Reddit mentions: The best boat wire terminals

The wire.
Crimping tool.
Wire terminal lugs.
Battery Terminals.

Ask you shall receive, or, let me google that for you! :) I know that feeling when you don't have an experienced person to show you the ropes. All of this I learned from a week of reading and looking at everything I could concerning the matter. Sometimes there is no-one to show you what to do and you have to figure it out. It's not easy, but it is really satisfying. EDIT man that sounded really preachy... sorry about that, came from a good place :P hehe

>I'm fairly ignorant of electric systems on boats.


I hope you're comfortable with how basic 12VDC electrics work and are asking about how to wire them in a marine environment.


Preface, I'm not a certified marine electrician but I've done a ton of work re-wiring, custom work on all kinds of sail and power boats.


Tools:
>I do have a cheap harbor freight multi-meter

good, now you're going to need a way to crimp those shitty connectors and some dielectric grease.


Unless of course you want to solder all your connections (this is my preference as it doesn't vibrate loose or corrode as quickly), then follow NASA's soldering method s and yuu'll need some rosin cored solder and and a soldering iron, you'll also need to use a crimp connector without the pre-molded shrink wrap and some heat shrink tubing


Ok... got your tools? great, now for supplies.


You'll need a buss bar on your ground


Measure how much wire you need, (are you re-wiring the mast?) and use 14/2 AWG marine grade wire.


If you're only using 1 battery you can get away with a simple switch like this. From the devices & lights you listed It sounds like you can use 10AWG to connect your battery to your switch then to the 14 gang panel.


You'll need a way to label your wires, I use one of these but if you're doing one job you might want to use something cheaper.

Ok... now on the to the fun part


Plan where you're going to mount your panel and pull a single RED 10AWG from there to your battery shut off switch and another strand from you battery to the switch.


Pull 10 AWG from the battery to the buss bar.


pull all the 14awg from the lights to the panel labeling each 14/2 wire as you go


red goes to the fuse block, black goes to the buss bar then to the negative on the gang block, label everything at the connection points, big red wire goes from battery switch to the bolt on the 14 gang, big black wire goes to the buss bar.


install new things, as each device is hooked up test the fuse and switch, then install the new thing.

Edit: I forgot to mention, use dielectric grease on all metal fittings to reduce corrosion.


edit 1: put a fuse between your battery and shut off ont the red wire

yep, it'll be better than the auto grade

marine grade glue filled butt connectors are my favorite thing to use in auto wiring.

http://www.amazon.com/Ancor-Electrical-Insulated-Adhesive-Connectors/dp/B000S2040G

I like the stacked style... https://www.amazon.com/Ancor-210613-Electrical-Male-Female-Adapter/dp/B000NI5D92/ref=pd_sim_60_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000NI5D92&pd_rd_r=ZT9TXDDCNA088AXNR4DG&pd_rd_w=nRwBu&pd_rd_wg=bb66M&psc=1&refRID=ZT9TXDDCNA088AXNR4DG

Drill as few holes as possible but you don't want to large holes in your joists.

If your room allows it when I did a lot of install stuff I would try to run over to the wall closest to the rack then run over along the wall.

I hate seeing a shit ton of wires going everywhere

Label everything

[clamps ] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NI1FXK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kzkrybR5FFPAD) to keep everything together. If they get full you can zip tie addition wires to the main bundle. I like to keep everything together and tightly bundled as possible.

Label everything.