quick electrical lesson

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pwfish1

Seaman
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
74
i plan on getting a book but in the meantime can i get a quick rundown of electrical in runabout. i'm disconnecting existing wires to replace.

on the accessories(lights,horn,) do these run from the unit to the bus-bar,

how does the wires get to the battery from bus bar??

how many instruments can be spliced together and then run to battery?

quick explanation in layman's terms of instrument, bus-bar, battery connection.

Thank YOU
 
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Blue1983boat

Cadet
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
16
Re: quick electrical lesson

I'm still new to electrical work, but I think I understand the basics. I just recently rewired my fishing boat and here is what I did:

Ran 8 gauge neg. wire from battery to neg. bus bar
Ran 8 gauge pos. wire from batter to distribution panel (serves as a pos. bus bar.) You also want to fuse this wire near the battery so it protects the complete system.
You run your pos. through a fuse dedicated to each switch. My distribution panel had the fuses wired into the panel which was nice and saved time.
You then run your pos. device wire (pos. horn wire) to the switch
Then run your neg. device wire (neg. horn wire) to the neg. bus bar.
For your lights you will need a DPDT 3 way switch so you can can have your nav lights and stern on or just the stern light.

It's much easier to look at a wiring diagram, I will try to post one in the near future that I drew up for my boat.
 
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pwfish1

Seaman
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
74
Re: quick electrical lesson

blue, thanks for response.

my misunderstanding is with the bus bar and switch panel. aren't they the same??..i see bus bar with pos and neg, why both?

where is switch panel located or is that the dash with the accs?

i have alot of seperate wires then there all spliced together leaving 1 to battery. shud i go higher gauge on this?


thanks
 
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