Terminal Block Question-gctid365421

[Guest]

I am wiring 5 sealed LED light bars in my engine bay for some extra lighting. My question is, I need all of these to connect to a common terminal block, from there I will wire a main wire to the battery and put a switch in the middle. Is it ok to put a 12v positive terminal block in the engine bay or is that a no-no. Also do I need a special switch, or can a standard 12v heavy duty switch do the job without causing my boat to explode into 100 pieces? Should I be looing for a different solution?

[706jim]

Yes, you can put your terminal block in with the engine. Maybe cover it so that you can't accidently short anything to ground such as a metal pike pole accidently bumping into it and the engine (yah, not really that likely....)

I've read lots about exploding gasoline powered boats on this site. You need to actually have gas fumes present before this can occur.

Is the switch going to be in the engine compartment or someplace else?

Personally, I think you will be fine.

[Guest]

I was either going to put the switch in the engine bay or wire it to one of my acc switches (PITA). Technically I'll be opening the hatch to turn it on in the engine bay, if I smelled fumes, I woudlnt turn it on of course. This was my logic behind that, what do you guys think?

[2850Bounty]

Ryan, something along the lines of this satisfies both Pos and Neg requirements.

[Guest]

I had seen those rick, I was hopnig to avoid installing a fuse block setup if possible but I am not against it by any means.

[ksanders]

Ryan

The terminal block needs a cover, or use a fuse block as shown above.

The switch has to be "ignition proof"

The LED lights need to be ignition proof, sealed is nice as long as it says "ignition proof" or "intrinsicly safe".

[JimMc]

You will want a terminal strip with two parallel rows and a single divider.. Then Led positives are all on one side and negatives on the other. The switch powers the positive. The negatives all go to negative of boat.

Put that toggle.switch in your cabinet under the cockpit sink.

[Guest]

If this were for my boat, the "Not Yet Smithereens", I would consider these Blue Seas Systems power distribution bus bars.

These PowerPost Plus are very nice.



These DualBus Plus are another good option.



They have lots of other options.

[dmcb]

What the hell Ryan, its only money. :greedy_dollars:

[Guest]

I also added some led's (2) to the engine bay. I used the blue sea sub- box that Rick posted.

I mounted the switch in the small compartment that houses the battery switch and a few circuit breakers, plenty of room.

This compartment is right next to the engine hatch and is easily accessible even if you forgot to turn it on and already climbed down.

I mounted the panel in the engine bay.

Since they were all close and already had wires running, it was very easy to run what I needed.

Big plus is I have plenty of extra spots for future gizmo's!

[BLCarl]

Installing a nice fuse block takes the same effort as the J block. Then you have some options.

I removed all but 1 of the inline fuses from the batteries. The 1 was a fused line to the fuse block. I labeled the fuses in the block so I can go to the bad fuse without dismantaling all those little holders at night with a flashlight between my teeth and the boat rocking around. I also attached a cabin light with protected switch in the same compartment. Changing fuses is much easier now. I also added a power outlet so I can run the inflator for the dingy.

One down side. I sometimes forget and leave the light on when I'm finished .

[2850Bounty]

wingless wrote:
If this were for my boat, the "Not Yet Smithereens", I would consider these http://bluesea.com/category/82 wrote...ution bus bars.

These http://bluesea.com/category/82/38/pr...PowerPost Plus are very nice.

There is no need for any remotely located power post, IMO.

We all have a perfect and existing location right at our MBSS "common" terminal to take power from for a small gang fuse block.

This lead would be fused of course.

MBSS ON..... we have power.

MBSS OFF.... power is cut, and no wondering if we accidently left the circuit on.

No direct battery connections that add to the Rat's Nest, and no small terminal corrosion, etc.

This is simple and is already existing.

.

[Guest]

2850Bounty wrote:
There is no need for any remotely located power post, IMO.

That is a valid opinion.

On my boat the factory configuration has a remote power post pair in the salon, another pair in the engine room, plus the breaker panel in the salon, in the engine room and at the helm.

That layout looks well thought out.

One big advantage is that distributing these load points makes the cabling bundle much less huge than it would be if it all came to one location.

Here is one power point pair from the engine room, right behind the engine room breakers. This was useful for me when I added two additional 50A breakers to power some of my new audio amplifiers.