Help???

cjbassinboy · Feb 15, 2013

Hi all,
I am buying my first jon boat tomorrow, and i cant wait to get started on modding it. I have a lot of questions about wiring stuff though! Ive read and understood as much as i can on the forum, but i still dont understand some things. What i want to do is have a switch panel set up by the back seat in the boat, and two batterys up in a battery hatch in the bow. Off one battery, i will have a trolling motor. Off the other, i will have a FF, Nav lights, some LEDS or something like that for deck lights, and a bilge pump. Ive read about how you can use busbars to only have 2 wires running to the battery, and everything else running to the busbar. How does that work? Also, how would i connect everything to the switch box? Do i need fuses for it? i wouldnt connect the trolling motor to the switch box because it cant handle that many amps, right? it will just be connected directly to the battery. So how do i connect the FF, Nav lights, LEDS, and the bilge up to the switch box and batterys?

Thanks so much!!!

NLaudy · Feb 15, 2013

CJ, it all gets very confusing so the best bet is to layout a diagram of how you are thinking of doing it and let everyone tear it apart telling you what you missed. Lot to pay attention to like fuse size, wire size, how long the run is, etc...

I am still learning myself but just some stuff to think about:

- Your trolling motor can be hooked right to the battery but it will still need a circuit breaker. Some guys use a 50 amp and other use a 60 amp. See what your trolling motor recommends.
- If you buy a switch panel, some will come with fuses or circuit breakers already wired in. I order a 6 switch panel from Cabelas and it has a circuit breaker on each switch. If your switch panel doesn't come with it already, order a fuse panel and use that.
- You need to have a fuse or circuit breaker on pretty much every positive line.

cjbassinboy · Feb 15, 2013

what program can i download to make a layout? so the breaker cannot be on the negative line?

JMichael · Feb 16, 2013

You can put the breaker on the neg or pos line. As long as it's in the circuit and close to the battery it will be fine. I believe most people will install cb's and fuses on the pos side because they are use to dealing with a frame ground. You could use something as simple as MS Paint to lay out your basic wiring plans.

cjbassinboy · Feb 16, 2013

if only i had ms paint haha what are some downloadable programs?

JMichael · Feb 16, 2013

cjbassinboy said:
if only i had ms paint haha what are some downloadable programs?

You mean you're not running a version of Windows on your computer?

If you're running windows and you've deleted paint, try this.
https://download.cnet.com/Windows-Draw/3000-2191_4-10043116.html