In line fuse/breaker for my electrical

anderso8623

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
388
I need to install an inline breaker from my battery to my bus/distribution block. I bow and stern lights, fish finder and bilge hooked up, I may be adding a radio but that is further down the road. Currently it is a single battery and all wires are run directly to the battery. My plan is to run one wire to the dash add the distribution block. My question is what AWG wire should I run and how big should the fuse or breaker be?
 

TyeeMan

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
849
You could install a breaker, or you could do what Lund did in my boat and install a master power switch which is fused. So pretty much everything, bilges, live well pumps, navigation lights, radio and sonar are operated off of the master power switch.
All of the accessories you listed are all really low amp draw, the bilge pump being the most.
For a conductor size, 16 awg would be fine, for a little overkill or "safety margin" you could go 14 awg. Then for a fuse size, add up the max amp draw of everything and go 3-4 amps higher.

You really don't want to use a breaker as an on/off switch as it tends to wear them out over time which could result in the breaker tripping before necessary.
 

ScottMartzen

Cadet
Joined
Jul 22, 2016
Messages
12
Get a fuse block and separate all circuits use 8 gauge to the fuse block and 16-14 for each individual circuit depending on draw.
 
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