Oh what a pain in the ars. I just spent the last half hour removing all the taped connections, taking off the wire covers and trying to trace all the wires around the boat. I forgot to take pictures but I don’t think it’s necessary. I think my only choice here is to re-wire completely. No sense in half ass-ing it. I have wires connected to multiple wires with daisy chains running off daisy chains. I’m not even going to try to make this work.
I think this post has now moved from “how to wire a switch panel” to more of a “what is important when re-wiring” ?
We didn’t get into the bus and fuse box but since I am re-doing it all, can you provide some insight on what is important here when doing it correctly. I will need a fuse box, do I need the “bus”? Should I wire everything off of my batter and to a master switch ? Is 14guage good size to use to and from each accessory?
Any other tips, advice? If you were re-wiring your boat what would you have done differently and what would you consider a must-have ?
Last edited by duckz; 08-05-2019 at 08:59 PM.
0A1E940A-DEE7-4FDD-888D-0A943D64FBF1.jpeg
Here is a good chart for wire sizes
Blue sea systems makes some nice fuse boxes for this type application
Don’t tape connections or use wire nuts. Use shrink wrap butt connectors. Some of them even solder the wires when you heat to shrink wrap. The engineer type on here will tell you to solder every connection. Not necessary. See my ‘96 Scout with every electrical component working as an example why soldering is wasting your time. Buy a pair of spring loaded wire strippers. A torch or heat gun will be waaay better than the bic lighter you’ll burn your finger with.
\"We say grace and we say maam, if you ain\'t into that, we don\'t give a damn.\" HW Jr.
Where are you located? PM if needed.
Last edited by Rubberhead*; 08-06-2019 at 05:02 AM.
Ephesians 2 : 8-9
Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.
Rubberhead, I was looking online last night and came across that Blue Sea fuse block you are using. I am trying to plan everything out beforehand so I can buy everything at once and hopefully knock the install out quickly without working on it for a month here and there. My concern is, how waterproof is that fuse box ? The description says "waterproof" but I have a hard time believing it is really sealed.
I am in a high tide with little to no closed areas. I have an old picture of the boat from when i bought it. You can see I had the existing switches mounted in the overhang of the gunwale, which is where I am going to put the new panel too. But there is no room to mount a fuse box. I would prefer not to cut holes in the bench and mount it inside, so would I be safe to mount it to outside the bench , facing the transom ? Hypothetically I could get some backwash when slowing down, but for the most part would you say that type of fuse box would be safe to mount outside of a closed area ?
The only closed area I could install the fuse box would be under the front deck. It just might entail running a lot of extra wire from the switch panel up to the fuse, then all back to the battery in the rear.
Maybe I should just add inline fuses to each accessory, it sounds a little easier ? I could snug them up in the gunwale maybe ?
Current Accessories on Switches:
Front:
Shark Eyes navigation
LED lightbar
LED interior strip light
Stereo
Rear:
Bilge
Rear Navigation (would like to wire both front and rear navigation to one switch)
Current Always-on Accessories
Front:
Cigarette plug (for handheld spot light)
Rear:
Cigarette/USB charger plug
Fish Finder
IMG_2214.JPG
Last edited by duckz; 08-06-2019 at 01:21 PM.
Finally getting around to doing this. I have taken all the old out and about ready to install the new.
You can see the boat above, where would you mount the fuse block ? It has a cover but not completely waterproof. I wanted to mount it to the back of the bench, but I have noticed water splashing in that area when its rough. I could drill a hole in the bench to run the wires inside and mount the fuse block in there ? That's about the best idea I can come up with.
bump this back up. I'm rewiring and in process of ordering new wire. Any recommendations? Also - there used to be a diagram the brain trust had shared previously. Would someone mind reposting?
Nothing elaborate on this (542 War Eagle). Navs, curtesy lights, spot, accessory outlets, bilge and a spare switch. I think that's it...
Looks like that bench seat opens? If so, why not bring wires in from back(drill a hole and cover with a clamshell and put buss bar inside there. Switch panel needs to be on outside obviously. But you could mount it to front of bench seat behind your legs. You’d just be lo9king at sort of upside down when you looked down to turn on switches. What did you end up doing?
\"We say grace and we say maam, if you ain\'t into that, we don\'t give a damn.\" HW Jr.
This link right here is all you need.
https://newwiremarine.com/how-to/wiring-a-boat/
If I can do it, anyone can do it.
Ok need some input. If I daisy chain the grounds on my switches do I run a common ground from one switch back to the bus/fuse block? I’ll also have a MRBF fuse coming off the battery. See pic.FC482F4D-FB53-487C-8681-EB850E1EE3D0.jpeg
Damn are you an engineer or architect? That’s a pretty specific drawing on graph paper and all. Tell the truth did you make it to scale? The switch panel should have one ground coming off the end of it to run to common ground or buss bar, assuming you have a panel and not multiple individual switches I believe. That should ground the entire panel. Run positive from your accessory to the switch you want to control it, neg from accessory to common ground, buss bar. Don’t “ daisy chain” shit together. If you mean joining them. This has been covered in th8s post about not daisy chaining. Bc if you do and one bad connection between the multiple ground wires and then none of your accessories below that bad connection work. Positive from the switch panel to power supply. But if you get stuck send me a pic or post it. Doing it is the only way to learn.
\"We say grace and we say maam, if you ain\'t into that, we don\'t give a damn.\" HW Jr.
Thanks. Unfortunately they are individual switches. And no Engineer or architect here. Just a guy that hates electrical so trying to think it through before doing.
Yep absolutely true. But at the same time I like to figure things out and then make things look nice. Electrical is one of a few things I get turned around with. Just my simple brain I guess...
They do draw a little even when they don't have something plugged into them. It's not a enough to worry about when you're on the water but you'll definately want to turn everything off when it's in storage. But, otherwise, it's fine to wire them direct.Originally Posted by duckz
I usually have good luck with Blue Sea products but, if you haven't bought the USB plugs yet get the one from West Marine...
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-...82?recordNum=4
It's cheaper and better than the Blue Sea versions. The reviews say that it produces RF noise but I had a lot more trouble with the Blue Sea version doing that to the point I couldn't use my FM radio.
Ephesians 2 : 8-9
Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.
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