Basic DIY 12V Wiring | Fuses, Wire Sizing
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 พ.ย. 2019
- Doing your own 12V wiring can be rewarding, if you do it right!
I show how I choose the gauge of wire, fuse size, how to run cables and do everything to make a basic 12 Volt circuit.
For this video I install a marine radio, echosounder, bilge pump and accessory power in the boat. A fairly simple project to get your head around how to do your own basic 12V wiring. - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Hi Michael. I just came across this video (Jan 2024) and like all of your videos you have produced a good quality video with great information. Since you produced this video 4 years ago, you may have refined your wiring of boats, but can I suggest a couple of things for electrical wiring in marine environments.
1. ALWAYS use tinned wire
2. ALWAYS solder joints
3. ALWAYS apply "liquid insulation tape" to the joints prior to applying shrink tube
4. ALWAYS use glue filled shrink tube
5. Buy a tube of Duralac and ALWAYS apply it to any fixing or fitting you put into or onto the hull. This is of the utmost importance in an aluminium boat and most boat yards have never heard of it! It is VITAL to eliminate galvanic action of similar or dis-similar metals. IT IS VITAL!
6. Apply a thin coating of lanolin based grease to all terminals as well to protect them from marine corrosion. I use Lanotec and a small brush.
Salt water will find and decimate all copper, brass and electro coatings such as the plating on electrical terminals with ease. An aluminium rivet in an aluminium boat will corrode!
Hope this helps everybody.
"I'm not qualified, I'm making all of this stuff up"
Me: *Perfect*
I talked to the courses department for my country and they told me I'd need a 4 year apprenticeship before learning this sort of stuff - the gatekeeping is off the charts.
Same.... instead Subscribe
FINALLY!! Someone actually describes fuse amp size!!!!! Thank you! Cheers from Motown USA!
I'm only into this about 4 minutes and I Got to give this bloke some credit!
One of the most straight to the point AND clear (indestructible's) I have watched!!! And covered some of the most IMPORTANT things about fuse being as close to supply & why as well as voltage drop/cable length... Without making to big a deal about it but NOT skipping over the reasons why. Only thing (I) saw at 4 minutes in that I didn't care for was putting ANY power supply in (especially a bouncy boat) that used a cigarette lighter plug as a power supply. Thos connections are GARBAGE! Everything on a boat shoule be EITHER direct wired OR have a DIFFERENT power plug style if it's something you plan or want to be able to quickly disconnect to remove. NEVER a cigarette type plug. Maybe (HE) will cover that in the next 15 minutes.
I knew you would get a few ‘this is how you should do it’ comments. Have to say for someone with no formal training it wasn’t that bad. Should help a few people who wanted to do it but just weren’t sure they could. Nice vid.
About time I can understand someone's 12v wiring vid...👌...That's rad...😎
Same ROOSTER 🍻
I'm glad someone made sense of it, I had no idea what he was talking about!
Thanks for the reply...Love'n the vid...👍
bro. you are so right
Miss this guy. Hope he is well and still adventuring.
Good stuff. In wet environments I like to drill the junction entry holes on the bottom to aid resisting water ingress. With those junction boxes I also try to put all components and wires on the same side (not always possible) - makes it so much easier to work on later (two halves can be fully separated).
Been searching for sometime now, and finally found a blog I can finally follow, and learn from. Also great close up camera work.
I can now proceed with my small wiring project, with confidence.
Cheers my friend.
From NZ.
What a beautiful work mate 👍
Great to see your doing your own wiring mate keep up the great work and keep these great videos coming
Friendly tip. When soldering cables or heat shrink you can do it all with a little jet lighter. They are at Bunnings for like $20+ in the tool shop or you can find them for like $5 at some servo’s.
This way you don’t have a hot soldering iron sitting in the vehicle ready to fall and melt things.
It’s a lot quicker to get the heat into cables for a successful solder.
Love the channel keep it up!!
I use a heat gun
Another great video Micheal. Love your work.
Just happened to be on the computer and was notified. Great timing.
Just want to say, keep doing what you’re doing. 👍
Thanks for the comment Nick 👍👌 Much appreciated!
