fuses on older boats ?

wileynet

Recruit
Joined
Jun 19, 2017
Messages
3
restoring my dads 1975 rienell all the lamp and switch wiring was bad noticed no fuses anywhere should i just fuse the main power up to the junction block or on all the switches, has stern light,bow light, added a bilge blower and cigarette power point. ?
 

62cruiserinc

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Oct 30, 2009
Messages
287
A main fuse would be good to protect the heavy wire going from the battery to the junction block. This main fuse should be as close as possible to the power source (battery) to ptotect the heavy wire. However, this will do nothing to protect the individual smaller wires going to each device (light, blower,etc). The smaller wires will overheat before a large main fuse will blow.

There needs to be individual fuses for each line or set of lines going out of the block. These fuses need to be rated correctly based on the gauge of the SMALLEST wire in the group.

Here is a link:
Www.bluesea.com
Mod EDIT: dead link removed
 
Last edited by a moderator:

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
Yes, a fuse or circuit breaker at the source battery for starters and then each accessory has to be fused or circuit breaker for that individual circuit . And that reason is, if you put in just one large fuse/breaker at the battery and your bilge pump starts to drag and require more current then the wire can handle, you start a fire. And when you are on the water, there is no place to run. So every circuit has to has its own fuse/breaker for the requirement for that circuit.

A good example is a radio. Say it need 3 amps of current for it to work to its fullest capabilities. So you wire that radio with wire that can handle that current without any problems. And then you fuse/breaker that circuit with at least a 5 amp setup. And you do that same procedure with each individual circuit as well. JMHO
 

jbcurt00

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
24,829
@62cruiserinc

I suspect BlueSea is protecting their asset/property by redirecting whatever link you tried to copy and paste from their site or truncating it when you copied it. Could also be a security measure that prevents hot linking their pages.

Your links started w the word

Asset

when posted. Thats caused the links to lead no where and be dead.

Iboats software recognizes web addresses when posted in a reply, so it auto-converts them to hot links when typed correctly. You do not have to include the http://, just

Www.iboats.com

will work. You dont HAVE to use the add a link icon to post a link. In fact, I'd discourage using the icon if at all possible. Once you hit the add a link icon, it HAS to be used to add a link, whether you intended to add a link or not. And makes future edits difficult, thats why I changed your 1st dead link to an iboats link. I couldnt simply remove your dead link.

I deleted your duplicate post and added a link to BlueSea main page. Which can be found here:
Www.blusesea.com
 

wileynet

Recruit
Joined
Jun 19, 2017
Messages
3
so i fused the main battery lead about six inches from battery, then 10 gauge wire to a junction block which goes to a weather tight fuse block each switch is fused on the input /power side good enough?
 
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