I have a 2003 326. I currently have on my pedestal Raymarine instruments (ST40 Depth & Speed and ST 60 Wind meter). I want to add a Garmin GPS. The power seems to come into the Wind meter and then SeaTalk plugs supply power to the other two instruments. Can I splice into the power coming into the instruments or will it be too much. I have three wires not connected in the pedestal compartment that seem to have no power. They are large gauge wires (red, yellow) with a bit smaller gauge wire that is kind of orange with a stripe on it. I do not have a windlass or auto pilot. Any suggestions, I really do not want to run wire through boat to fuse panel.
Help with adding GPS
- Thread starter bigsick
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GPS
FWIW, I recommend that you run a dedicated power source from a circuit breaker on the power panel. That is what I did when I installed our Garmin 178C sounder. If I had wires at the pedestal that were not connected I would trace them back to the source. If they came from the power panel area I would dedicate them from a circuit breaker to the GPS.
Tapping into the power source of other instruments for your GPS may work just fine, but just as with tapping into the raw water source for cooling your engine to supply raw water for some other appliance, you just never know.
Most boat makers install wiring that is sized to support the instrument(s) recommended by the maker. Most makers recommend a certain wire size based upon a dedicated power source. To second guess whether the wire will handle an added spliced source, some might consider foolish.
Terry Cox
FWIW, I recommend that you run a dedicated power source from a circuit breaker on the power panel. That is what I did when I installed our Garmin 178C sounder. If I had wires at the pedestal that were not connected I would trace them back to the source. If they came from the power panel area I would dedicate them from a circuit breaker to the GPS.
Tapping into the power source of other instruments for your GPS may work just fine, but just as with tapping into the raw water source for cooling your engine to supply raw water for some other appliance, you just never know.
Most boat makers install wiring that is sized to support the instrument(s) recommended by the maker. Most makers recommend a certain wire size based upon a dedicated power source. To second guess whether the wire will handle an added spliced source, some might consider foolish.
Terry Cox
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