Thanks...another great tip about keeping the spare fuses in the fuse blocks (and also the heat shrink on the bolts).... New arrangement for my camper trailer. I always seem to leave my container of fuses at home.....
Benen looking for something like this for a while glad you nailed it.
You've got it! A fuse is to protect the wiring, not the thing hanging off the end. Don't forget the bag of heaps of spare fuses when you go out.
Dude....THAT WAS FANTASTIC 💪👍
I'm in my 40's and elec-TRICKS have always puzzled me 🤯
I'm converting a van so I'm trying to learn this stuff....
But it's ALL ABOUT THE TEACHER...
Nice1 🙏👍
Great video mate, and a top notch job 👍
Good video mate. Well done ... again!
Great vid mate, thanks - Peter V.
Good stuff. I would find a way to add a little window to the outside of the lunchbox so that you can see the LED lights if a fuse is blown without having to unscrew it. 👍🏼
Great video! Thank so much for posting this, it was so easy to follow.
just learning wiring and other basics I applaud you for making it very easy to follow thank you
Thanks for the awesome electrical run through, we’re going to be doing the same on our tinny soon it’ll be so helpful!
Nice mate....appreciate the way you explain....will be watching your 4x4 one next👍🏻
60k subs well done dude
Great, clear explanation! Thanks!
Got some great value and tips from this thank you
Awesome stuff again.😁🤟🤟
Nice work, keep going with these vids..couple of tips, do use a step drill bit, also in harsh environs most troubles are caused by crook earth connections; solution is to run connections via cable back to negative post. You've done it right removing crap terminal insulation, then crimp...
Top job mate, your a talented fella.
Great and helpful for the basics. Cheers
Better looking job than from the pros...hopefully later you will touch on maintenance / float charging that battery ..good job love ya work..
Best instructional video of all time
I already know how to wire stuff, been doing it for quite a few years. I watched this to see what good ideas you were sharing and really liked what I saw. Good job, sir!
I'm glad to see you solder the connections, especially since they're around water.
Using heat-shrink is good, too. There's a kind that has resin or glue in it that seals out water, which is what I started using in the last year or so.
Great vid. Keep on keepin' on!
@@rustysummers3217 I'm sure there are plenty of conversations about it.
A properly soldered connection won't corrode and then break the connection. Add the glue-sealed heat-shrink and you have even more insurance. I'd even hazard a guess that the connection would outlast the vehicle, which effectively qualifies as lasting a lifetime.
@A. Melbs If the heat shrink is the kind with glue to help keep the elements out, then that's going to go a long way to helping keep the crimped connection from corroding. However, if the heat shrink is nicked, then you now have an increased risk of corrosion.
Soldering joints that are out in the weather is a lot more secure physically since they won't pull out of the connectors, plus they're guaranteed not to corrode since the connection is fully sealed in metal.
Whether he said it's the perfect connection or not, I can no longer recall since it has been a year or so since I watched it. I know for sure that I didn't say that, so your comment must be directed to him, not me. Maybe you're including me since I like soldering connections, especially ones outside the passenger cabin. It makes no nevermind to me because I'm gonna do what I've been doing, and I'm certain that you will as well. So I guess there's no real argument, eh?
Tad more solder on your switch mate, apart from that i would also recommend using glue lined heat shrink. Iv'e been doing Electronics for over 20 yrs and your video was BLOODY GOOD!!
Im late to this video but this is amazing! I have to rewire my camper and was getting overwhelmed by what supplies I needed and what I needed to do!
as a machinist and boilermaker I can confirm
I am also not a sparkly
but I still wire everything by making it up
nice vid mate
Nice job, great video!
Well done Michael, keeping it simple and quality video production as always. I admire the way you just get on with the job in the carport, no matter if it’s a simple bit of electrical stuff or replacing your exhaust and long range tank. Good on you. 👍
Might want to add a float charger so you can just plug it in when you park the boat. Very good video mate.
So helpful, thank you.
Very helpful, thank you.
Keep smiling mate ... Good stuff 😀
Nice job bloke, probably the only thing I'd add would be a battery isolation switch.
I also have an Anderson plug to the car to charge whilst driving. Safe boating
Nice job good info thanks Mate
Nice job mate!
Thanks for the video. I did learn something.
