Fish finder wiring questions

Bigpetah

Recruit
Joined
Jul 26, 2021
Messages
1
Noob here and I'm not very sharp on wiring. I have two unused 8 gauge wires running from cranking battery compartment in the stern to the bow. I want to hook up a Lowerance Carbon unit on the bow. The unit says to use a 5 amp fuse.
1) Can I utilize the 8 ga wire that's already ran?
2) If so, where in the positive wire do I place the fuse?
3) I have a hole to mount an on/off toggle switch, would this be good so the unit never draws power when not being used?
I'm sure I'm missing something.
 

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
27,852
8gauge wire is much heavier than you would need for a FF. You can use it however. it is more appropriate to use it to power all accessories, current and future.

However, I like to wire in a master accessory switch at the helm, so I can turn all accessories off with one flip. Saved me from a bead battery more than once.
 

mike_i

Ensign
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
942
"I have two unused 8 gauge wires running from cranking battery" It would be better if you connect it to a house battery if you have two batteries.


2) If so, where in the positive wire do I place the fuse? as close to the battery as possible.

3) I have a hole to mount an on/off toggle switch, would this be good so the unit never draws power when not being used? It should not draw current when the unit it off. If you have a battery switch you can turn it off to disconnect the batteries.
 
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