I lost 1% of my 50amp dedicated electronics lithium battery the last month. That is not enough for me to worry about placing a switch inline as that adds another source of failure. You should be fused anyways so if it is really that much of a concern, you can pull the fuse.
I use a 30ah battery to run ONLY the black box. The battery is charged by my 4 bank NOCO onboard charger. The switch I use to power up the BB is actually a constant duty solenoid, normally open, that is operated by an auxiliary switch on the dash board of my boat. Power for that switch comes from the starter/house battery, is protected by a breaker, and is turned off by the master power switch which also has a breaker. Additionally, the BB still has the OEM in-line fuse installed. The MFD (93sv) is powered by a dedicated 10awg duplex marine-grade cable run from the starter/house battery thru a Perko switch and in-line waterproof fuse. Set up this way I can power up the MFD separate from the BB if I don't want to use the FFS and the BB will not be powered up unless I flip the both the master power switch and the FFS switch on the dash. Sounds complicated but when you see it in action it really is not complicated at all.
2013 Stratos 189vlo
2013 150hp Mercury Optimax Pro XS 1B964117
I ran a master power switch right at my battery. Shuts the whole boat off including black box, power poles etc.
I removed my 360 which I had installed a switch at the bow to turn off the power to the 360 when not in use. I am going to connect the black box to that switch so I can turn it off and on as needed. I never had a switch on the network hub. it stayed on all the time but never drained my battery.
Greg
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