Archive for the ‘Navigation Lights’ Category

Crestliner Wiring Upgrade

March 26th, 2013 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

Could you please check out my homemade boat wiring diagram? It’s for my 17.5′ Crestliner Fish Hawk.

As you can see, I added and wired the two Attwood battery selector switches and a fourth battery to the system (Battery 2) and wired all the batteries in parallel. I also added the Blue Seas fuse block, all lighting, fishfinder, trolling motor, etc.

Crestliner boat wiring diagram

Click to Enlarge

My goal here is to be able to run the trolling motor off the extra battery if needed and/or to be able to start the motor with the extra battery if the main died. Also, to run all the lights off the extra battery for night fishing. I’ve yet to turn both switches to “both” because I’m not sure if that would be bad for……..everything.

I’m obviously an amateur at this so was wondering if you think it’s a safe setup assuming all the fuses, connections, wire gauge, etc. are kosher? I haven’t had any trouble yet but I’m a little nervous about burning something up.

I’d really appreciate your input if you can decipher the wiring diagram.

Thanks,

S.D.

Hi,

I would make a couple of minor changes:

  • Move the trolling motor circuit protection to the trolling motor side of the switch.
  • Add circuit protection for the Blue Seas fuse panel at its connection location to the boat battery switch.
  • Use the same size boat battery cables for all of your battery link wires. You call out 4/0 for the positive lead (I would assume you mean 4 AWG) but not on any of the other cables.
  • If the trolling motor batteries are near the bow of the boat I would consider adding circuit protection at each end of this wire to help reduce the risk of a catastrophic fault.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Kevin,

Thanks for the help Kevin. I’ll do all of that.

Also, I was wrong about the battery cable being 4/0, its actually 1/0 welding cable.
Thanks again,

S.D.

Hi,

Most people don’t use welding cable on boats or cars because it is not oil resistant.

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Battery Management, Bilge Pump, Boat Battery Switches, Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Wiring, Bus Bar, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Marine Electrical, Marine Wiring, Navigation Lights, Power Boats, Trolling Motors, Wire Size | Comments Off

Light Switched

November 21st, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

My boat’s navigation light switch is spliced into the negative wire.

Is this acceptable or should the switch be rewired into the positive wire. The positive wire is fused with a 2 amp fuse. Bow light

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hi,

Although it is not a common practice, there is nothing really wrong with switching the negative lead instead of the positive lead.

The best practice is: source of power, circuit protection within 7 inches of power supply, switch, device, ground.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Lighting, Boat Wiring, Ground issues, Navigation Lights, Testing | Comments Off

Whaler Wiring

October 17th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Boston Whaler 13If you have one of the old, smaller Boston Whalers – and need a little guidance as to the boat wiring – Continuous Wave has posted a helpful overview of the wiring on these classic boats.

If you need more in-depth info, be sure to check out this more comprehensive guide to all things Whaler on the same site.

Both postings are really well done and should be a great resource for our readers.

Posted in Boat Wiring, Navigation Lights | Comments Off

Nitro Navigation

October 15th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,
I have a 2010 Nitro Z7. When I tried to use the navigation lights for the first time they wouldn’t work.

I checked the fuses. The fuse box isn’t marked as to which fuse is for the lights, so I had check them all. The last fuse, a 5 amp, was blown. So I plugged another 5 amp fuse in and it immediately blew.

What is my problem?Nitro bass fishing boat

Please help

Dean

Hi Dean,

There is a short in the circuit that is causing the fuse to blow.

Trace the wire leaving the fuse panel. It should go from the fuse, to the switch, and to the device.

If the switch is not turned on, but the fuse still blows, the problem is between the switch and the fuse. If the fuse only blows when the switch is turned on, then the problem is between the switch and the device.

Hope this helps,

Posted in Accessory Harness, Boat Lighting, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Ground issues, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights | Comments Off

Backward Boat Wiring?

July 5th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Hello Kevin,

I am trying to replace the white all-round navigation light on my fishing boat wiring.

My old light had two wires, blue and black which were connected to a black and gray on my boat. My new Attwood light has three wires. One black and 2 red labeled rear and aft. Attwood LED all round white navigation light

How do I wire this?

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Tom,

Connect the black to the black and both reds to the blue.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Kevin

I appreciate your quick response, but I tried that and it didn’t come on.

Tom

Hi Tom,

Is the new light one of the Attwood LED navigation lights?

Thanks

Kevin

Kevin

No, the package doesn’t designate it as led. It’s titled as “Anchor/Stern Light Combination.”

