Welcome to Carver Yachts Owners Forum

We are a boating forum for owners of Carver Yachts to enthusiastically discuss all aspects of Carver Boat ownership. Whether you are looking for your first Carver or currently own one, you are sure to feel at home on CarverYachtOwners.com

You are currently viewing our board as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and access our other FREE features. By joining our free community you will have access to searching the forum topics, post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload your own photos and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

Cable gauge size for 20' run

Discussion of radars, GPS, autopilots, stereos and TV's. Also iPad and other mobile navigation devices.

Canada
Viper
CYO Supporter
CYO Supporter
Posts: 5819
Joined: July 10th, 2015, 9:58 pm
Vessel Info: 1989 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin
Location: Ontario, Canada
Has thanked: 432 times
Been thanked: 1599 times

Re: Cable gauge size for 20' run

Postby Viper » August 2nd, 2019, 6:30 pm

Ensure that if you were to max out all the loads, that the bus bars would handle the total, there's a variety of ratings out there. And remember that the length of the circuit includes the distances from the source to the load and back (neg & pos), not just one way.

It should also be noted that if you keep adding negatives to your blocks, you must ensure that the main block negative cable that was original to the build from the block to the batteries is capable of handling the current from all the extra loads you've utilized the block for as a negative terminal. Same applies to adding additional loads to a bus bar, the main cable connecting the bar to the source needs to be of sufficient size. Installs often fall short here. They'll install a 100 amp bus bar for example but hook up a cable to the battery that can't handle 100 amps. Need to consider the entire circuit.

BTW, run as large a wire as practical to the helm. You'll likely be glad you did in the future, and running 1 or 2 sizes larger won't be that much more difficult to do. What will be difficult is doing it all over again because you have insufficient power for the new toy that hits the market in a few years and you just can't do without, and have the admiral's permission to get ;-)

User avatar

Topic author United States of America
tonyiiiafl
CYO Supporter
CYO Supporter
Posts: 891
Joined: November 19th, 2015, 4:00 am
Vessel Info: 1994 Carver 39 Cockpit Motor Yacht
Location: Cape Cod, MA
Has thanked: 593 times
Been thanked: 175 times

Re: Cable gauge size for 20' run

Postby tonyiiiafl » August 2nd, 2019, 6:51 pm

Viper, we are on the same page!

Return to “Electronics & Navigation”



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests