How to power bow mount depthfinder

Gentlemen,

Thought I would post it here too for some insight.

Continuing to rig my dream boat.

Looking to put a depthfinder to my universal sonar minnkota on my competitor. Nothing high end but more importantly trying to figure out how to power the darn thing. A lot different than the old rig where I could get to everything. There is a power supply at the bow in addition to the lights, trolling motor receptacle and such. Do you tap into the 12V power at the power supply (cigarette lighter type) or run the wiring to the starting battering at the rear. Or just use the power supply to power the depthfinder.

Running a 2013 competitor 175 sport. If that helps.

Just looking for the best and easiest way to get this done.

Not an electrician but fairly handy after I blow several fuses.

Thanks yall.

D

The lights are more then likely powered by your engine starting battery so tapping into that circuit would be the easiest option if the power and ground to the lights are easily accessible in bow of boat. All you have to do is buy an inline fuse to protect your bow mount locator. You splice the inline fuse into the hot wire and then connect the other end to the power wire on your locator. Ground for locator spliced into ground circuit for lights.(no fuse needed here). Also recommend buying butt connectors with heat shrink ends built into the ends so after you crimp them all you have to do is just heat the ends and you have a water resistant seal. These newer units draw such little current but it is still recommended locators run off engine starting battery circuit. If you run trolling motor battery dead then your locator will not work if it is in this circuit. Just make sure you protect the locator circuit with proper fuse rating. The manual will tell you what size. If not a 3 amp will work on 90% of the units out there. Good luck.

It would be best to run wires all the way back to your starting battery and use a 3 amp fuse to fuse the circuit. If you hook it to your “light” circuit you will need to drive around with your light switch on so that the circuit is energized. If your boat is hard to get wires pulled to the back you could just use the power from the cig plug but as your battery gets weaker, starting your engine may cause the unit to ‘flash over’ and freeze up.

When I had my alumacraft, it had wires run to the bow for locator power from the factory. They had spade type ends and just needed to put the opposite sex terminals on the locator power cord and plug it in. I would check and see if there are wires there already.

Thanks guys to all the replys and PMs. Talked to my dealer and Alumacraft on the wiring. Turns out Alumacraft will put extra wiring in the bow when there is NOT an accessory power outlet on the bigger boats. Mine has the power outlet therefore no extra wiring. That is what they say. Needless to say I am rigging the boat to run wires back the terminal block with an inline fuse. The hard part is just running the wires and figuring out how I want the mount the depthfinder.

Derek