives to my different switches on my console, then out to the accessory.

 

[BOB350RX]

I WOULD RUN 12 GA WIRE LIKE AHAB SUGG. AS SOME ADDED INSUREANCE, 12 GA WILL HANDLE MORE THAN 14 WILL,

 

[chavist93]

gajet, I just hadnt got around to running the battery to fuse panel wires yet. I had some spare 8ga wire that I am using for that and couldnt find any 8ga ring terminals locally. I found some at home depot today though.

If you have a typical 2 prong toggle switch the hot wire will go from the fuse panel to the switch then from the switch to the accessory. The ground will be a straight run from the accessory to the fuse panel.

In my case, my switches were lighted when on which have 3 prongs. The extra is for the gound wire to run through the switch as well.

 

[gajet31]

Chavist,

Thanks for the help, that makes perfect sense. Once I get it all wired up, probably 2 weeks or so, I will post and let you know how everything works. That is barring any other problems. Thanks again!

 

[gajet31]

I finished my wiring project tonight. It took a lot of time and effort, but I am happy with the turnout. I will try to post pictures tomorrow.

 

[DanMC]

Hi, gajet31...here are some pictures of my home made fuse/breaker panel/box...just an idea...BTW it is waterproof too,well the Pelican box is and the rest marine grade silicone did the rest.The breaker handles the starter for the 25 Hp 2011 Honda BF25 and the fuses handle the spot light (LED,21W equivalent to a 200W halogen...but only draws 2 amps),stereo, two Marinco 12V plugs,gauges... :wink:
Have fun
Dan

 

[brokevet]

I like it all. But on the headlight I would use 12 gauge and a $5 dollar Bosch relay. Wire relay to lights. Battery to relay with a 20 amp fuse. And the light switch to relay can be 14 to 16 gauge. Lights are brighter, and less console and switch problems using relay and lights right off the battery.