Good info and an informative video. The best advice I can give when doing your own wiring is to test your connections the same way you test knots you have tried in your fishing line. Try hard to pull them apart and if they fail re-do them until they will not budge. If you do have an electric bilge pump, always remember to carry a manual means of removing water from the boat. Electric gear isn't fool-proof and thanks to my good mate Murphy, will usually fail when you need it most.
@@rustysummers3217 Yes, that is one of the many things you have to get right. Connections are just as important as wire size and correct fusing. It is probably better not to SHOUT at people because it makes you look like a bit of a dill...
Crimped connections are recommended for vehicles of any kind, rather than soldered ones. What about drilling holes into the bottom of the box instead of the top, so that any water can easily drain?
"Crimped connections are recommended for vehicles of any kind, rather than soldered ones"
Well, what voltage drop world do you come from?
"What about drilling holes into the bottom of the box instead of the top, so that any water can easily drain?"
How about not getting water into there in the first place?
@@stuartkcalvin Best thing to make it watertight, but just in case it isn't always, it's better to have them at the bottom. How come that car manufacturers crimp all connections? They are just more reliable and have no real issues with voltage drop.
@@stuartkcalvin Crimps are recommended because of vibration, a solder joint is likely to crack after long exposure to engine vibrations. Solder also wicks up the cable, making a stress concentration.
Oh,oh,oh. The professor is holding class. Boom.
the box is under the gunwale, so wiring coming in from the top makes sense to me. It would be good to drill a couple small holes on the bottom, just in case though, IMO.
Great vid.
Cheers mate! you really helped a lot
Just a heads up, should be using tinned cable for marine applications, resin/glue filled heat shrink isn’t a bad idea either.
With marine cable, Is the entire length of cable tinned Matthew or do you just tin the joints?
Benny Banger the entire length. You can buy speciality marine tinned cable. The problem is copper can tarnish easily especially in a marine environment.
@@MattyHilly1982 Good to know Matthew - thanks. I've got to wire up my camper and my 4x4 too, and I have another project on the horizon for a water craft, so really helpful info.
@@MattyHilly1982 "You can buy speciality marine tinned cable", mate, it's only on the ends.
Stuart Calvin the cable itself it tinned its entire length which gives it its silver colour.
Bad tip at the end about adding appliances just by adding it to the fuse box as you have forgotten about the 30A cable you calculated at the beginning.
In plastic box. Use a step drill. I have seen so many plastic box's distroyed by twist drill. Use cable glands.
hi guy your doing nice job, good idea.
Great vid. Thx
another good one mate just a couple of tips to improve in my opinion. now you have good strippers whip down to jaycar or supercrap and get some ratcheting crimpers to go with them, while you're at jaycar get yourself some tinned copper wire and adhesive lined heatshrink both are marginally dearer than standard automotive but improve your resistance to corrosion by heaps. once you have the good crimpers forget soldering it is not ideal in high vibration environments, and lastly get wire that is either AWG or SWG rated so you know what you are getting most automotive wiring from auto retailers is not rated to standard and can cause fires due to incorrect load capacity. personally I use marine grade tinned wire on the fourby as well.
Good information, but just to clarify for people who might not understand, AWG and SWG are the sizing of the cables, ratings can differ within those sizes still. For example there are a large amount of different wire insulation materials from plastics to rubbers, to fluropolymers, all which lend different characteristics and ratings to the cable. Same with the type of conductor used. All in all, as you were saying, take the current "rating" on the label of generic automotive wire with a grain of salt. If in doubt, check current carrying capacity tables online.
@@sumodaze2198 AWG is the American Wire Guage it is a standard that the wire is guaranteed to meet SWG is a different standard but achieves the same purpose, in order for the wire to carry the standard the manufacturer must guarantee the wire will perform within the specifications laid out. the generic auto wire may actually be ok but you pay your money and take your chances. for most private boats and 4wd vehicles tinned copper with awg or swg rating will guarantee that you don't set fire to your expensive toys, now for mega yachts aircraft and other applications there are other considerations to be considered and other standards will suit those applications better
@@gmoose777 I know exactly what they are, i have worked in the electrical field for over a decade in manufacturing, circuit design and engineering, so i know the standards and codes. Wire gauges are just a logarithmic ways to measure the diameter of the conductor. Its completely fine to use mm2 for the CSA to choose your wire size. AWG and SWG also have different diameters for the same gauge number as one is American and one is British. Ie 10awg is slightly different diameter to 10swg. Wire gauge does not determine the final current carrying capacity of the wire. Different insulation affects rating, as does installation of the wire such as if its in air, ducted, bunched with other wires, saddled etc. American wire gauge and Standard wire gauge are just size indexs, not cable ratings.
