wrote:
There's a good book called "The 12-Volt Bible".

There are two persons in this message thread like this book. It must
be good. Somehow, when I flipped through it in the book store, I only
saw very few wiring diagram in it, and it didn't give me a deep
impression. May be I should give it a second chance. OK, I will take
a look of this book one more time tomorrow.

Also, there is a lot of basic wiring information available on the ANCOR
web site.

I have looked at their web site in http://www.ancorproducts.com/ But I
don't see any wiring diagram. Are we talking about the same web site?

A few general tips before you go off to study up on what the actual
experts have to say:

All good points. I appreciate your effort in preparing that list of
good tips.

Thanks.

Jay Chan


The most valuable information on the ANCOR site are the charts showing
the diameter of wire to use based on distance and load. If you do
everything else right, but screw this up,
you won't be pleased with the results of your rewiring.

As far as a "diagram" goes, you're unlikely to find one. Every boat has
its own challenges.

But, let's figure out how to "draw a diagram: for your boat.

IIRC, you have a reasonably small boat. Let's say that you were going
to install a VHF radio, a depth sounder, an AM/FM CD player, and a
chart plotter. Four items.

You will need to plan a cable run from your house battery to your helm
area. Tuck the wire up out of the way, away from bilgewater. You will
want to plan a route that is as direct as possible, but protects the
wiring and keeps it out from underfoot. One nice aspect of the four
items noted above is that they will all be installed, typically, very
close to the wheel.

Look up the amp draw for each electronic item, (will be in the product
specs), and add them together. You're likely to be running all four of
those specfic items at once, and even if you thought you weren't you
would want to be able to do so while retaining adequate voltage. Now
measure the distance from the house battery to the point where you will
install either a panel (highly recommended) or a buss bar. (Be sure to
include any bends the cable will take- follow the exat route when you
measure). The panel is a better choice as you can switch each item on
or off individually. You will run your red wire to the panel or buss
bar.

Now that you know the load and the distance to the panel, check out the
chart on the ancor site and choose a marine wire that will minimize
voltage loss. It may be a larger size than you would have otherwise
imagined. If you can, go up a size or two in that cable between the
house battery and the panel, and get a panel with an extra couple of
switches. They way electronics are evoloving, you may want to add
something in a couple of years that hasn't even been invented yet.

Once your panel is in place, you will want to site a buss bar for the
black ground wires near the installation. One again, use a marine wire
capable of handling the total amperage based on the load and the total
distance from the house battery to the ground buss- and back.

You can use smaller wire to connect each electronic device to your
panel or buss. The distance you are working with here is the distance
from the panel or buss to the actual devices. Use the Ancor chart. When
in doubt, go up a size.

If your switch panel isn't fused with circuit breakers, you will want
to install an in-line fuse on the red wire between the panel and the
individual items. Your product installation data sheets will specify
the rating needed for the individual fuses. If you use a buss bar
instead of a fused panel, count on installing the in-line fuses as
there will be no other ciruit protection between the battery and the
load.

So while there aren't a lot of wiring diagrams for specific boats
kicking around, you can successfully wire your electronics by using the
steps above, (I didn't repeat the obvious cautions about using properly
crimped connections, etc). When you're done, you can draw your own
wiring diagram for the good ship "Carpe Diem", (or what not), but you
won't need one for your own purposes as you will be intimately familiar
with just how the system works.