Fuse box or circuit breakers??

[rat0502]

I have a 98 triton tr21 that is fitted with circuit breakers for all of the accessory power. I am having some voltage loss issues to the bow and a couple other circuits. I have cleaned/replaced many spade connectors this year, but am still fighting low voltage to the bow. I have also replaced several corroded circuit breakers that showed voltage but would fail under any load due to corrosion. All is well until tournament days when running all of the accessories brings voltage down far enough I lose power to my graph. The circuit panel is made up of a single power wire to it that is split and ran to the next breaker, then split to the next and so on. Basically it is a series of split spade terminals supplying all power that gradually loses voltage as it goes along the panel and the accessory is at the end. replacing the power wire to the bow with a larger wire would certainly help, but the majority of the loss is at the panel, not along the wire. My thought is to replace the circuit panel with a blue seas 12 circuit sub panel so I get dedicated power to each circuit, but that will be quite an undertaking to rewire all of the accessory switches. Has anyone ran into this before or have any other ideas to minimize this voltage loss? Thanks for your help!

[Blackwoodz]

Can't you just rewire the components that are further away to the breakers at the bottom of the circuit? May not be the perfect scenario but may alleviate the bow electronics issue with little work.

[Rip Bass]

If the power wire you have now is sufficient, the blue seas panel will work. You should not need to rewire the switches,much.Remove the hot wire from each switch,run the hot main to the new panel and then leave each breaker with a wire to each switch. Each switch will have its own circuit instead of jumpering each switch. You should check your grounds also,a weak ground can make a weak circuit.

[rat0502]

Can't you just rewire the components that are further away to the breakers at the bottom of the circuit? May not be the perfect scenario but may alleviate the bow electronics issue with little work.

I thought about doing that, but robbing Peter to pay Paul lol. It would work in a pinch though.

[rat0502]

If the power wire you have now is sufficient, the blue seas panel will work. You should not need to rewire the switches,much.Remove the hot wire from each switch,run the hot main to the new panel and then leave each breaker with a wire to each switch. Each switch will have its own circuit instead of jumpering each switch. You should check your grounds also,a weak ground can make a weak circuit.

That makes perfect sense. Sometimes can't see the forest for the trees. I think the biggest hassle will actually be rewiring grounds. Currently they are all ran similar to the positives but on the back of each switch rather than at a panel. is there any down side to replacing circuit breakers with fuses?

[Blackwoodz]

Well if it's all original manufacturer stuff...your just balancing the amp load. Wouldn't be hard to give it a try and definitely will not hurt anything as long as using same size breakers.

[Slim95]

I rewired a lot of wiring on my 02 tr-22 and a lot if not all of the factory wires and connectors had corrosion due to factory wires not being tinned and the connectors not being water tight or resistant. I prefer sealed PDM like littelfuse or eaton/bussman over blue sea setups because its sealed and i can run mini fuse circuit breaker and relays in one setup. Proper crimp terminals and connectors, die electric grease, adhesive lined heat shrink and tinned wires will make a big difference. It does cost more to do it properly with tools and wire but i like the feeling of knowing that electrical wont be the cause of something now working while on the water. I replaced almost all of the factory outboard and boat connectors with deutsch and AMPseal 16 connectors. Also separating your marine electronics from other electrical like pumps, power poles and acc with breakers to a separate panel will help with interference and power draw. I try to mimic electrical systems and layouts from high end race vehicles as they endure a lot more hazards and stress than our boats but takes a lot of thinking/planning for a proper layout.

https://www.waytekwire.com/item/4635...2-0-1-0A-RFRM/

https://www.waytekwire.com/products/...ype-III-Manual

https://www.waytekwire.com/products/1598/Connectors/

https://www.rbracing-rsr.com/wiring_ecu.html#switches - Lots of great info here from the pro's

[Rip Bass]

That makes perfect sense. Sometimes can't see the forest for the trees. I think the biggest hassle will actually be rewiring grounds. Currently they are all ran similar to the positives but on the back of each switch rather than at a panel. is there any down side to replacing circuit breakers with fuses?

Not really any down side to breakers and maybe better,just reset them instead of replacing. Rewire the hots and try it,you might not need to replace the grounds.

[Lou r Pitcher]

Do consider in your planning that breakers and fuses (even if at the same value) are NOT interchangeable and do not provide the same protection. Breakers can be approriate for protecting an aux power circuit, but you will likely need individual circuit fuses to correctly protect a particular electronic device's needs.

[bdub_02]

I'd pull a dedicated run for graphs/electronics only. My main accessories run fine, but I also see voltage drop at the bow on my solix. I'm in the lrocess of upgrading graph wiring as we speak. 10 gauge Duplex to bow, it will relieve the drop.

[rat0502]

Thanks all for the insight. I am going to look it all over closely again and decide what to do. i d rather not replace the original system, but I've got some problems that need to be fixed. I'll report back with what I do. I think the first step is to try to distribute the load off of the single accessory circuit and lower the amp draw through the switch. This will likely include running a new, heavier, wire to the bow to minimize the voltage drop and then reevaluate. Thanks again!

[Nobass01]

I just replaced my Duracell from sam’s it was 6years old. Got the agm one to replace it for
the price you can’t beat them.

[Jonestrollingmotor]

I don't know how old the boat is, but I don't like to "daisy chain" the positive wire. The negative wire daisy chained that you're eluding to is to only run lights. The amp draw on it is minimal, however, the positive is carrying the appliance load and should be considered/sized for each appliance as well as the run of wire. You're on the right track to place a fuse/breaker panel (I would go with a fuse panel and use the breakers that replace the plug in fuses. I would run 10ga to the fuse panel (10ga will carry up to apx 30A without a problem) in both positive and negative. Then I would fuse/breaker each appliance/accessory according to it's needs and run a positive from the fuse/breaker panel to the input of that switch. This way you should have minimal voltage drop for each of the accesory switches. Hope this helps
John
The breaker I'm talking about is something like these: https://www.waytekwire.com/item/4662...rcuit-Breaker/

[rat0502]

Thanks John, the positives are daisy chained and I do t like it either, but the boat is a 1998 and it's worked so far lol. As an update, I pulled the acc breaker and it was very corroded. Cleaning in gained me 0.7 volts to the bow. Crazy. Winter project will be to rewire it but for now I think it will finish the season. Thanks for all of the ideas, I will go through them again in a few months!