**Updated** Electric guys can you look at my wiring diagram?

I'm fairly new to this type of stuff..........but did a fair amount of research and came up with the following diagram for my boat. I'm hoping someone that knows their stuff can look at this and tell me if I'm on the right track before I start buying stuff to complete the wiring.

A few things:

- Gas motor is pull start only, so I'm using a pair of identical batteries simply for redundancy. I fish a lot of rivers with dams and lock systems that are only a few miles apart, so if my gas motor doesn't start I NEED enough juice to the electric motor to get to shore quickly. :idea:

- Trolling Motor is going to be run to the battery with 6 gauge wire. Will include the 60 amp fuse outlined in the diagram

- Planning on 18 gauge wire for between the switch/fuse panel and each item on the diagram

- Will include 3 amp fuses between each actual sonar unit and the switch/fuse just in case

A few questions:

- Do most marine switch/breaker panels like the Cabela's one in the diagram include some type of grounding block inside? Will I need to buy this seperately? Do you guys just run to the battery? What's the "correct" way to do this?

- Should I plan on additional fuses between the switch/breaker panel and the other devices?

- Should I use the 18 gauge wire for between the accessory battery and the switch breaker panel?

- Any issues you see with this that I'm overlooking?

You could run two simple grounding blocks. One in the back on the port side because of all the components there, and the other near your switch panel. And then you would only need to run ONE ground wire from the block near the switch panel, to the block on the port rear.

I've never seen a need for a sonar switch. The bow and stern nav lights should be on the same switch, And the cig lighter or 12 vs source doesn't need a switch.

Some boats have an ACC switch which turns on the power to everything like the radio. Maybe you could add that if you really want the Sonar, 12v source and other stuff to be switched.

Rick James said:

- Should I use the 18 gauge wire for between the accessory battery and the switch breaker panel?

Click to expand...

No. The wire between the battery and the switch panel has to carry ALL the current used by everything on the switch panel. I didn't crunch the numbers, but I would expect it to need 12 AWG.

Go to this site,
https://www.genuinedealz.com
then click on the technical calculators page, then plug in your accessories, to get your needed wiring size. Just plug in the voltage, amp draw of the item, length of the run, and a wire size, and it will tell you voltage drop. If over 3%, increase the wire size, until you get there. This will tell you exactly what size you'll need for each one. I would guess probably 16 AWG instead of 18 for your individual accessory wires.

Like Lon said, no need for the switch on the sonars. Don't need it. Don't bother with the second fuse, either - it just needs the one 3 amp fuse. I generally wouldn't use one of those fused and switched combo panels, instead using just the fuses and switches needed, in the configuration needed.
What I would do is merely get something like this,
https://www.iboats.com/Seachoice-AT...902420059--session_id.549872828--view_id.2901
then run your switches separately. This has a stud for your battery lead, then splits power off, with a spot for a maxi fuse, and a spade terminal for the wire. The linked one happens to have a negative buss as well. Use this for all accessories, then run each item that is switched through a separate switch (I usually use the contura switches from Genuinedealz.com - their switches, coupled with the installation panels, give a very professional look).

Also, as Lon said, a ground block in the aft/port side area, for your plug, sonar, radio, bilge, and possibly even stern light would save you from running a bunch of smaller wires. Just have to look at whether or not that will save time and cost. For me, it often is not of any advantage.

I'd put a master battery cutoff (one of those cutoffs with the red removable key, something like 4 bucks from Harbor Freight, is fine), and forgo the switch for the sonars, 12 volt plug, and radio. They aren't needed.

Rick,
Like the diagram. Would you mind posting the one that you use with the suggested changes? I've got to rewire my boat and have about the same equipment. Thanks

Thanks so much for the suggestions guys, I really appreciate it.

Based on your feedback, I've updated the diagram. Can one of you guys look at this again to share your thoughts?

Also, I think to be safe, I'll be running 10 AWG from the battery to the fuse block, 14 AWG for the individual accessories, and 6 AWG for other battery to the trolling motor.

10 ga will be good for 40 amps. Only thing I see, is depending on the distance to your first fuse block for the acc. fuse block, you should hav a bigger fuse next to the battery before the cut-off, if that wire is more than a foot or so it can become an unfused fire hazard.

jixer said:

10 ga will be good for 40 amps. Only thing I see, is depending on the distance to your first fuse block for the acc. fuse block, you should hav a bigger fuse next to the battery before the cut-off, if that wire is more than a foot or so it can become an unfused fire hazard.

Click to expand...

Thanks! How big should that extra fuse be?

If your going to run 10ga to feed that block I would do a 40amp. Fuses protect wire insulation if you use to big of fuse and draw too much the wire gets hot and melts the insulation then shorts. Just make sure your fuses will only let the equipment draw what the wire is rated for. If you use THHN insulated wire (sun light-gas resistant) #8=55amps #10=40amps #12=30amps #14=25amps.
Lesser grades of insulation have less ampacity, but just a few amps lower, having a fuse to stop a dead short is the most important thing, dead shorts run into hundreds of amps, so any fuse you can get is better than nothing.

Rick, thanks for posting that diagram again. I really needed help with this as wiring is a big black hole to me. This will be great. Is that Autocad?

Oldgeek said:

Rick, thanks for posting that diagram again. I really needed help with this as wiring is a big black hole to me. This will be great. Is that Autocad?

Click to expand...

Not a problem at all, I figured I'd post it up because I wasn't able to really find any diagrams on this site for a full wiring job.

And actually........lol.......it's MS Paint. :lol:

Looks good, but you will need to run a ground to the bilge and anchor light.