Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

[Pmccraney]

I have been lurking on the electrical forum for some time and trying to learn as much as I can... You guys are very knowledgeable and helpful... I have been reviewing the stickies and some of the threads where novices (like me) were helped along...

I have a boat restore thread (see link below) going on over in the resto (dry dock) section and I am getting to that point in my project where I need to start thinking about the electrical... I am very much a novice, but have enjoyed the learning new things (as much as the "working with my hands" part of it)...

For starters: Its sea nymph tinny powered by a 1974 Johnson 85 h/p; Model No. 85ESL74B. I will have a bow-mounted trolling motor. After much reading on the pros and cons, I think I am going to go with the Blue Seas (add a battery) switch and ACR combo... I have the original OEM service manual. In order to try and educate myself have read the 12-volt bible for boats and powerboater's guide to electrical systems (both were very helpful)... Below is my first stab at a wiring diagram... I would very much appreciate your review, thoughts and comments...

If this is too small, our you have trouble viewing it, let me know...

A couple of things to keep in mind...

1. I could not get the software I used (Omni Graffle for Mac) to make the little "hump" where wires cross on a diagram but are not joined.... So, none of the wires are joined (where they cross) unless otherwise indicated...

2. I don't have the individual wire and fuse sizes noted for the various accessory feed circuits yet, because I don't have the amperage of the devices handy, nor have I measured the actual runs yet. However, I have the chart handy and am aware of voltage drop requirements etc... for critical (3%) and non-critical (10%) circuits.

3. I have tried to us the ABYC color-coding on my senders and such (e.g. pink for fuel gauge, brown for pumps, etc..), but let me know if you see any mistakes or if I have screwed that up.

 

[Don S]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Just to start things off, your wire sizes and fuses for house power is way too big for your setup. Your motor probably only puts out 10 or 15 amps max when charging, so going over a 10 ga. wire and a 30A fuse or circuit breaker is not necessary. The chances of you using 30A at one time is probably not going to happen.

Your drawing is really confusing when all put together like that. What you should do is break it down into 3 sections. The battery section, the motor instrument section which all comes from the wiring harness from the motor, and the house system.

A neat trick in wiring diagrams is when 2 lines cross they just look like a + sign, if you want them to be connected, put a large dot on the cross. Like this.

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Thanks for the quick reply.. I'll break it apart like you suggested... The wire sizes on the fuses on the dual battery came from the OEM instructions from Blue Sea (I guess they provide defaults for worst case scenario)...

Let me see what I can do to re-work it and I'll post the separate diagrams.

Thanks again,

 

[Don S]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Here would be wire sizes and connections you would need for your size motor.

Click the image several times to get to full size.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Another tip for making diagrams that you expect others to follow is to have all lines that leave one diagram and go to another leave the diagram on one side, top or bottom. Then the diagram those lines come from or go to match up with those on the next diagram. That way you can lay all three diagrams next to each other and have a complete setup.

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Thanks Again Silvertip and Don S. I have tried to break these apart in a way that is easier to read. At this point, I am really just trying to map out all the connections and circuits generally. Once I have the basics down and make sure the general set-up is okay, then I will flush out some details...

Diagram No. 1 Batteries. Don basically drew this up for me with correct wire sizes and fuses. I saw no reason to reinvent the wheel.

Diagram No. 2 - Motor (wiring harness), Ignition and Gauge Feeds

Diagram No. 3 - House (Accessories) Circuits

Hopefully, this second effort is a little better.

Thanks again!

 

[Don S]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Looks great now now, obviously you can see them full size, and we can't which.

I was listening to the wind and the rain and decided to draw the house wiring myself. Tried some stuff with my drawing toys and learned some things myself along the way (drawing program, not wiring).

Here is my attempt, you can even make it bigger.

View attachment PMC.pdf

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Oh man - my lucky day!!!

Wow, I really am blown away that you would take the time to do that...

I see a couple of things I did wrong comparing mine to yours... And yours just looks better (plus, I like the French Horn and the "radio of some kind" notation)...

I think this definitely gives me the confidence to tackle the job... I am sure I will have to trouble shoot a bit once I get start running wires and stuff doesn't work like it should, but this will definitely be a good road map.

Have a good evening...

 

[Don S]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Hey, I'm retired, and a couple of my new hobbies is Photoshop and Illustrator.
Just doing that drawing, I learned some new things about my toys.
You just came along at the right time, I was thinking about doing some fancy stuff (like the fuses and switches) and a few other things I've been learning. If I put all the time together from starting and stopping and doing other things, it really wasn't that much time. Maybe a couple of hours, probably closer to 1.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

PMC, just signing on and watching closely because that horn Don hooked you up with is totally awesome!!!:thumb:

 

[Todd4]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

Just gonna sit this one out....................You're in good hands.

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

I agree . I sort of hit the lotto yesterday...

When Don S. draws up your diagrams for you, you are living right. Not much to say except "thank you" and then shut your mouth and take home your party favors and show them off [which I did].

I know this has helped me and hopefully this thread will help someone else down the road who is trying to wire up their boat for the first time.

 

[Don S]

Re: Newbie takes a shot at wiring diagram for dual battery setup with ACR....

I realized I made a mistake on the battery wiring size for the house battery. It will work fine for the house wiring, but if you ever have to use the house battery to start the motor, you are going to need some battery cables in some places I had originally marked 10 ga.
Here is a redone file with the correct size wiring (I hope) sorry about that.

View attachment pmc battery wiring.pdf