Bige pump switch question - circuit breaker or no?

JSGOLD

JSGOLD

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
609
I am rewirng my old 76" Starcraft and installing new fuse panel and switches from Iboats. I am looking at various bilge pump switches and panels, and example is Seasense...who has a nice compact unit ready to go but almost everything I see has a circuit breaker or fuse. Since I am wiring in a fuse panel to eliminate wires running to my battery I am curious...do I go ahead and use one of these or just keep looking for one without the fuse / breaker. I was going to go ahead with the Seasense unit, but the 10amp breaker and it being protected on the negative side kind of spooked me. Am I correct that a circuit breaker on top of a fused circuit would me redundant????
 
Fireman431

Fireman431

Rear Admiral
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Messages
4,292
Re: Bige pump switch question - circuit breaker or no?

JSGOLD said:
Am I correct that a circuit breaker on top of a fused circuit would me redundant????
Click to expand...

You answered your own question. The circuit breaker is a resettable fuse.
 
NYBo

NYBo

Admiral
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
7,107
Re: Bige pump switch question - circuit breaker or no?

Every circuit needs either a fuse or a circuit breaker, but not both. If you buy an automatic bilge pump or a float switch, you'll need a fuse or breaker on both the manual and automatic circuits. However, since these circuits will share a common negative/ground, one fuse/breaker on that side of the circuit would provide protection. It's just that the usual convention is to install protection on the positive side of circuits.
 
JSGOLD

JSGOLD

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
609
Re: Bige pump switch question - circuit breaker or no?

The Seasense unit is carried locally so i was hoping to use it but I guess I will just find an alternate unit elsewhere. I will check Iboats later this evening and see what they have. I sure don't want any more hot wires hooked up to battery, trying to get rid of that nonsense. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top