@@sumodaze2198 yeah if you buy wire sized in square millimeters it too is rated but generic auto wire at 2.5mm as you would get from supercheap is not 2.5 square millimeters of conductor it is some bodgy chinese approximation and usually includes the insulation thickness I am fully aware of the complexity of the specifications of various standards just trying to keep it simple we are wiring 4wds and tinnies not rocket ships the process is simple look up wire chart on internet find your load on one axis and length of run on the other where they intersect will be a wire size appropriate for the application, it will usually be awg or swg, go to jaycar or similar outlet and get tinned copper wire in the correct size wire up your project.
@@gmoose777 Don't your keyboard have any "periods" (.) or
"commas" (,) Or even CAPITAL LETTERS to start a new sentence?
Beauty Mick. Basic ground rules for this stuff will save someone, somewhere. Boat fires are not pretty!
Hello! Good advise on the fuse. I was looking at installing an inverter to my car battery to power some lights and a refrigerator at the house during power outages when there is a storm. Have you done a video with a set up like it that I can watch to give me an idea? Thank you.
Great show man! Don't forget to pick up all your insulation and cable tie clippings - They will render your bilge pump useless, bloop bloop bloop.
I gather the cable clippings and insulation don't act as lube :)
Others
Fibre for the pump as the doctor tells us all
Yeah, nice.
Personally, I'd have put in a Master 'Kill' Switch as well. Kind of like an 'Ignition on/off'.
The USB Sockets, for example, could cause a continual drain on the battery. (LEDs also but probably not a problem.)
Also nice to be able to kill all the circuits.
(A voltmeter and amp-meter are also handy to show your overall situation.)
Was going to say the same thing a nice resettable breaker Incase accidentally leave on radio or sounder or parasitic drain.
Bossy Bill an isolation switch
ToyBJ74 86 can u tell me more about the isolation switch? i recommend one?
Hot tip, use clear heat shrink. That way you can see whats going on underneath easily and spot corrosion or wire breaks as time passes.
Never seen that before, I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks!
It's beautiful explanation thanks allot for that great job 👌👍
Neat work mate, surprised you didn’t bang an Anderson plug in for solar charging the boat battery :) see ya on the water 🤙
How would you wire the charge controller into his box? Would all electronics be ok as long as they are properly fused? I might try this once understand it more make sure its safe
Nice informative video for a bit of DIY for people who want to try themselves. As others have said, should be using tinned cable for any marine installations as it wont corrode and fail later on. Also a good crimp is always going to better than soldering in any environment thats prone to vibrations as solder joins can fatigue and snap. Especially when copper is used in salty environments. Theres a reason why race vehicle harnesses (And vast majority of passenger vehicles) use crimped connections and not soldered. But anyway, good video and explanations for the home handy man!
Agreed.
hey.. i just luv this.. do you have any ideas how to make that battery charge at the same time.. great video.. easy to understand,.. TQ
Love the way Canadians explain stuff!
what?
Canadians?
🇦🇺
great video, something you should think about when wiring anything, i like how you put the heat shrink on the breaker studs but remember you just created a pocket to hold moisture, turn the breaker on its side at least so water can drain out, secondly you should not drill holes in the top of the fuse box where moisture can enter, always use good practice and insert wires from the bottom up and in a pinch through the side of a box, after all you bought a sealed box right. best of luck
Can you please elaborate on that part about through the bottom and with a pinch through the side?
Is that a new shirt design? If so looks good. I ordered two the other week should be turning up any day now!
What are your thoughts on the Heat shrink solder tubes? I personally think they are great as they have heat shrink and solder in the one package and don't need soldering iron
Hi mate, great videos! Did you ground the battery to anything?
