Wiring up a Garmin

Dave Boyle

Dave Boyle

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I treated my myself to an early birthday gift with a Garmin 7” finder. The thing is there’s instructions to set up the transducer, instructions on running the daft thing but nada on just hooking it to power, or at least what I can see…

So, I have pos and neg wires and then brown and blue? Does anyone know what to do here? Would love to hear folks thoughts if you have one or similar.

Thanks,

Dave

PS what is the size of the fuse? A spare or 2 would be goodIMG_0642.jpeg
 
You got it. Red to your power and black to ground. Ignore the other two.

The fuse will depend on model. You can pop that open and just see what fuse is in there and grab some spares. The size should be printed on the metal ends. Might need a magnifying glass to read them.

Be sure to hook the positive to some kind of switch. Always want the ability to totally cut power from it.
 
Thanks Evan!

A dumb Q but what do you mean by a switch? Eg I was thinking crocodile or similar clips to my battery and that was it. What am I missing as a dolt.

Dave
 
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Dave Boyle said:
Thanks Evan!

A dumb Q but what do you mean by a switch? Eg I was thinking crocodile or similar clips to my battery and that was it. What am I missing as a dolt.

Dave
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I always hawdwire everything. That way the wiring and screen mount are always in place, and you can just pop the screen unit in and out without messing with anything else.

Most models have a back panel your wiring hooks up to (screen side) and it acts as a dock you can pop it in and out of.

Not sure what your boat is or if you have other electronics or things running off your battery, so what the wiring and switch situation will look like can vary. But if it's the only thing in the system, you could potentially go straight to the battery, I just prefer more secure connection that I can secure to the posts with wing nuts.

If you do go the switch route, there's so many ways to configure that. But I always have a battery switch like this here that cuts power to everything on the boat.


The will often run the hot wire off of that to a bus bar like this here which is where my Garmin and other toys draw power from.

 
Hi Dave,

I am rewiring all of my electronics now so have the manuals in front of me. The blue and brown go to a NMEA 0183 network. The previous owner of my boat had the plotter and a VHF radio hooked to aux switches on the dash and they ran off of the starter battery. They would both restart whenever I started the main engine, so I am wiring them to their own battery now. I did something like Evan suggested and wired them through their own switch.
 
I can draw a diagram if need be.

Additionally, I don't recommend the alligator clip route, even if you plan to remove it from the boat when not in use. I just prefer things be a lot more secure than that while underway. I know nothing of the boat or what you're doing, but in most cases, permanent wiring should be put into place and just remove the screen unit.

Maybe show us what you're working with and I can work up some suggestions.
 
Evan B said:
I can draw a diagram if need be.

Additionally, I don't recommend the alligator clip route, even if you plan to remove it from the boat when not in use. I just prefer things be a lot more secure than that while underway. I know nothing of the boat or what you're doing, but in most cases, permanent wiring should be put into place and just remove the screen unit.

Maybe show us what you're working with and I can work up some suggestions.
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It's a 11'6" Journey jon boat. I have a 12V battery that I use for my electric motor and was going to hook it up to that too as its a 100Ahr one. By the transom there is a 2" hole through which I run the motor cables to the battery. I have Scotty female mounts at each corner so the finder could go on either one and I'd run the power cables via the same opening to the battery below.

Nothing is fixed, I take off the motor and take out the battery after each trip. I was hoping to be able to simply clip on the power as needed when I go out. I can't show a pic as my boat is at a buddies on Whidbey so I don't get charged a fortune by the ferry to fish lone lake each time, my lake of choosing in the Spring re W. WA.

Appreciate folks thoughts so far.

Dave
 
Dave Boyle said:
It's a 11'6" Journey jon boat. I have a 12V battery that I use for my electric motor and was going to hook it up to that too as its a 100Ahr one. By the transom there is a 2" hole through which I run the motor cables to the battery. I have Scotty female mounts at each corner so the finder could go on either one and I'd run the power cables via the same opening to the battery below.

Nothing is fixed, I take off the motor and take out the battery after each trip. I was hoping to be able to simply clip on the power as needed when I go out. I can't show a pic as my boat is at a buddies on Whidbey so I don't get charged a fortune by the ferry to fish lone lake each time, my lake of choosing in the Spring re W. WA.

Appreciate folks thoughts so far.

Dave
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Hmm, if the battery is coming out, then I suppose that changes everything! May be worth just trying that alligator clip thing and seeing how it goes.
 
Paige said:
For my electric I just put the leeds under the wing nut, quick n eassy.
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Yeah I’d like to get a couple of fork junctions to slip in and then bolt them down together with my motor ones. Got clips for now but easy to swap out, couldn’t find the right size forks at Lowes which is not surprising as they have crap stocks for a lot of things.

Dave
 
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