Slabmaster II
Where to get power from?
First off I would like to say thank you to all of you that post on this site as I have learned so much about crappie fishing in general from you all. There is way more knowledge on this site than I could ever figure out on my own in a lifetime.
So here is my question I found a really good deal on 2 hds 5 gen2 units with lss1 box and transducer. I am hoping to find a hds7 or 9 in a gen2 touch or gen3 to go along with them. I want to mount the two 5" units at the console and the other unit at the bow. I am totally new to the "fancy fish finders" as my boat right now has a lowrance mark5. One of my questions is where is the best place to get my power supply for everything? The unit on the boat right now is wired into the original fuse panel that is powered by the starting battery. Is that an ok place to power everything from? Would I be better off to add another fuse panel dedicated to just my hds units and lss1 box or should I power everything directly from the battery with inline fuses? Also the hds5's I'm buying do not have the user manuals with them, is there a place I can still get one so I can figure out what size fuse to use on them? I am open to any and all suggestions as I have never had any experience with these.
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If you are not having issues then power them just like they are. On the bow you can run a separate set of wires to run them. All the fish finders I have installed use a 3 amp fuse. The original fuse panel is a excellent source of power. I personally would not add a separate fuse panel as it is not needed but only you can make that choice. Hope this helps. Remember the old rule keep it simple
Slabmaster II
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Slabmaster II
Thank you sinker that is what I was hoping to hear was keep it simple. I had just seen before guys talking about getting interference and didnt know which was would be better. SuperCorona is that a owners manual you linked? I can't get it to load but thank you at least now I know there is a possibility of finding one.
Slabmaster II
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Yeah, it's the owners manual. Loads up quick for me in Chrome.Originally Posted by sweathermon
Slabmaster II
I'm on my phone and it says file to large. Ill check it out on my computer when I get home. Thank you!
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From what I've read on here, dedicated wires, from the start battery to your units, is the best way to go. It's also been advised to upsize your wiring, to alleviate voltage drop. Whatever is recommended, go one or two sizes bigger.
With that said, I just installed two Garmin 73 series units. For the console unit, I used the existing fuse block under the dash. I wanted to experiment. With my particular setup, it is easy to change, if needed.
For the bow, dedicated wires.
Both, so far, are ok. It seems to be hit and miss, who has issues and who doesn't.
Drinkin coffee, missin fish.
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If it was me, I would add a dedicated fuse panel. Wire it directly to cranking battery with a 15 amp fuse at battery using 12 gauge wire twisted to help prevent any interference. Then I would wire each unit to its own seperate fuse on the fuse panel with its appropriate size fuse. That way you would have good solid power. Plus if you had a problem you know exactly where to start trouble shooting. Plus a lot less chance of interference.
A lot of the older,cheaper units perform fine on the boat power because of small power requirements. Newer units are much more sensitive to low voltage and amperage fluctuations. Thus the need for seperate power supply.
Crappie Wall Hanger II
I put in a 12 circuit Blue Sea fuse box with a negative bus ground, keeps the wiring nice and clean under the dash, easy to trouble shoot and easy to add more electrical trinkets to!!!
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I would do what Cray said.
I have 2 hds units Gen 1 (7&8) with an LSS1 and decided to wire into the original fuse panel. Everything worked okay...for a while. The problem I soon noticed was that every time I started my outboard the unit at the console (8) would turn off. This happened as a result of voltage drop because the wire running to the original fuse panel couldn't maintain the voltage require to power the depth finders while drawing the power to crank the outboard (2 stroke 40 hp at the time). The only thing I did to fix the problem was run 10 ga stranded wire from the battery to the console and tied my electronics in using the 3amp inline fuses that came with the units. If I were to do it over again, I would have added the 2nd fuse panel making it a much neater job. I never had a problem with those units shutting off again. I've since replaced that old 40 with a new 60 hp 4 stroke and still no problems.
Fuse panels have a lot of stuff going on in there at times with all the pumps, lights and accessories going on/off all day. On older boats especially they just weren't designed to handle the power requirements needed for running todays electronics.
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