Unswitched 12V Power

Unswitched 12V Power

By Mark Elkin, Yorkshire Rose #133

The previous owner just ran a small wire with a BIG ring lug to the battery terminal to get unswitched 12V power. After making other battery power upgrades, I decided to "do it right." I've added heavy gage wire (#8) from the battery to a 70A fuse right in the battery box. From the "output" side of the fuse, I put a combination buss-bar & fuse panel for the unswitched 12V loads (bilge pump, bilge high water alarm, and battery monitor power), each with an appropriately sized traditional fuse. I also ran another #8 wire from the 70A fuse "output" along side the switched main power cables from the battery compartment to another buss-bar & fuse panel positioned behind the main electrical switch panel. And again, any power from that panel passes through an appropriately sized traditional fuse.