Wiring a fish house for power

[Trouthunter]

I'm trying to search for components to wire my fishhouse with 12VDC. I've picked up several DC power sockets from radio shack and I have 2 7amp batteries that I want to wire in parallel. Can someone point me in the right direction for parts?

I'm thinking of wiring the 2 batteries inside a tackle box with the DC sockets facing the outside so I can just "plug in" my accessories to this portable power pack. What components do I need to use to wire the inside of the tackle box for power distribution to each socket? I would like to have capacity for 4 sockets/devices and also accomodate a single on/off power switch

Thanks in advance.

If you want to email me, bd (at) trouthunter (dot) net

[Fisher Dave]

bear with me here.. I am tired. It sounds to me that you want to put in 4 outlets in your fish house.. all to be 12V to run various things.. and you want to be able to have a portable power supply(batteries) that you carry with you that you can plug into these hard mounted outlets that will supply power to each... and have a switch to turn it on and off?

If this sounds like what you want, it is very easy to do if I understood correctly...

You will need some type of outlet that you could not accidently reverse the polarity at each power suppy, and the power source inlet. Make sure the hots all run to one terminal, and the grounds all run to the other terminal... each outlet must be wired exactly the same as the power inlet... once you plug your power supply into the wired system, all outlets would become alive...

If you needed help with doing this, I am sure I could sacrifice a morning or afternoon sometime to give a helping hand.. it is not difficult.. just be sure that you dont reverse the polarity anywhere and cause a short.

Installing a fuse panel might be a very wise idea.. depending on what you plan on plugging into these *outlets*... electronics arent cheap.

[JohnMickish]

Why not just use 12v cigar lighters, then sell them at Fleet Farm, NAPA and everywhere else. No reverse polarity problems.

[Trouthunter]

Thanks for the help...I think I understand correctly.

I am using cigar lighter sockets for the outlets, since most of my accessories (xm radio, GPS, cell phone) have a car adapter, and I can let the adapter do any voltage conversions necessary, and I did check to make sure all the devices had the same polarity.

Is there anything wrong with running the - (neg) wires back to the battery rather than a ground? How do I ground the wires in my portable fishhouse?

[JohnMickish]

You will probably have fewer problems if you do run all the negative wires to one point and then run a wire from that one point to the battery. What I use is a neutral/grounding bar out of a household panel (available at fleet, home depot etc.) to run all my grounds to then ground that to the batt with a number 10 wire.

You can also run one pos wire to a universal fuse block and run individual wires to the outlets. That way each socket is independantly protected. Maybe a little overkill but that's how I'd do it.

[Trouthunter]

Cool! Thanks for the help. I'm no electrical engineer so I struggle finding the parts on the internet or in the store because I don't know what they are called.

I dont know if I need the extra fuse panel, because each device will have a fuse in the DC adapter that gets plugged into the socket. I'd like to run power to the outlets from a common terminal bar, with each socket on a switch so they can be powered on/off seperatly.

I will wire the 2 batteries in parallel to get more amperage out of the total system.

I have a question though...What is the item I am looking for to run power to the sockets?

I hook the battery up to <insert name here> and from there i wire each socket. I dont want to wire the sockets in a series in case one is broken or off.

I bought a barrier termnial strip at radio shack, but it appears that the terminals are isolated from each other...is that normal? Do I need to also get the jumper to connect them all? Does this make sense?

I tried googling "power distribution switch" but all I get are industrial quality...not what I need.

[Paul Waldowski]

TH,

It's a terminal block, and you will have to use a jumper from each to power that part of the terminal.

[Fisher Dave]

Quote:

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You will probably have fewer problems if you do run all the negative wires to one point and then run a wire from that one point to the battery. What I use is a neutral/grounding bar out of a household panel (available at fleet, home depot etc.) to run all my grounds to then ground that to the batt with a number 10 wire.

You can also run one pos wire to a universal fuse block and run individual wires to the outlets. That way each socket is independantly protected. Maybe a little overkill but that's how I'd do it.

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This is exactly what you want to do. Most fuse panels have switches on them to each source being powered by them.

For powering the system from your batteries... just about any type of plug that will support 2 wires will work. A trolling motor plug might be ideal for your situation.. receptical mounted in your house... grounds all tired together, and the power lead going to the fuse block.. the supply end (to battery) you can put whatever length of wire is ideal for your application, and use proper terminals to hook them to the batteries.