wiring up my boat
 

hi guys i was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers on wiring up my boat. i have just bought new sounder and nav and anchor lights, plus a switch panel with fuses to run the aforementioned through. i was just wondering what the best way to do it is and if you guys have an on board charger or just hook it up to a normal one at the end of the day. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I just use a normal battery charger at the end of the day. I have 2 sets of posts on the battery and just put the charge on the posts that have nothing attached. I am looking at putting a battery isolator onboard, to provide a bit of protection when charging the battery.

Use tinned marine rated wire and good quality connectors. Install a battery switch. These will help with any corrosion problems you may run into. Main thing is when your not using the boat, turn the battery power supply off or remove the batteries.

A voltage sensitive relay will come in handy so you can start your outboard off the cranking battery and the alternator on the outboard charges up that battery until its full. Once that battery is full, the relay switches over and will charge your deep cycle battery, giving you more leccy power on the water. But after a days fishing you will still want to charge your battery on mains power. Spend $300 or so on a quality charger that will bulk, top up and maintain your battery and outputs about 10% of your amp hour rating. A 5 amp single stage charger wont keep a 100amp hour battery running as long as a good charger like a guest or c-tek.

Be sure to install waterproof fuse carriers on the positive lines too, sometimes the standard spade carriers will get corrosion issues as well.

thanks for the replies guys

wiring
 

. . . . . also, run some twin core 6mm wire with fuse (15 or 20amp depending on total load) at isolator or battery. Run that up to the dash with earth going to buss and + to either a buss or your switch panel. If you don't solder and seal you can get heat shrink joiners from a marine shop - expensive but worth it - they seal up after crimping, with a lighter.

sorry guys i don't understand a lot of that. just went and had a look at some of the diamgrams given as instructions and am not overly confident in hooking everything up. does anyone know of any diagrams or anything quite simple to understand as in nearly all the diagrams i have there is talk of a buss bar???? sorry these may seem like stupid questions but i'm new to this. basically i have 2nav lights an anchor light and a sounder that i want to connct to a switch panel then to the battery, does anyone know of any diagrams that would explain how to do this easily.

Wiring
 

Hey mate.

All electrically minded people i have seen advocate the use of diagrams prior to wiring things up, to make it easier.

I did find that there was a diagram on the back of the switch panel i bought.

Or just Google search "Battery Isolator Switch" and you will find lots of help and diagrams of setups.

The BUSS is something that you can run all your wires to (a heap) and then just single thicker wires to the battery, so that when people have a heap of accessories to run, you don;t have to run a heap of wires (and you end up with a mess and not knowing which wires are for what) all bundles together back to the main battery from all over the boat.

If you are just going to run say Nav Lights, Sounder, 12V accessory plug, maybe bilge pump or bait/livewell pump, then just run all your wires back to the battery via an Isolator switch.

If you have an electric start motor and want the security of being able to switch over to Battery 2 (leccy battery) in the event that Battery 1 fails, the Isolator Switch will enable you to do that.

If you have one nearby, a 12Volt specialist store can give you some good advice perhaps, but i just used Google. ;)

Mick.

PS. I have had an even harder time with my boat as i have bought 2nd hand and i am still trying to figure out exactly how the last guy did the wiring job, it's a real mess, no isolator switch, no central Buss bar, wires going everywhere and i'm trying to modify it all so i can add a few extra things like cabin lights, sounder on bow, and a stereo....

thanks very much for that mick very helpful. you don't happen to know why when my boats gets on the plane a massive rooster tail of water comes up from the sounder, i think its because the transducer isnt far enough if the water which now meansi have to lower it if thats the case.:(

an auto reset surge protector would also be a good idea .

sorry to seem clueless which unfortunately i am with these things but what is a surge protector and do you have any idea where i could get one. thanks

this will give added protection against a sudden electrical surge or
short circuit so as not to damage your electronics ie: electric motor,
fishfinder ect.
i know fuse's are there to prevent this, but it's a bit of added protection.
should be able to get one from a auto elec or where you buy bits for
your boat.

Ducer
 

Transducer for the sounder should sit just below a line extending from bottom of the hull, in the spot where mounted.

Usually that would be a foot or so to the side of the centre keel etc ( in an area where it gets clean flow of water )

If you are getting a good reading at full throttle then it should be mounted low enough?

You should be able to find pics of placement and maybe even on a boat similar to yours, if you search "transducer mounting" or similar on here or just a general search.

Mick.