12V rewiring

[dozer1013]

Planning on doing some rewiring in a 1988 Nitro Fish n Ski I just bought.

The wire that is there looks to be in pretty good shape and everything worked when I bought it so I'm not going to completely rewire the boat but instead I plan to use what is there. It was just all connected to the batt and I can't tell what wire goes to what.

Another problem is that there seems to be a lot of wire there that is not needed or connected to anything. (looks like this boat has gone through several transformations and bits n pieces were added and removed but all the wiring was left behind)

So question 1: what is what is the best method to identify the wires that are not needed or connected to anything?
Question 2: once I get all the old unnecessary wire out, is there an easy (read cheap) method to trace what's left back to the component without having to physically remove all the wire? some of which I don't think I can get to anyway...

Also, I did not see any kind of fuse panel anywhere so I bought a Blue Sea 5026 ST blade fuse block to install. Is that sufficient for a simple rewire? I think I'm going to have one "house" battery for all the components and one for cranking that will have only the motor and tilt attached.

So am I in the ballpark here or is there a better way. I would like to keep this as simple as possible.

Thanks!

 

[colbyt]

Re: 12V rewiring

I don't know what you consider cheap or reasonable. There is the ever so time consuming hand over hand follow method. You can energize one pair of wires at a time and look for the circuit else where. Or for less than $50 you can buy a small battery powered remote continuity tester. No matter which it is all time consuming.

2 bats are very smart and I don't know anything about that fuse panel. If I were doing it, I would buy one with at least 2 more circuits than I expected to use.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: 12V rewiring

theres 2 wiring systems on the boat (3 if you have a trolling motor)

the first is the engine harness that will follow basic color codes that are matched to the power plant. So if its a evinrude follow there color code, etc, etc

the second is the boat harness. That's easier to work with power than to try finding everything with a meter. Buy a inline fuse holder with clips, remove all wires from the positive post of the battery except the large ones for the motor, clip in the fuse holder with a 10 amp fuse between positive post on battery to the now disconnected wires then play with the switchs etc and see what happens. There may be a master switch near the driver if theres more than one set of switchs on the boat. Once you locate everything that works that shouldn't leave that many wires to work out.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: 12V rewiring

If everything works as you said in your first post, then determining which wire does what is a simple matter.
1) Turn an item on.
2) Disconnect one wire at a time until the selected item turns off. You then found the wire.
3) Ground is ground wherever you find it so all grounds will go a ground buss which is ultimately the negative battery terminal.
4) Tag the wires so you know what they are for when you add the fuse panel.

Here is a typical diagram.



Here is a diagram for the 24 volt troller



And another for a dual battery switch