Electrical questions for equipment

[bronze_10]

I just ordered a nice chart plotter and a vhf radio last night. My question is directed to the electrical gurus here. How do I provide power to these two components. And remember, I am a mere novice although I have done some auto electrical work over the years. But I have seen some really nice electrical set ups on this forum . If there a strong enough hot wire already ran to the dash or do I need to run a fused hot and ground wire to the battery and then rig up some kinda junction box behind the helm... ???

 

[0627Devildog]

I just ordered a nice chart plotter and a vhf radio last night. My question is directed to the electrical gurus here. How do I provide power to these two components. And remember, I am a mere novice although I have done some auto electrical work over the years. But I have seen some really nice electrical set ups on this forum . If there a strong enough hot wire already ran to the dash or do I need to run a fused hot and ground wire to the battery and then rig up some kinda junction box behind the helm... ???

If you plan on any other accessory in the future, a dedicated run to a power distribution block/fuse block would be best.

 

[Mainah]

How many amps do the devices draw and do you already have a 12 volt lighter outlet at the helm? You should be able to look up how many amps the devices are rated for by downloading the instructions for them.

 

[Bill D]

I ran dedicated lines to behind the helm and mounted a fuse panel.


Blue Seas ATO/ATC Fuse Blocks

I wanted to be able to keep the plotter and VHF separate from the stereo and other auxiliary electronics, so I got the split bus. Really easy to install and leaves room for expansion.

 

[Gym]

I just ordered a nice chart plotter and a vhf radio last night. My question is directed to the electrical gurus here. How do I provide power to these two components. And remember, I am a mere novice although I have done some auto electrical work over the years. But I have seen some really nice electrical set ups on this forum . If there a strong enough hot wire already ran to the dash or do I need to run a fused hot and ground wire to the battery and then rig up some kinda junction box behind the helm... ???

Both devices may come locally fused. If not the installation instructions will give wire gauge and fusing requirements. If you plan future electrical expansion you may want to run a heavier gauge wire to a power bus or local fuse panel as mentioned. You may also want to fun a ground bus (terminal).

 

[Bruce]

This is what I did Adding a Switch Panel to Yamaha Boats. I was adding a lot of mods at the same time so it was an easy decision.

As for a plotter and a VHF combined they only consumer perhaps 3 to 4 amps. The exact consumption will be in the manual. You could use the accessory 12 volt outlet circuit to power them both. It has a breaker so if you plug something in that in combination with the plotter and VHF consumes more power than allowed the breaker will trip.

 

[bronze_10]

Soooo the long term plan.. i.e. winter mods.. I am going to install an amp and a few additional speakers.. so if I run a dedicated wire I would like to run one large enough for the amp... maybe.. now that I think about it may be too large of a wire for a power block. I may start with the lighter power wire for now and when I take the fuel hatch up to run the power cables for the amps this winter just run a seperately wire for a power block.! Now... who's coming over to do all that work for me? Anyone? Anyone?

 

[Bruce]

Soooo the long term plan.. i.e. winter mods.. I am going to install an amp and a few additional speakers.. so if I run a dedicated wire I would like to run one large enough for the amp... maybe.. now that I think about it may be too large of a wire for a power block. I may start with the lighter power wire for now and when I take the fuel hatch up to run the power cables for the amps this winter just run a seperately wire for a power block.! Now... who's coming over to do all that work for me? Anyone? Anyone?

Depending on their size you might consider placing the amps near the batteries to reduce the length and size of wires that they require.

I ran 8 gauge wire to my switch panel. At the approximate 16' length the wire is capable of carrying 28 amps at less than a 5% loss. It is fused at 20 amps which is more than sufficient for the connected loads. But it would not be sufficient to handle any meaningful amp.

The amplifiers output is higher voltage than the boats 12 volt system so there will be less loss on the speaker cables than on the power wires. This is why we use 120 volts instead of 12 in in our homes and tens to hundreds of thousands of volts on transmission lines. So I would opt for longer speaker cables and shorter power wires.

