Wiring

[MJS]

I tried cleaning up some wiring yesterday and moved some stuff around. I only have one battery on my J14 and have never had it drain yet. Is stays on a battery tender plus when notin use. My Q is, since I removed a bunch of wires from running up to the console and being a tangled up mess and hooked them to the battery cables inside the engine, is anything likely to burn up? I figured its still pulling from the battery off the main power and ground cables. I have the auto bilge, lights, and trolling motor wires running up with the control cables and battery cables into the engine and connected to the battery cables. Only thing I thought about was the starter sellinoid getting hot but the current does not have to run through it. It's connected to the cable and sellinoid on the front side before power goes through. It made for a much cleaner looking wire chase and console.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Wiring

OK -- so you went through the trouble of routing accessory power wires INTO the outboard engine if I understand this right. Since the battery sits very close to the engine wouldn't it have been simpler to connect them directly to the battery and not have to worry about the flexing of those smaller wires as you turn the engine? Electrically what you did is probably ok. It is the reasoning that I question.

 

[jhebert]

Re: Wiring

It is generally a bad wiring practice to have more than one wire terminated under a binding post or terminal. If you want to connect multiple wires to the same circuit, the best practice is to use a bus bar with multiple fasteners. Stacking two, three, or four conductors onto one terminal post is not a good practice in any sort of electrical wiring, and it is particularly bad in a boat due to the movement and vibration. If you need to distribute power, get a power distribution center with multiple circuits and individual fuses.

 

[MJS]

Re: Wiring

Thanks for the replies. It had a jumbled up mess of wires in the bilge well and console so I was routing the things that need constant power in the stern to the motor to clean it up. I do have a buss bar in the console for stuff up there. The battery in in the console too.