Boat wiring

[Guest]

With the soft water on its way, its time to get things ready. i'm faced with the issue of wondering whether or not my boat is at its elctrical peak. My most prominent question ,....is it best to have everything other than the trolling motor wired to the cranking battery? I'm aware of the effects of electrical noise on sonar units, I'm just wondering if 1 deep cycle is capable of taking the strain of all the accessories. I currently run a few auxilary lights and a radio off my trolling motor battery. I plan on hooking all auxilary to the cranking battery and letting the trolling battery in its own domain. Is this the way the majority of boats are wired? This is my first and only boat, and the electronics are starting to add up. I'm just not sure what the standard procedure is. Last year my 12 volt system worried me because of few quick power drains, and dead trolling motor battery here and there(very irritating) All of the stock electronics have inline fuses, and boy does that turn out to be a mess when you start adding more stuff. I'm going over the whole system and installing a very necessary fuse panel, and making sure that everything is set up to the best of its capabilities.Grabs you out there?

[iffwalleyes]

Most boats are wire how you are planning to. Leave the trolling motor with its own battery and then wire everything else up to your starting battery for your motor. Thats how most of the rig are.

[Uncle Grump]

Bigguns

Great question! Am in somewhat the same situation myself, and have been contemplating much the same - a wiring refit.

My boat had no wiring when new - every thing has been added afterward - by the previous owner(s?) and myself.

UG

[marine_man]

Bigguns, you are correct - most, if not all boats are wired this way. You accesories draw enough by themselves that the alternator will recharge the battery somewhat while running, instead of drawing your trolling motor battery down - your trolling motor does a good enough job of this by itself.

[kjgmh]

When you install the fuse panel be sure that you use a heavy enough wire to supply power and ground for all your accesories. This will help eliminate voltage drop. Also I have found that the blade type fuse blocks work the best. I would also recommend using a good tinned wire and not just any walmart wire. Also be sure to fuse the main supply wire too.

[Guest]

What is a good rule of thumb for determining the proper fuse amperage for the main line running off the battery to the fuse panel?