What size wire gauge should I use from the battery to a switch/fuse panel?
Cheers
What size wire gauge should I use from the battery to a switch/fuse panel?
Cheers
How far is it from the battery to the panel and what are you going to run off the panel?
I intend on living for-ever....so far so good
Approximately 1.0 metreOriginally Posted by finga
On the assumption you are running nav lts,running lt,bait tank,1 bilge pump.sounder,and gps with maybe an intermittent spotlight,as a minimum,so on that basis I would run 8 B&S cable to the switch panel + and -.Another assumption Ive made is that the cable run is around 6m(3m there and 3m back)8B&S should be OK for the loads shown and for a run of 10m. Longer than that or more loads than that then you should look at the next size cable up from 8 B&S
Just saw your reply to Finga,1m is not a long run ,sounds like your running a side panel in a 3.5-4m boat????You may get away with 6sqmm cable ,however for the amount of money you would save I personally would still fit the 8B&S ,theres nothing worse than a fire in a boat especially if youre in the bloody thing
4.2 m tinny, battery behind back thwart , proposed switch on side in front, what's "B&S"?? type of wire like tinned??
Bit of an overkill suggested so far. Whatcha running off it?
B&S is an old wire guage, brown and sharpe if I remember correctly
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Sounder, nav/anchor lights, bilge pump, accessory plug prob spotty and strip lights - lights led
what size bilge pump they vary from 2 to 10 amps?Err on the heavy side otherwise beside fire risk you can end up with voltage drop and your sounder could drop out when tou turn on spotty of bilge pump.Also any protection?
Cheers
Ray
If its the normal stuff like navs, sounder, maybe a livey pump, vhf, etc the u can go down to the 6mm they sell at whitworths etc will be fine. If u have a thirsty old halogen spot, if u like doof doof at 100Db thru subwoofers, deckwash, big bilge pumps etc, go to 8mm.
Beware all the different nomenclature for wire, like AWG, sqmm, B&S...i reckon it has been designed by sparkies to confuse the begeezus outta you. Most chandlery's seem to sell "4mm,6mm, 8mm" and light hookup wire so may as well stick to that if its just a one off thing. A 5A draw (typical if night fishing for instance) thru 6mm over 1m each way wouldnt even be a 1% voltage drop. A sparky might shoot me for guessing but i think their 6mm is equal to about 4-5sqmm, 10-12AWG ???, 40-50A.
For 6mm the crimps are the yellow ones, use a good ratchet type tool and get the connections perfect, plus glue lined heat shrink over the top. Either that or there are top quality american marine connectors available thru a guy on this site...link should be around if u go searching..might be the go if doing the full works.
By protection I'm assuming you mean fuse panel, yes, pump size to be detemined but I'll take the size advice
Is it adviseable to get tinned wire or standard good enough.
soz, didnt see what u have before last post.
get tinned
Dont skimp on the lighter plug also, lots of crap around..if you have a big halogen spottie they can soak a solid 10A by themselves. Look for brands like blueseas/bep rated at maybe 15A coz they're often the weak link. Not hard to change the plug over to the same if its a plug in type.
A 360-500gph rule type bait pump only draws 2-3A tops from memory, but 1500gph+ bilge pumps are more 5-7A+. Anythign with a motor is relatively thirsty.
Also if using 8mm u may need to hunt for the right connectors or get a pro to do the crimp unless u have the right swaging type tool...they're not big but u may not get the right stuff at a chandlery. The off the rack ratchet crimpers generally go to only 6mm.
Tinned wire all the time.All you need is a bit of salt and the normal cable will rot out usually at the most inconvenient time.
Have you purchased your bilge pump yet?
Dont skimp on the size I run a 1500gph rule that drags 7 amps.
TMC brand quote 9 amps.
If you get caught in a heavy downpour you will be amazed how much water collects in the boat, Then there is the other fun thing blike forgetting nto screw in the bungs. Also amazing how much water comes in while you are parking the trailer.
Cheers
Ray
Or not checking the bungs after a long trip prior to launching
Your not wrong. they confuse the begeesus outta me alright.
I only work in square millimetre cross sectional area. The rest can get knicked
And then there are the two mm sized wires. One auto sparky sizing and the other one the other type of sparky sizing.
I'm so confused
I intend on living for-ever....so far so good
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