Wiring off the battery terminals

[Weso]

I have a kicker motor hooked to the battery , a terminal for my fish finder. Terminal for a bilge pump and I believe trim tab. And the battery isolater. What's everyone doing seems like to much crap on the battery. Boat was like this when I bought it. What should be on the battery what shouldn't

 

[Doc Stressor]

You should have 2 batteries. But everything that is hooked to the battery terminal now belongs there except for the fish finder. The directions for most fish finders say to connect directly to the battery. But that is not necessary. Most people power their fish finders off the fuse terminal or a circuit breaker and switch.

 

[seasick]

ABYC standards limit the number of connections to a battery terminal to 4.

Standards also require over current protection on circuits directly connected at the battery or battery switch. Directly connecting long feeds to a battery is a safety issue. In the event of a short somewhere along the circuit, with no fuse or breaker, the wire can overheat, melt and burn

 

[DennisG01]

Trim tabs and fishfinder don't need to be connected directly. They should really come off a fused bus bar that is feed by the battery switch (assuming you have one) or the "house" feed. There is no need for them to powered all the time.

 

[dogdoc]

visit some marine electronic web sites to explore products and ideas. most have suggested wiring diagrams and techniques. sounds like you have a blank canvas there to work with and fun project ahead. if not sure just ask plenty here have a boat load of knowledge (pun intended)

 

[hardasset]

If it were mine, I’d have it set up as follows:

bilge pump directly to the battery with an in-line fuse, if you anticipate keeping it in the water. If not, this isn’t as big an issue.

Feed for house panel directly from battery to circuit breaker of appropriate size. Mine is a 60 amp circuit breaker and has a switch so that I can manually trip it. I like it this way as it is easier to turn on stereo when I am working on it.

everything else run through the battery switch

 

[Doc Stressor]

I assumed he had a battery switch since he mentioned an isolator. Somehow my mind told me that connecting to the battery terminal meant connecting through the switch.

As stated, the bilge pump should be connected directly to the battery with everything else connected through the switch.

 

[seasick]

I assumed he had a battery switch since he mentioned an isolator. Somehow my mind told me that connecting to the battery terminal meant connecting through the switch.

As stated, the bilge pump should be connected directly to the battery with everything else connected through the switch.

Sometimes you will have a stereo preset memory feed and that would be a direct (non-switched) connection. Some CO detectors might also be directly connected. Of course, those connections could be mad at the switch on the battery feed terminal

 

[blindmullet]

Sometimes you will have a stereo preset memory feed and that would be a direct (non-switched) connection. Some CO detectors might also be directly connected. Of course, those connections could be mad at the switch on the battery feed terminal

Amp's will go right to the battery with a breaker. I disconnect the breaker on my amp when it's in storage.

 

[seasick]

Amp's will go right to the battery with a breaker. I disconnect the breaker on my amp when it's in storage.

That depends on the amps output rating and therefore current draw. Yes those big bad eardrum busters draw a lot of current.

 

[blindmullet]

That depends on the amps output rating and therefore current draw. Yes those big bad eardrum busters draw a lot of current.

What else is there?

 

[seasick]

As we get older we learn that some things that were once the norm ( like loud sound systems) now hurt to listen to