 

[96Pirate]

Sounds like you need to do the amp now!

 

[bronze_10]

Lol @96Pirate .. it did just get a 35% discount on my plotter and the vhf radio... I convinced my financial assistant that now would be a good time to do it due to the discount I got..... I save 450 bucks. But secretly i wanted them now BEFORE the winter mod budget kicks in!

@Bruce .. it would be much simpler to put the amp near the batts but then I would need to run the radio connections across the boat right? I skewed up my speaker wire install so I planned on just pulling new speaker wire anyway this winter.

 

[txav8r]

Do not run anything on the power for your amp, except for the head unit. You run the risk of introducing ground loops and introducing noise into your stereo. So the power supply to the stereo is dictated by the amp manufacturer and needs a distribution block of its own as well as appropriate fusing. I highly recommend you don't borrow power from the Yamaha harness, for your plotter and vhf. All of these items in one way or another are very important. And either a dedicated run or a sub accessory bus or panel is a better choice. Just think, if you put a $10 ground bus, and a $10 ACC bus behind the helm, and only run a single 10 GA power and ground, you can run all the electronics, lights (cabin LEDs, underwater LED, ACC 12V plug for air compressor (for toys) and charging. The existing 12V in your boat is suitable for charging only, not higher amp draws. Plan for the future!

 

[bronze_10]

Do not run anything on the power for your amp, except for the head unit. You run the risk of introducing ground loops and introducing noise into your stereo. So the power supply to the stereo is dictated by the amp manufacturer and needs a distribution block of its own as well as appropriate fusing. I highly recommend you don't borrow power from the Yamaha harness, for your plotter and vhf. All of these items in one way or another are very important. And either a dedicated run or a sub accessory bus or panel is a better choice. Just think, if you put a $10 ground bus, and a $10 ACC bus behind the helm, and only run a single 10 GA power and ground, you can run all the electronics, lights (cabin LEDs, underwater LED, ACC 12V plug for air compressor (for toys) and charging. The existing 12V in your boat is suitable for charging only, not higher amp draws. Plan for the future!

I like that idea... still waiting on the magical jetboaters.net fairy to come install it all.... I can run the 10 gauge wire from my battery cut off switch though cant i? And then run my amp straight from my battery..

 

[txav8r]

Yes, you can run your amp straight from the battery. But then, you can't shut "all" the power off. So in my book, just run it off your switch...if you plan two batteries, ether get two switches, or a switch line the Blue Sea "add a battery kit" that has an "on/off/combine" and two separate posts that isolate the banks. Put the engines and house ACC on one post and the stereo equipment on the other. I have wiring diagrams wandering all over the forum, but out of pocket to get one for you at the moment.

And yes, the 10 ga can run from the House side post too. It's a good idea to fuse that run depending on what it supports. If it is just small electronics, no worries, but a 25W VHF might benefit and enjoy the protection. I don't worry as much about equipment, just my safety.

 

[bronze_10]

Any hot wire I run directly from the battery will have an in line fuse close to the battery... u just never know

 

[txav8r]

Good plan.

 

[txav8r]

That is why a single wire to a simple ground and ACC bus is just as I said, simple. Fuse appropriately.

 

[bronze_10]

Agreed... just gotta do it now! Lol

 

[Bruce]

What amp are you considering and how far will you run the power wires?

 

[Matt Phillips]

I run my Perfect Pass off the hot side of the depth finder on my 23'. It's been there for two seasons and I haven't had any troubles. You may be able to run one item there and another off the hot side of the 12dc outlet.

 

[robert843]

If your going to run wires from the battery to the helm upgrade the wiring and add a block as mentioned. I also agree run the amp seperate. I have not installed my amp and sub yet but I have ran all the wires and these boats are pretty easy it seems to hide the wires and run them. I ran the wires to put my amp under the rear seat behind the drivers seat it will be mounted on the wall at the back by the engine compartment I wanted it out of the way but to still easily have access to it. My procrastination has been cutting the hole in the fiberglass for the sub ugh I'm dreading it.