Tom

Hi Tom,

It may be polarity sensitive and your boat may be wired backwards.

Either check the black and blue on your boat with a meter or try hooking up the black on the light to the blue on the boat and the reds on the light to the black on the boat.

Kevin

Posted in Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Lighting, Boat Wiring, Ground issues, LEDs, Marine Electric, Marine Electrical, Marine Wiring, Navigation Lights, Panel Rewire, Power Boats, Signaling Devices | Comments Off

Boat Wiring Size

April 25th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

Thank you for your answers to so many electrical questions. I plan to redo my fishing boat wiring and have a couple of questions.

My 1977 18 foot Starcraft has an outboard motor with it’s own circuit and will not be involved in the rewire.

My current marine electrical has a battery in the back of the boat, approximately 16 feet from the fused, marine electrical switch panel.Click to download Kevin's boat wiring size calculator

The old boat wiring is a rat’s nest with each circuit wired individually.

I will be using the standard small boat items: a depth finder, FM radio, bilge pump, navigation lights (bow and stern), gauges and a rear-mounted gas tank.

I would like to run a duplex cable from the rear battery to the switch panel. The total duplex run would be 32 feet and the total amp draw should be no more than 30.

I think I need a 10 AWG duplex cable for the 30 foot run and 16 AWG boat wiring for leads from the switches to the instruments (+) and bus bars (-)?

Does this sound right?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Teddy

Hi Tom,

I would recommend using my boat wiring size calculator to answer your wire size questions.

  • Leave the voltage drop percentages in column B and G alone.
  • Enter the current draw of you switch panel devices in column C and H.
  • Enter you total wire length run in inches for each device (switch to device and back to ground) in column D and I
  • Enter your total wire length run in inches for the panel feed (battery to panel and back to battery) in cell 25D – 384 is your guess.
  • Your wire sizes will be in Column E and J.

Let me know if you have any questions,

Kevin

Posted in Bilge Pump, Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Lighting, Boat Wire, Boat Wiring, Bus Bar, Engine Harness, Gauge Panels, Livewell Pump, Marine Battery Switch, Marine Electric, Marine Electrical, Marine Engines, Marine Wire, Navigation Lights, Panel Rewire, Pontoons, Power Boats, Pumps, Radio, Switch Panels, Voltage Drop, Wire Size | Comments Off

Navigation Light Short

April 9th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Hey Kevin,Attwood is the world's top manufacturer of navigation lights for marine electrical.

I just bought a 1987 Fisher bass boat with a 1989 110 hp Johnson outboard.

The boat navigation lights had been removed but the light wiring was still running up to the front of the boat. I bought a new Attwood LED navigation light and connected it (pretty sure I did it right) but the navigation light will not work. The white all round anchor light does work when I turn the switch to just anchor lighting and navigation lighting.

I followed the boat wiring for the lights and found that the negative wire was tied into the main negative wire going directly to the boat battery (this was connected). After those two wires meet, it appears the wiring coming from the two is supposed to be connected to a fuse but it was not.

There were two fuses open, a 20 amp and a 10 amp. As soon as I connected it to the 20 amp, the fuse blew. There was a spark when I connected it. I have no clue where to go from here.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Tommy

Hi Tommy,

It sounds like there is a short in your marine electrical between the fuse and the light.

You can either try to trace down the short or replace the wire. Sometimes it is much easier to replace marine wiring than to find the problem. Make sure to use circuit protection at the power source to protect the wire if a short happens again.

Happy wiring,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Wire, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Ground issues, Marine Electric, Marine Electrical, Marine Wire, Marine Wiring, Navigation Lights, Outboard Engines, Panel Rewire, Pontoons, Power Boats, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Wellcraft Wiring

April 3rd, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Hi Kevin,

I’m considering a total redo of the marine electrical on my 1984 23ft Wellcraft Sportsman Walkaround.

I have a 200hp Mercury and the engine harness is fine as is the boat battery wiring and the switch wiring.

What I need to rewire is my navigation lights front and rear, anchor light, the two bilge pumps front and rear (with the option of adding one more in the rear) and docking lights also adding a few underwater lights on the transom. I also have a horn, washdown pump and trim tabs. I have one furuno 620 and two gps setups.Wellcraft Sportsman

What I want to know is if I order a boat wiring harness and switch harness from your sister marine electrical site, EzAcDc, will they cover everything I need? If not any help you could offer would be great.

Thank you

Tom

Hi Tom,

Thanks for considering some of the parts on our retail boat wiring site.

