Monday, February 1, 2010

WIRED

Home in Port Charlotte
Totally grey day, 55 at wakeup, high of 69, periods of light showers

On Sunday I continued my DIY project of installing a new fishfinder/depth sounder. I have long known about a few electrical problems on this boat but until now had little time to address. Since I had the dash board all opened up, I figured it was as good a time as any.

Readers feel free to comment with your suggestions.

Problem - GPS and fishfinder used to lose power when turning on navigation lights

Solution - GPS was wired to the same switch as the nav lights. I removed this and rewired the GPS directly to my DC panel, giving it a dedicated breaker.

Question - GPS has an inline 2amp fuse. Breaker has it's own fuse. Should I have removed the in-line fuse?

The GPS is working good for the most part but now the the power cord seems to be cutting power when I move the receiver or touch the power cable. Coincidence?

Problem - I used to lose fishfinder and GPS power when I would beep the horn.

Solution - Fishfinder was wired into the horn switch. I removed the old one and wired the new one to a dedicated breaker on my DC panel. Horn and FF both now work fine.

Problem - I need to find a way to run power for my stereo, from the hardtop box (see photo below), down to the cabin/DC panel. The VHF radio is up there and has cable running through the support bars but I can't find the line on the far end. Currently my stereo is wired on the same circuit as my VHF and I'm pretty sure they go straight to the house battery.
The box above our heads contains the VHF radio and the new stereo I installed.
I want to find a way to run power from that box, through those support poles, into the cabin but I don't have a chaser line. I can see where the existing line enters the pole but I believe this line goes to the battery at the stern. I need a line from the box to the DC panel inside the cabin.

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