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| I purchased a 93 alumacraft 16' boat and want to add a unit to the bow. I looked at it and wiring the cable from the stearn to the bow shouldn't be a problem. My question is how to wire the power to the unit.
I have two batteries for the trolling motor and one for the starter. On my old boat I had issues running my trolling motor and depth finder on the same battery, so I don't want to do that. My only other thought is to run it back to the starting battery. Is that necessary or can I tie into something in the console? Any advice or maybe there is a schematic out there possibly??
thanks! |
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Posts: 271
Location: davis,IL | I got a cheap 25' outdoor extension cord, cut the ends off, routed it along the underside of the gunnels, and hooked one end to the starter battery and the other to my front unit.
Edited by muskydope 9/20/2008 10:53 PM
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Posts: 4
| You could go to the console. There is usually a empty spot on the fuse panel It would also give you a chance to break it with a switch. Good luck |
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Posts: 5874
| Best is to run it directly from the battery. Don't forget a 3 amp fuse at the battery end. |
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Posts: 4
| I agree it is best to go to the battery. But the consol will work in most cases. The problem is you increase the possibility of interference. I believe most systems also recommends you place a switch inline |
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Posts: 35
| Great info! I'll check out the fuse box in the console and see what I have to work with. I might just end up going back to the starting battery so I don't mess up the connection with the fuse box.
It would definitely be nice to get the unit with GPS up front for navigating the breaklines. I'm going to try get it in before the seasons over.
Nate |
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Posts: 531
Location: Hugo, MN | Make sure when you wire a unit with GPS that it can be switched off. There are two sets of 12V power inputs, one for the unit, one for the antenna. If you don't break power to the antenna while the unit is off, it will continue to draw. Next time you try to start your motor it'll be dead. Although there are interference issues with running power into the console, it's best to do so. Or you could add a switch up by the unit. I use shielded wire for my units and ground the shield, which helps drain any interference you might pick up along the way. Also, don't tie your power wires tight to the trolling motor wires, as this will many times cause interference from EMF, or electro magnetic field, which forms around higher voltage lines and lines with varying amperage such as your trolling motor.
Not sure if the units with an internal antenna need seperate power inputs since everything is internal, so if that's the case, don't worry about the switch so much. |
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| Knooter,
Where can I get some of the shield wire and what do you ground it to? I have been getting alot of small dots or small vertical lines all over my screen on my sonar and was wondering if it was from some sort of interference from running the power wire close to my transducer wire. |
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Posts: 531
Location: Hugo, MN | I get it at work. I do a lot of low voltage wiring for HVAC controls and automation. Ask an electrician if they can get you a few feet, most should have it. There is a bare aluminum wire in the bundle that is the shield, and it should be grounded on one end, not both, to the boat's body, assuming it's aluminum. The transducer wire shouldn't cause interference, and it's probably shielded wire itself. If it has a shield wire at the end, it should be used. The biggest culprit is the trolling motor wire because of the massive amount of power running through it. You can hear it in your AM radio a lot of times when you have your trolling motor on. The shielded wire can help, but doesn't always. Some of the dots could be from another transducer if you're running two, or your unit may need to be set up differently. My old GPS unit was terrible because it ran the same frequency as my front unit. Got a fancy new one on my console and all is good. |
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Posts: 16
| I'm only running the one 522 at the console, transducer at the transom, no other unit on the boat. I was just wondering if the power wire I ran is the cause of the dots on the screen. It goes from my starting battery up to a switch and then to the 522. The switch has a ground that goes to the fuse panel. |
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Posts: 132
Location: MN | Does anyone know if there is a way to adjust the frequency to eliminate the interference from multiple transducers? I have 336 up front and a X102 sonar in the back. If I run them both at hight pings and sensitivity, I have a problem with interference. Any ideas to help this out?
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Posts: 1762
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | beware of the high ping speed......bassmaster mag a few months ago said it is the fastest way to toast a transducer.....look it up. only way i know to prevent interference is to get alternate freq transducers. |
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Adding front sonar?