First rewire 16.5ft smoker craft Switch panel, fuses panel, AC/DC/ B.S. LOL....HELP

JohngeorgeIV

Cadet
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
16
First I am writing this because I need help as in I do Not know enough about electrical to do this myself. A lot of you guys have helped me ton with my rebuild so far so If you can offer any advice I would greatly appreciate. BUT....If You are interested in showing off your Boat brilliance and want to make some one feel dumb then please ignore my post.

I am rewiring my 16.5 ft smoker craft with 50 HP mercury with the following items. Boat Bilge, Livewell Bilge, 6 interior courtesy Led Lights, Bow light? Or anchor light Correct?, Stern or Navigation Light Correct? Fish finder, and Stereo with 2 or 4 speakers. Plus bowmount trolling motor. Please check my thoughts and see if I have this correct

2 Batteries in rear of boat. One for starting and one for accessories. Should both be deep cycle?
These will be on a battery switch connected to a Fuse panel.

1 Deep cycle in bow of boat just for trolling motor.

One aft bus bar for my bilge and live well pump to battery 1 negative

Negative from switch panel goes to negative of battery 2.

There would be positive and negative wires going to each one of my accessores that has a built in switch or on off button like Fishfinder, stereo, ciggarrette lighter.

One wire going to a switch panel that I could wire my interior lights too, my bilge pumps, and my navigation and Anchor lights? Is it law to also have a horn on a boat? I live in wisconsin if that matters.

How do you figure out what size or how many amp panel to get? If I just ran all the Accessories through one big switch panel that had 10 thru 25 amp fuses built into it can I just skip having the designated Fuse panel?

How do you know or decided what size wire for where?

Also, I had purchases some pvc electrical conduit thinking it would be nice to have all the wiring hidden. Alot of people doing this on their rebuilds? IS anyone doing this on their rebuilds?


Thank you very much for reading and I appreciate your help.
 

alldodge

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Staff member
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Mar 8, 2009
Messages
40,581
Re: First rewire 16.5ft smoker craft Switch panel, fuses panel, AC/DC/ B.S. LOL....H

I am rewiring my 16.5 ft smoker craft with 50 HP mercury with the following items. Boat Bilge, Livewell Bilge, 6 interior courtesy Led Lights, Bow light? Or anchor light Correct?, Stern or Navigation Light Correct? Fish finder, and Stereo with 2 or 4 speakers. Plus bowmount trolling motor. Please check my thoughts and see if I have this correct
(Comment) Led are best due to lower current draw. USCG and all 50 states says you must have a red/green light FWD and an all around light AFT. A bow light other than the red/green is your option. An anchor light which is the all around white.

2 Batteries in rear of boat. One for starting and one for accessories. Should both be deep cycle?
These will be on a battery switch connected to a Fuse panel.
(Comment) Deep cycle batteries are used most time for areas where the battery will be drained below 80 some percent of available charge. Deep cycle will not be damaged if they are drained below this level. A regular starting battery will be damaged if it goes below the level. Starting batteries can provide more cranking amps then the same size deep cycle, but 50HP engine should not be an issue with either type. Fusing individual circuits are best, I wouldn't recommend fusing you're engine, it should already have protection built in. A battery switch is fine and one will allow the switch between 1 , 2 or both incase extra juce is needed for starting. I would recommend putting in a good 3-bank charger to handle all batteries.

1 Deep cycle in bow of boat just for trolling motor.
(Comment) should be fine, match to size of trolling motor

One aft bus bar for my bilge and live well pump to battery 1 negative
(Comment) Buss bar and good size feeder cables are a good way to go, but switch the positive instead of negative. Connect all negatives from all batteries to the same negative.

Negative from switch panel goes to negative of battery 2.
(Comment) Recommend using Positive as mentioned above

There would be positive and negative wires going to each one of my accessories that has a built in switch or on off button like Fishfinder, stereo, cigarette lighter.
(Comment) Sounds good, may be over doing it but it will ensure you have the best connection. May want to use the negative buss bar.

One wire going to a switch panel that I could wire my interior lights too, my bilge pumps, and my navigation and Anchor lights? Is it law to also have a horn on a boat? I live in wisconsin if that matters.
(Comment) One main lighting wire feeding all other is fine so long as it is sized correctly. You must have a sounding device, this can be a wired or air horn, hand held horn, whistle or bell.

How do you figure out what size or how many amp panel to get? If I just ran all the Accessories through one big switch panel that had 10 thru 25 amp fuses built into it can I just skip having the designated Fuse panel?
(Comment) Make a list of how many devices you will have and decide how circuits you will need. (Exp one circuit for Navagation lights, one for curiosity, etc)

How do you know or decided what size wire for where?
Wire Capacity Chart


Also, I had purchases some pvc electrical conduit thinking it would be nice to have all the wiring hidden. Alot of people doing this on their rebuilds? IS anyone doing this on their rebuilds?
(Comment) This one is your choice
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,758
Re: First rewire 16.5ft smoker craft Switch panel, fuses panel, AC/DC/ B.S. LOL....H

Here is how a fuse panel and accessory circuits get wired.



Here is how a dual battery switch gets wired. ALL circuits including the helm get wired to the COM terminal or you may as well not even use a switch since any other scheme (except adding an ACR) results in loss of capability. Use the switch to your advantage -- don't use creative wiring to defeat the purpose and capability of the switch.



BAt #2 is a deep cycle as is the troller battery. The starting battery can by Starting, Dual-Purpose, or Deep Cycle regardless what anyone says. Folks use them to start 8L Inboards and I/O's so they will start a little outboard.

My final comment is that on a 16 foot boat with the accessories you indicate, a single, large deep cycle is all you need for the engine and house. You really don't need a dual battery setup unless you are do a lot of late night fishing/overnight remote camping with no AC power, etc. Don't complicate a system with stuff you don't need. The troller still needs it's own deep cycle and a dual bank on-board charger will be fine to keep things topped off at trips end.
 

JohngeorgeIV

Cadet
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
16
Re: First rewire 16.5ft smoker craft Switch panel, fuses panel, AC/DC/ B.S. LOL....H

Well I think that is great advice on not over complicating the system. I have high hopes for over night fishing and lots of camping but my wife will not most like be letting us go any where with out accessible juice. It doesnt seem to difficult to add a second battery if the situation every seem needed.

Any suggestions on products like LED interior lights? Switch panels? Etc? Thanks again for everything.
 
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