New switch panel help

[Seahorse]

Bought a new 4 switch panel, to run sounder, nav lights and stern light.
pic of back of panel attached.

its been quite a while since i have done one.

i was going to attach all 4 power wires from back of switch to a buz bar. Then run 1 wire from that buz bar to the battery with in line fuse of 30 amp.
each wire has its own fuse. What size fuses should i put in each one?
Run positive wire from each accessory to the other termimal on the switch panel

I was then going to run all the earth wires from accessories to a separate neg buz bar, then run one wire from that bar to the battery

[scottar]

Sounds about right Seahorse. The size of your fuse depends on the accessory. For lighting circuits you are only protecting the wiring so use a fuse relevant to the gauge of your cable. For anything like bilge pumps, gps units, sounders etc fit the fuse as rated by the manufacturer. That way you can remove any in-line fuses that come with the equipment so all your fuses are in the one spot. The exception to this is if you are powering more than one of these type of devises off a single switch. In that case use a larger fuse and retain the in-lines.

[Seahorse]

Each device will have its own switch and each switch has its own fuse holder. One thing iam not to sure off is, when i run all the positive wires from the switch with the fuses in line to the buz bar, should i also then put another fuse in the line from buz bar to pos on the battery.
From memory i thought i did this before and this wire should be thicker than the others and the fuse around 20 or 30 amp.

[Noelm]

Why would you have a switch for devices that have their own on/off switch? Like the sounder and radio, they don't need another switch, the only thing that needs a switch is lights, pumps and so on.

[scottar]

Yes, there should be a "master fuse" to protect the cable from the battery to the switchboard. I would normally use 6mm twin for the main feed and protect it with a 30 amp fuse or breaker. It should be located as close to the battery as possible.

[wayno60]

Noel, yes your right but i did mine the same way just so if the radio is turned down low or lights still on from the night before, the last thing i do is make sure all the switches are in the off position and i know nothing is drawing power..

[Seahorse]

Noelm, i see ur point. Its just i like to have everything turned off from battery.

thanks scottar. Thought i was on the right track.

thanks everyone.

cheers
greg

[Noelm]

almost everyone has a main battery switch, so when home from fishing, that is switched off, nothing has power, even if there is 3 switches for everything, but... if you feel better switching things off twice, just to be sure, then so be it, that's what its all about.

[Fed]

It's a big hole to cut in a boat for a light switch.

[Noelm]

One tip I can give, think about how you are going to run your wiring, you don't want positive leads running to switches, negative leads running from devices back to batteries or bus bars, you will have a maze of single wires everywhere, just sit down and think how to best minimise your cabling.

[The Black Unicorn]

Noelm, i see ur point. Its just i like to have everything turned off from battery.

thanks scottar. Thought i was on the right track.

thanks everyone.

cheers
greg

Maybe put a battery isolator switch in? That way you only need your lights hooked to the switch panel and leaves room for possible extras like Bilge etc. You really don't need a switch for sounder radio etc as others have said. They have their own already.

[Seahorse]

Cheers Noelm andone more drop. I will sit down and plan out bit better.