Wiring schematic, opinions please.

[Wind dog]

Hi there!
Just finished up most of the electrical work on my Valco Westcoaster, does anybody see any problems?

 

[Don S]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

The only real problem I see is your accessory feed wire (10 Ga.) should have a 30A max breaker not 40A. If you want to use 40A, go to 8 ga. wire for the feeds.

While not really a problem, the 12 ga. wire size for the accessories is just way overkill and will be hard to connect to the end item with their 16. ga pig tails.
16 ga. would be plenty for the nav and anchor lights.
14 ga. would be fine for the horn, stereo, and fish finder unless you have some mega stereo going in.

You will probably find on your switch panel that the power feeds the fuses first, then on to the switches.

Other than that, I see no problems.

 

[Wind dog]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

Thanks Don! LOL I'm an old cat mechanic, can't help myself when it comes to overkill

Well I can't do anything about the heavy wire, it's all been run:facepalm:
On the main cir. breaker / 10gauge feed wire, Is 10gauge w/ a 30amp breaker suffeciant to power the a 36lb thrust trolling motor? If so I would, replace the 40 w/ a 30amp (for trolling motor) & add a 30amp for the rest of the accessories?

 

[Don S]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

I think I missed where you have your trolling motor wiring hooked.
It needs to be completely separate from your house system, use the 10 ga and 30A breaker for your house systems.
Then run another 30 or 40 amp breaker (what ever you need for your TM) and the appropiate size wiring from the batteries to the trolling motor.

Like this.

View attachment BOAT SCHMATIC-A-Land (1).pdf

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

if you are going to put a disconnect in between the batteries and the motor then i would go with a perko and split the batteries at the same time so one becomes the starter and the other is the trolling battery. all items except the trolling motor will be connected to the perko switch including the motor. i dont see the biege pump wiring, bow and stern light are sharing a positive wire which means they can not be turned on as required by the rules when at anchor and not underway (anchor light only). stereo is connected the wrong side of the breaker and would be better connected to the fuse panel unless its a huge power hog then it should have a fuse with in 6" of the battery. cable should not be reduced in size before the breaker (its drawn that way but im sure thats not how you plan to connect it). nothing realy wrong with anything you have drawn but you did ask

 

[Wind dog]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

if you are going to put a disconnect in between the batteries and the motor then i would go with a perko and split the batteries at the same time so one becomes the starter and the other is the trolling battery. all items except the trolling motor will be connected to the perko switch including the motor. i dont see the biege pump wiring, bow and stern light are sharing a positive wire which means they can not be turned on as required by the rules when at anchor and not underway (anchor light only). stereo is connected the wrong side of the breaker and would be better connected to the fuse panel unless its a huge power hog then it should have a fuse with in 6" of the battery. cable should not be reduced in size before the breaker (its drawn that way but im sure thats not how you plan to connect it). nothing realy wrong with anything you have drawn but you did ask

No worries, like you said I asked. I know enough to make a working system, but don't know everything so this is great!


As of now I don't expect to install a bilge pump, I do plan on some kind of "live well" load but have not decided exactly what that will be yet.
The stereo is not anything high powerd, just a AM/FM w/ ipod hook up.
So the law on the nav lights is underway you need the red / green light on the bow & a all around white light on the starboard side of the stern & when anchored you only use the white light on the stern?
To be honest I don't know how much I will use the lights, mostly for pre dawn runouts come Salmon season.

 

[jhebert]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

Your negative branch circuits all need to have their own return to the negative bus at the secondary power distribution point.

 

[Wind dog]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

I think I missed where you have your trolling motor wiring hooked.
It needs to be completely separate from your house system, use the 10 ga and 30A breaker for your house systems.
Then run another 30 or 40 amp breaker (what ever you need for your TM) and the appropiate size wiring from the batteries to the trolling motor.

Like this.




View attachment 180177

Don, how did you edit my PDF? (Cool!)

On the TM circuit, What is the advantage of running the hot lead all the way to the battery as apposed to connecting at the switched side of the dico? (The cable attatched to the disco is #2 battery cable) Allso, if I remove the cover on the trolling motor & check the amp rating of the relay can I use that to size the wire / breaker?


On the nav lights, As this is a 15' tinny, anchor lights are not required (as near as I can tell from reading the California regulations) I planned on putting a link to the site I got my info from but the site won't load for me this mourning.




On splitting / not splitting the batteries, My experiance with my first boat is that for ocean fishing (Not using TM much) the single deep cycle battery had plenty of power & would run the stereo / FF all day no problem. When Bass fishing (using the TM alot) The battery would only last about 3/4 of the day. My first boat was a pull start BTW.
I hoping with two deep cycle batteries I can bass fish all day. I'm not really concerened with draining the batteries & being stuck with a dead motor because #1 How much juice can it take to start a 25Hp 4 stroke? & #2 It has a emergency pull start feature.

 

[Don S]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

On the TM circuit, What is the advantage of running the hot lead all the way to the battery as apposed to connecting at the switched side of the dico?

Hooking the TM to the battery switch (disco????) is fine.

While you may not need an anchor light, you do need an all around white light when underway.

I used Adobe Illustrator to edit.

 

[Wind dog]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

Hooking the TM to the battery switch (disco????) is fine.

While you may not need an anchor light, you do need an all around white light when underway.

I used Adobe Illustrator to edit.

Disco= Disconnect switch, not that god awful music from the 70's ;-)

So the nav lights can be on the same circuit / switch? (Unless I want to use the stern all around white light for anchoring then they need to be seperate?


Don I really appreciate all the answers, your the man.

 

[Don S]

Re: Wiring schematic, opinions please.

So the nav lights can be on the same circuit / switch? (Unless I want to use the stern all around white light for anchoring then they need to be seperate?

Yes, but, if you are stopped at night and fishing you may not consider it being anchored but if you aren't moving you might just consider it a "Please don't hit me" light.