Electrical 101 - installing GPS in 1900SCR

[jkbstingray]

Electrical is definitely not my strong area, and just wanted to bounce this off of you folks. I'm installing a GPS in my 1900SCR. It only has a hot wire and a ground. Looking at the fusebox, I see a post just below the fuses that has a couple of red wires attached. If my hot wire to the GPS already has an inline fuse, can I just attach it to that post? Also, just to the left and below that post is a group of black wires. Can I run my ground wire to one of connections here? Thanks!

[mmwjr]

In short yes, however if you turn the gps on then start the engine the power will drop and the gps will turn off. Running power from the battery or battery switch of sufficient size will prevent this. In my case I wired mine similar to what you asked but had an unused fuse so wired my hot to that location. This still suffers the dropout when starting the engine so I turn mine off prior to starting so I don’t loose tracks.

[jkbstingray]

Thanks Mike!

[shrew]

Originally Posted by mmwjr

In short yes, however if you turn the gps on then start the engine the power will drop and the gps will turn off.

True, but if the feed and ground to the panel are sized sufficiently and there's no corrosion, then you shouldn't see voltage drop. Many manufacturers (Raymarine for example) recommend running off of switch.

Ideally, what you'd have is a feed and ground sized for the load of the panel with a large fuse for that circuit on the positive terminal of the battery, or an inline from the battery switch. Then a fused breaker panel with fuses sized for each items circuit size and draw.

[jkbstingray]

Thanks Shrew!