wiring in a fuse pannel

[wilkins26]

I have a couple of questions about wiring in a fuse pannel..my plan is to run two 8awg wires to the pannel box terminal blocks I am putting in a in line fuse on the wire to the pannelfrom the battery...first question is how do you determine what size amperage fuse do you use(im hooking up interior leds ext. led navigationals and fish finder).also how do you determine the in-line fuse size that is in the pannel going to your devices.
thanks mike

 

[RivRunR]

I think we need some more info...Not sure why you'd need to run two 8AWG leads for just LEDs and a finder.

To figure out wire size you need amps that the device (LED, finder, etc) draws, and the total length of the wire run in both directions.

Then you can use Blue Sea System Wire Chart

Just guessing here, but if you ran say 2 interior LEDs at 2 amps each, 2 nav leds at 2 amps each, and a finder at 2 amps, that's 10 amps, which is probably a high estimate. Don't know the length of run but if it's say a 16' boat, that's a 32' run. For 10 amps at 30' you could run 14AWG, altho' I'd probably run 12AWG. Then add a circuit breaker rated for the total amp draw between the battery (within 7" or so) and the fuse panel.