Our boat wiring harnesses contain wiring for an automatic bilge pump, a livewell pump, courtesy lights, navigation lights, docking lights, and a boat horn.

When combined with our switch panels, it is simple to connect additional electronics like your Furuno and your GPSs. Additional bilge pump wiring can be run from the pump to the switch panel.

We offer several boat battery switch systems to fit your needs. Our most popular is the smart marine battery switch system. Your 200 HP Merc will work great with this system.

Hope this helps. Thanks again.

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Battery Management, Bilge Pump, Boat Battery Switches, Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Lighting, Boat Wire, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Engine Harness, GPS, Horns, LEDs, Livewell Pump, Marine Battery Switch, Marine Electric, Marine Electrical, Marine Engines, Marine Wire, Marine Wiring, Navigation Lights, Outboard Engines, Panel Rewire, Power Boats, Pumps, Smart Battery Switch, Switch Panels, VSR | Comments Off

Bot Buddies

April 1st, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Dear Kevin,

Last summer, I purchased a new aluminum fishing boat. It’s great, but I screwed up by “cheaping out” at the last minute. I passed on the trolling motor package and – as you’ve probably guessed – now want to add a trolling motor.

As a long time reader, I know that you are a big fan of Motorguide trolling motors and I’ll be buying one in the next couple weeks. My question concerns the boat wiring.

The Motorguide will be bow mounted, but since I didn’t get the trolling package, the only wire at the bow is a 16 gauge pair for the Attwood LED navigation light. But, according to your boat wiring size calculator, the trolling motor should be wired with 6 gauge.

Is there any way to make the smaller wire work? I hate to start rewiring a brand new boat if I can avoid it.

Thanks.

Sean

Hi Sean,

Since your boat is new, you may be in luck. A lot of boat builders now use Ancor’s new Nanotech Wire. As you’d guess from the name, it uses nanotechnology to solve problems just like yours.

Simply put, Nanotech Wire matches wire size to power demand by moving copper to where it is most needed – sort of a Viagra for marine electrical.

In the past, running a trolling motor on undersized wire caused voltage drops, heat buildup and embarrassing insurance claims. But now, that same temperature increase signals Nanotech Wire to deploy an army of nanobots who quickly rebuild the harness to match the power demand. While at work, these little guys make the wire looks like a python that swallowed a large rat.

Once your harness is properly sized, the same bots then go to work on its insulation so that it correctly corresponds to standard boat wiring colors.

The patented process is called Nanotech Overload Sensing Heat Induced Tranference and it works great. The only time I’ve seen it fail is when there are so many accessories turned on that there is no extra copper available. If this happens a lot, I usually recommend the addition of a copper reservoir to supply additional material as needed.

Have an excellent day.

Kevin

Posted in AC Wiring, Accessory Harness, Batteries, Battery Management, Bilge Pump, Blowers, Boat Battery Switches, Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Lighting, Boat Wire, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Cruisers, Engine Harness, Galley, Galvanic Corrosion, Galvanic Isolator, Gauge Panels, Horns, Jon Boats, LEDs, Livewell Pump, Marine Electric, Marine Electrical, Marine Engines, Marine Wire, Marine Wiring, Multimeter, Navigation Lights, New Products, Ohmmeter, Panel Rewire, Pontoons, Power Boats, Pumps, Radio, Refrigerator, Sailboats, Shore Power, Shorepower, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing, Trolling Motors, Wire Size | Comments Off

Adding navigation lights and outlet

February 22nd, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Hi Kevin,

Can you please help me with a fishing boat wiring question?

I need to wire a Mariner 40hp outboard to navigation lights and a 12 volt outlet.

Can you tell me how I wire the engine to the battery, the battery to fuse panel and then to switches and then to the Attwood navigation lights and outlet? Here’s my boat wiring diagram of what I’m trying to accomplish.boat wiring diagram

Yours sincerely

Louis

Hi Louis,

To start with, I would add a ground bus like these on our sister boat wiring site. You may already have on incorporated in your fuse panel.

Here are the basics for your marine electrical switches and 12 volt receptacle.

Switches

  • Constant power wire from fuse panel to navigation light switch.
  • Switch power wire from navigation light switch to navigation light.
  • Ground wire from navigation light to ground bus.

12v receptacle

  • Constant power wire from fuse panel to 12v receptacle.
  • Ground wire from 12v receptacle to ground bus.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Boat Lighting, Boat Wiring, Bus Bar, Circuit Protection, LEDs, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Power Boats, Sailboats, Signaling Devices | Comments Off
« Older Entries