When stripping. Wire is the cheap end so use it. Strip the sheath but not off. Check the twist. Use the stripped sheath to twist. Not too much. Then get a nice twist has you twist sheath off. Then it fits in your connector nice. No lose stands.
So here we ... About a year on from your last video, and I'm still watching and learning from your encouraging attitude and all the great content you produced! It would be neat to get an update video - Just to "stay in touch" as it were :)
I've got a question if you don't mind, as I embark on a 12v install in the bed of my 2010 Frontier / Navara ... What is the real name for the "lunch box". I'm trying to source one from Canandian retailers / Amazon and can't quite find one with my uninformed Googling ... Thanks in advance for letting me know!
He made an announcement recently that another adventure video is coming soon, so stay tuned.
Are you going to use Solar Panel to charge? Specially if you going in a island and stay for few days off grid.. Great Video
I always use tinned cable solder and heatshrink in a tinny, never had an issue with corrosion
Good job mate . I brought the exact same soldering iron from Bunnings , plenty of heat but i can't solder for nuts , i end up burning some fingers and a crappy soldering job :-)
Practice makes perfect cob if you want tips or a quick lesson let me know
If you don't burn yourself at least twice you're not learning how to solder.
Just wondering why you selected 15A cable for the radio for a 5A draw but then went down to 10A for the bilge pump - could you have used 10A for the Radio or am I missing something? Great video and great help to a non-spark
Pretty nice
Awesome!
Haters gonna hate, but this set up is perfectly fine for your small boat. I do agree on adding a master cut off switch since most likely the boat is sitting for extended periods of time.
Use solder sleeves for joining your wires...makes for easy connections.
Good vid. Well done. Hint - fuses should be 25% greater than amps. I’d also include a battery isolator so you can turn off everything and eliminate risk of running down your batteries
In this setup up, where would the best place for the isolator be? As close to the battery as possible?
Brilliant thanks
What gauge wire would you use for average stuff,lights and things even light bars what gauge wire would you run?
Should consider a isolator switch for when you store the boat include the motor. Not too sure about the circuit breaker you used, if it is an auto reset they can keep resetting when there is a fault. I would just use a maxi fuse holder to be safe.
Would setting up relays be of any advantage?
What about isolating the bilge pump? The float switch may bounce around on the road and turn it on and off semi constantly.
It has an on/off switch - the video shows that.
@@stuartkcalvin as far as I was aware it was a manual on off and doesn't stop the float activating the pump.
@@kiho1995
I think the bildge switch is 2 way .
Good point. I was also interested in the bilge wiring. And concerned it a fault would cause it to run and burn out when no water present. If you look at the diagram he’s using a 2 way switch, so it’s auto on or manual on. No off on the switch. I’m going to either use a 3 way, on auto, off, and on manual. Or two seperate switches.
Neat job, no fu#ing about, but all on point. Electrical work needs some planning to come out good, and you seem to cover it all ( I´m no electrician, but did a few wires myself). Awesome stuff, mate :)
14:25 you need an Anderson Power Block (PP45). I'm an electrical engineer, but started as a 12V sparky.
Can you explain more plz?
Nice neat work but as mentioned below tinned cable is better in the marine environment, but in saying that I have had normal cable last 10 years on a boat
Yep I have a wire box like that. Solder and heat shrink .Water proof heat shrink
hi great review question my sounder wont work itd says a 3 amp ( holder ) can i put a 10 amp in to replace the 3 amp ty
Have a question, why used a 20amp circuit breaker? Why not use 40amp or something bigger amp?
Crimping is generally the agreed way to join 12 volt in automative settings. Solder has issues with vibration(wire fatigue) and it seeps up into the cable and hardens the cable close to the join (Reduced flexibility). Look under your hood, you won't find anything soldered.
Doing some rough calculations, you need a 50A Maxi Fuse off the battery +ve. Then a 150A thermal circuit breaker off a common positive. I'd also put a Maxi Fuse both sides of the -ve shunt, which you need to fit.
Can you elaborate? Im trying to understand.
Complete novice here and this vid is damn helpful for me... Where's best buy this gear ? I.e. the junction box etc
what guage size u use for the battery?