Battery to fish finder wiring issue

Will I have issues If I put my marine battery in the bow of the boat, then run 1 red (with an inline fuse) and 1 black wire back towards the stern, where i would then splice that single lead into 2 different power leads (fish finder/ troll motor)?

rukerangler said:

Will I have issues If I put my marine battery in the bow of the boat, then run 1 red (with an inline fuse) and 1 black wire back towards the stern, where i would then splice that single lead into 2 different power leads (fish finder/ troll motor)?

Click to expand...

The wiring to the fish-finder is presumably a much lighter gauge. It should be fused appropriately as close as possible to the splice.

The issue you may have with extending the cables is the increased resistance causing voltage drop. You will probably therefore need to use a much heavier gauge of cable

There are plenty of on line guides and calculators to help you determine the correct gauge based amps load and cable length

I like the one at https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/amps-wire-gauge-d_730.html

On the same site this table https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html gives the resistances of cables based on AWgauge. These data enasble you to calculate voltage drops yourself

( I don't know why you posted this on the Johnson Evinrude forum. The "Boat Electrical Systems" forum or even the "Trolling Motors" forum would have been more appropriate.)

Its all in the name 'Rookie Angler'.... Yes i had planned on using a minimum of 10 gauge wire.

Delete.

He probably expected a faster response here, Vic. I too do lots of electrical work but there is much more action here on Johnson/Evinrude, or Merc/Mariner. The "Italian Open" is the latest scum on Minnkota, Electric motors forum.

rukerangler said:

Will I have issues If I put my marine battery in the bow of the boat, then run 1 red (with an inline fuse) and 1 black wire back towards the stern, where i would then splice that single lead into 2 different power leads (fish finder/ troll motor)?

Click to expand...

I moved my battery to the middle of my boat and used the size of cable that they recommended in the manual that came with my trolling motor for that length of run. I installed a circuit breaker in mine. I use a separate small 12 v. battery for my fish finder that sitting to the left of my big battery in the photo with an in line fuse.