Wiring Diagram

[Rjp44]

Getting ready to button up new to me twin etec install. Now on most of the boats I've had the heavy motor starting cables are connected directly to the battery. My question is should I wire them direct to the batteries or should I put a battery selector/ on off switch inbetween? Any downfall to going direct to battery besides not being able to kill the power to the motors?

[McGillicuddy]

Call me a commoner but other than not having to turn the switch on, I can't think of of a single benefit of not having a battery switch on a boat. Switch could keep batteries from draining, stop bad current. Heck it could keep your boat from getting stolen. Look at blue sea systems switches, acrs and battery isolators and button it up proper...protect those etecs and batteries and they'll take care of you.

[JohnC]

Here is a simple diagram to follow. You definitely need a switch, you will most likely leave it off when you are not using the boat. This helps prevent shorts, battery drain, corrosion from galvanic action and I’m sure lots of other things that I can’t think of right now. It is pretty cheap to also add a positive and negative bus-bar to wire your accessories to (I mean a positive after the switch, not like the one in the diagram which is constantly on). This lets you make clean connections that you can wire to fuses and switches as needed. Pumps, lights and electronics will need to be serviced and you will save lots of time and frustration by starting with a clean, serviceable system. If you try to skip this you will have a rats nest of terminal ends and inline fuses wired to your batteries and eventually your gonna wish for a cleaner setup. Most boaters have at some point had the unpleasant experience of trying to figure one of these rats nests out on the water - not fun!! A clean, well marked, traceable wiring system is worth the effort. Some boats have pretty elaborate (and sometimes costly) features that you may choose to omit for now, these are just the basics.

[Islandtrader]

This was just rehashed in this thread...
http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...ad.php?t=27324

[flyingfrizzle]

[QUOTE=JohnC;237537]Here is a simple diagram to follow. QUOTE]

This is a nice diagram and all but they got the arrows going the wrong way. Current in a DC system flows from negative back to positive not they way they have is shown here. Not that it matters for wiring purposes but it just got me thinking about how a lot of people don't realize this. That is why when jumping a battery they say hook up the negative last, due to that's the first point of current flow. Fusing and switching is a must in any wiring systems for it to be properly protected.

http://www.instructables.com/answers...t-DC-current-/

[keith]

Originally Posted by McGillicuddy

Call me a commoner but other than not having to turn the switch on, I can't think of of a single benefit of not having a battery switch on a boat. Switch could keep batteries from draining, stop bad current. Heck it could keep your boat from getting stolen. Look at blue sea systems switches, acrs and battery isolators and button it up proper...protect those etecs and batteries and they'll take care of you.

X2 on the Blue sea ACS and battery switch. Good stuff.