Electronic wiring question.

[TunaJoe]

I am in the process of wiring my electronics, in particular my VHF.
Do most of you connect directly to the battery or do you connect to the bus bar? Is there a need for the VHF radio to have a hot lead all the time(for preset stations, etc)?
Or do you use the spare toggle switch to power all your electronics? I'm installing a Icom 504 VHF.
I really want to try my hand at this install, but my wiring knowledge is sketchy.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[goinsfishin]

I wire everything to the bus bar, the bus bar connects to the battery switch so when I turn the switch off all power is off, handy if i forget to turn something off i don't come back to a dead battery a few days or a week later. The only exception to this is the memory positive for the stereo, it's wired to a separate busbar that direct to the house battery.
Bilge pumps are wired separately so they are always hot to the float switch.
I would stay away from toggles for electronic instruments, they already have an on/off switch. You are just adding one more component to have to troubleshoot when the inevitable gremlins pop up.

 

[DaleH]

Do most of you connect directly to the battery or do you connect to the bus bar?

I go the buss block route, but my boat is a 2520 model. I actually wired in 2 runs, each to its own buss block that has pos & neg connections to each. In an emergency, I can simply power one run from the other , slick trick! Each run has enough ampacity to run the entire boat 'in emergency cases' if needed.

Keep the VHF power leads separated from 'noisy' things like depthfinders and put a few twists per inch into the pos/neg leads as you run it.

Is there a need for the VHF radio to have a hot lead all the time(for preset stations, etc)

Not typically, as least on every VHF I've seen to date.

Or do you use the spare toggle switch to power all your electronics?

I don't and wouldn't recommend it. Your battery switch should kill all power but what you want powered 100%, e.g., auto bilge pump and water alarm.

I really want to try my hand at this install, but my wiring knowledge is sketchy.

PM me your email address. I am working on a 'Re-Wiring a Boat 101' document. It is ROUGH draft right now, but still complete with tips, tricks, and pictures. I'll be completely rewiring a boat this season and intend to mark it all up, so your input would be valuable for what it is missing to you. I'll be sizing the wires to trun lengths needed to power depth, gps, searchlight, running/nav lights, bilge pump, livewell, horn, and gauge lights, plus wiring all the gauges too.

I'll also send to anyone else who wants it. Just know it can take me a few days to respond, as I get a TON of email and PMs from CP as of late ...

 

[goinsfishin]

I dont recall seeing memory hot on VHF's. I suspect they probably have a small battery to keep the ROM powered and the minimal settings are stored in ROM....like your PC has a battery on the motherboard ( for system clock and BIOS settings).