Wiring in Switch panel / nav light / GPS / Depth Sounder

[Gray]

Firstly let me apologise for the lack of tubes... and now let me say thanks if your still reading!

I need some help / guidance on wiring some electronics unless there is an electrician out there who knows what they are doing as I am happy to pay the going rate to get this done.

Battery is at the back of the boat, cables running to the engine box in the middle of the boat which servers the electric start etc.

What would be the best way of wiring in the nav light / GPS and depth sounder which isn't shown in the picture as still waiting delivery. I understand I need to get all the negatives connected to the negative from the battery and then the positives run to the switches on the panel.

I need to take into account the lid of the engine box hinges open so the cabling must allow for this. Also the entire engine box hinges forward as shown in the picture so I think I would need a way to disconnect the positive and negative feeds. Any ideas appreciated.

Ideas on things like do I do one hole for all the cables with some sort of gland or lots of smaller holes each with their own gland etc to prevent water getting into the engine box.

Equally, if anyone knows of someone who is mobile that could do this work that would be useful to know. I can't trail the boat to a workshop and I was hoping to get it on its mooring this weekend if I can.

Thanks in advance!

[Erin]

I would be inclined to run the cables out through the forward face of the engine box. It will make it slightly easier to make a waterproof seal and mean the wires inside box can be fixed in place so they don't move about and come into contact with any part of the engine where they might chafe. You may be able to get all cables through one gland but I doubt it will be practical to do so. You should run all negatives back to a busbar (junction) which does not need to be right next to the battery as it can be connected back to the battery with an adequate sized cable. You then need a positive wire from the battery switch running to your switch panel and then from each switch on to each device. Don't forget to put a fuse in the feed line to each device. It's quite simple really. Take a look at bluesea or bep components. They are good quality items for marine use and they make some nice combined switch/fuse panels.

[9D280]

The other option might be if you can get the main battery cables through under the floor, fix a couple of Bus blocks to the inside of your box, and arrange the cable so it goes to the box lid via the corner with the hinge. Then put a small loop in the cable so it has enough slack to move with the hinge. Then you don't need to drill holes, and could probably tap off the "live" side of the starter solenoid for the +ve, and fix the -ve (earth) to tyhe post on the engine that I assume the -ve batt cable is fixed to. So you don't need to run more cables under the deck.

+1 for the fuses etc in Erin's post.

[Gray]

Originally Posted by 9D280

The other option might be if you can get the main battery cables through under the floor, fix a couple of Bus blocks to the inside of your box, and arrange the cable so it goes to the box lid via the corner with the hinge. Then put a small loop in the cable so it has enough slack to move with the hinge. Then you don't need to drill holes, and could probably tap off the "live" side of the starter solenoid for the +ve, and fix the -ve (earth) to tyhe post on the engine that I assume the -ve batt cable is fixed to. So you don't need to run more cables under the deck.

+1 for the fuses etc in Erin's post.

Thanks for the tips and advice. I will have to run the + / - from the cables that already come through to the engine bay as getting more cables down the trunking is practically impossible - I've tried!

Any suggestions on the guage of wire I will need.

I was looking at the power cable that runs off the GPS, it appears to have four cores to it - brown, blue, red, black. Any ideas why it has four?

Thanks

[Boats&Outboards]

The inners of an old throttle cable makes a great runner for trunking jobs.

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

[9D280]

Originally Posted by Gray

I was looking at the power cable that runs off the GPS, it appears to have four cores to it - brown, blue, red, black. Any ideas why it has four?

Without knowing the type of GPS, I would guess it's similar to the 4 wire Garmin leads -

Ground
+12 power
NMEA data out
NMEA data in

I'd hazard a guess at red & black being +12 and ground, the others should be in the manual (and share the gnd)

Cable size wil ldepend o nthe power consumption, but have a look at what is coming out the back of the unit as a going in guess.

[Nightfisher]

Hi,
You may wish to consider, for battery current efficiency, moving the battery from the rear of boat to a newly constructed or rear-extended engine enclosure to begin with.
Purchasing a six outlet DC fused panel such as: http://www.iboats.com/Marine-DC-Distribution-Circuit-Breaker-Panels/dm/cart_id.863290732--session_id.295013645--view_id.469687

Mounting all equipment on a single rack with room for more; running electronic equip NEG/POS cables of all elect units together through one appropriate sized sheathing, out the side to the rear of the DC fused Panel (waterproof)

NOte: Keep all negative leads the same length, this will prevent 'hum' on all boat audio devices. ; from the DC Fused Panel around the front near hinged end of top and up through an L type PVC fitting (mounted through front -- top of engine compartement) (preventing rain water and splash over from entering engine compartment).

Add total amperage usage of combined units and fuse inline at battery POS first, the amperage rating needed to power all.

Now you have switch controlled efficient DC Power that's fused both near the source (Panel) and the Power provider (Battery).

[Firefly]

This may help.