Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

OK... I'm a newbie to boating and wiring. I've check out the internet and now that I have siphoned all the marine wiring info I can off the web, I have a few questions.

I will be using 1 starting battery and 1 deep cycle battery. The starting battery is not an issue as it will only service the outboard motor. The deep cycle battery will service the trolling motor, bilge pump, live well, fish finder, and navigation lights.

My plan is as follows.

1. Use tinned copper for all components.
2. 6 AWG from the deep cycle battery's positive pole to a 60 AMP breaker (recommended by trolling motor manufacturer).
3. 6 AWG from breaker to a buss bar.
4. 6 AWG from buss bar to trolling motor.
5. 10 AWG from buss bar to switch panel with breakers.
6. 10 AWG from switch panel to accessories.
7. All ground wiring returns to a ground buss bar located near the positive buss bar using the same gauge wire as it corresponding positive wire.
8. 6 AWG from the ground buss bar to the ground/negative pole on the deep cycle battery.

My goal is to have sound and maintainable wiring in the boat while not degrading power to trolling motor. I don't mind using larger wire if it helps prevent any significant reduction in power, especially to the trolling motor.

Now for the questions.

1. Is this setup optimal?
2. How much will the buss bar degrade power to the trolling motor?
3. Should I have 2 wires connected to the battery. One for the trolling motor and the other to the buss bar for the remaining accessories?
4. Is there any negatives (besides cost) associated with using the 10 AWG wire for accessories that do not draw much power? For example, using 10 AWG to a fish finder using less than 1 Amp.

Thanks,
Jimbo

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

MrJimbo said:

1. Is this setup optimal?
2. How much will the buss bar degrade power to the trolling motor?
3. Should I have 2 wires connected to the battery. One for the trolling motor and the other to the buss bar for the remaining accessories?
4. Is there any negatives (besides cost) associated with using the 10 AWG wire for accessories that do not draw much power? For example, using 10 AWG to a fish finder using less than 1 Amp.

Click to expand...

1) I would bump all the 6AWG to 4AWG... your right at the limit of the cable for the breaker size, and if you have much load at all from your switch panel / acc loads your could really start pushing that cable to the limits and getting some voltage drop. At the very least bump up the + and - cable to the buss bars.

Also, 10AWG should not be necessary for most of yoru loads. thats rated at like 30A+, which should be good for your supply line, but I'd use 14AGW or 16AWG for the loads.

2. buss bar wont degrade power a bit (not upgrading to 4AWG might), just keep an eye on the terminals for corrosion.

3. Can do it either way... actually your current plan is really a cleaner install.

4. cost is biggest real concern, also wire flexibility and size of wiring bundles. Also consider connecting 10AWG to little 16 or 18AWG leads on your loads... will need some real "interesting" connections or buy specialized downstepping butt connectors. but no real functional advantage I can think of for using 10AWG unless you have a bunch laying around already.

Also, I suggest making up a wiring diagram and posting on this thread... makes it easy to review, and will likely come in handy in the future... take a look at this recient thread if you havent already: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=449450

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

If this boat has any gauges in it, you would be wise to power those from the engine harness. If you power them from the deep cycle you need a separate switch just for the gauges. Not very practical as they come alive automatically if powered from the engine harness. 10 gauge is definitely way overkill for anything except a feeder circuit on a fishing boat. 16 gauge is perfectly adequate for lights, locators, gps, radios, etc. Besides, 10 gauge is way to stiff to jumper between switches so there would be way too much stress on switch terminals. Why do you need a buss bar between the troller and the deep cycle. That's a straight run to the troller connector. The "boat harness" is a separate 10 gauge feeder from the battery to the switch/fuse panel. The issue with wiring is to eliminate potential points of failure. What that means is the more junctions you create, that creates a potential point of failure. You want as few as possible.

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

fish_on_the_deck and Silvertip,

Thanks for the input! Very good points concerning the stiffness of 10 AWG and challenges in connections between 10 AWG and the 18/16 AWG at the accessories.

I noticed that most switch panels that include breakers use 10 Amp breakers. Will this be a problem for low Amp accessories such as a fish finder?

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

Look at the manual for your fish finder to find it's amperage, but 10A is usually more than enough. Usually the fish finders pull from 1 to 3 amps.

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

Thanks Don S. Yes, my fish finder pulls less than 1 amps. Will a 10 amp breaker potentially cause the fish finder to become damaged?

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

MrJimbo said:

Thanks Don S. Yes, my fish finder pulls less than 1 amps. Will a 10 amp breaker potentially cause the fish finder to become damaged?

Click to expand...

No. The 10A breaker is there protect the wiring. The fish finder will draw only what it needs. External fuses and breakers don't really protect the equipment attached to them. If the fish finder shorts internally, it will be fried unless the fuse/breaker is so small that it would be blowing continuously under normal operation. Not a very workable solution.

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

Fuses or breakers for accessories need to be sized for the wire being used as well as the current draw of the device. If the device draws only 1 amp and there is a 10 amp breaker protecting that circuit, a short in the very tiny wire feeding that device would burn up before the fuse or breaker opened. A 3 amp fuse on a 1 amp circuit is fine. A 10 amp fuse on a 1 amp circuit WITH small gauge wiring is not.

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

Silvertip said:

Fuses or breakers for accessories need to be sized for the wire being used as well as the current draw of the device. If the device draws only 1 amp and there is a 10 amp breaker protecting that circuit, a short in the very tiny wire feeding that device would burn up before the fuse or breaker opened. A 3 amp fuse on a 1 amp circuit is fine. A 10 amp fuse on a 1 amp circuit WITH small gauge wiring is not.

Click to expand...

The low amperage inline fuse that is undoubtedly part of the fish finder's wiring harness would take care of that. Three amps will still fry the internal electronics.

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

Thanks everyone for the help. Any input concerning the use of conduit and tie-downs in an aluminum boat?

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

NYBo said:

The low amperage inline fuse that is undoubtedly part of the fish finder's wiring harness would take care of that. Three amps will still fry the internal electronics.

Click to expand...

That's very true -- but only IF there is an in-line fuse, That same small gauge wire exists "before" the fuse as well so depending on where the short is, it can still go up in smoke. A short external to an accessory will not generally kill that accessory. If, however, there is a high current draw within the electronics of that accessory, and that current draw exceeds the fuse rating, the accessory is toast anyway.

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

MrJimbo said:

Thanks everyone for the help. Any input concerning the use of conduit and tie-downs in an aluminum boat?

Click to expand...

If aluminum rivets aren't practicable,I'd use stainless screws and keep the conduit to some type of pvc or NON metal.
Aluminum will react(corrision) with almost every dis-similar metal,stainless being the least reactive.

Re: Rewiring 16' Aluminum Bass Tracker III Questions

Thanks pootnic.