Why did you install the fuses at the bow? This raises two concerns. 1) if you're on the water and blow a fuse, you don't have quick access to it. 2) if the wires short together at the bow, they can heat up and catch on fire. This is a safety concern which is why the fuse should be located close to the battery. Or, if you use a fuse box, it would be wise to install an inline fuse near the battery on the main power lead to the fuse box large enough to carry the combined load. The units are not "tricked" by the alternator running. The alternator is supplying more voltage and amps than the battery which is why you see an increase on your graphs. Additionally, the graph voltage is not very accurate, not compared to a multimeter. And voltage readings are subjective with a current load. There's nothing about this harness that can produce better results than using quality multi-strand marine grade wiring and quality connections.
I've been saying everything you said here for the last 2 years, at sxs extreme and marine, we make our own in-house harness and it has breakers near the battery for EACH run. It also has actual fuse blocks to connect all of your graphs up to at the end of each marine grade wire Instead of finger tight posylock connectors that can rattle loose and we install a battery disconnect switch... Nothing like paying $400 for sub par equipment.
@@sandman70131the wire needs to be fused at the battery according to the size of the wire you run, I ran #8 from the battery with 40 amp breaker to a terminal strip that is wired with ring terminals and the 5 amp fuse is off the terminal strip that is protecting the supply wire to the graphs.
Solder and heat shrink would be WAY better than any screw lock connection. Also when you splay twisted copper you are losing conductivity, electricity runs on the outside of the wire.
I just tried soldering my mega live and 360 together with a main line going direct to the battery and the live won’t activate unless I disconnect the 360.🤷🏿♂️
I just ran 10 guauge dedicated power from my main battery to a Blue Seas fuse box I mounted in the starboard front box. Then 12 guage wire from the fuse box to all the graphs. I used all marine tinned wire. I also fused all connection appropriately.
Bill Gibson 100%. I ran 8 gauge wire from my battery to a blue seas fuse box. Then 10gauge to all 3 of my units. I can fish all day and never get a low voltage alarm.
Easiest way to fish gunnels on bass boats is use 3/8" pex pipe. Fish tape gets tangled in the wiring harness. unless there is a conduet. Do this every day
Im so Glad I read the comments on this video ..I dont feel crazy now ... I was looking into buying this harness .. I didn't like the idea of the "fancy wire nuts" and than when I went into the website and seen it would cost me almost $300 for what I needed I was like what a freakin minute . I started looking into what I could buy and I could buy everything I needed to do it my self for around $50 ,, and Not use "Fancy Wire Nuts" .. I dont like hating on people or anything like that ,,, But this product gets a Hard Pass from me ..
Lol no you can’t 50 ft of tinned copper duplex wire is more than 50 bucks. Plus battery switch, connectors, fuses, you’re looking at over a 100 bucks easy to wire up multiple graphs.
I like that this guy wants to run a dedicated wiring harness to the units but his understanding of what's actually going on and his twist connectors are not what I personally agree with. To each his own and I wish everyone the best. You have an awesome channel and I'd love to throw some lines with ya one day bro!
Considering the distance you have to run to get to the bow, use a shielded cable with the shield connected to earth ground. This works great for eliminating noise, it's similar to shielded antenna wire. I also use silicone dielectric compound on all marine electrical wires, it prevents corrosion.
You're going overboard on the shielding thing. There is no low-impedance earth ground on a boat. I know some larger saltwater boats have a grounding plate, but that's related to electrolysis prevention and not EMI. Running sufficient gauge with good termination fixes most issues. If you think you're picking up EMI, twist the power & Gnd wires together with 3 twists per foot or so. Most never have this particular issue.
Power Wiring; #8 stranded copper, tinned, marine grade, twisted pairs (separate negative and positive) twisted together, preferably inside a metal shield (a foil shield, or run inside conduit), soldered connections, light coat of silicone grease, covered with heat shrink. Separate power runs to: bow electronics, console electronics, trolling motor etc. Each run; fused, and run through the master battery ON/OFF switch directly to the battery bank. Mechanical Connectors are potential points of failure.
What am I missing? It looks they're just running dedicated power wires.. what did they take years to develop and what did they patent? Just the screw-type connectors ?
Well if it's "PATENTED" he can sell some one who knows nothing about electronics a $10 rig for $199 dollars. Screw/twist connectors are absolute trash. Mikey does great stuff but this kid is blowing smoke. The graph is absolutely reading 13V's by the way. It is not "tricked" by anything. Charging voltage for any battery is more than its voltage rating and a $3000 Lowrance graph that runs GPS, multiple different kinds of sonar and other various processes is certainly getting a voltage reading correct. Kid needs to go to school and learn about electronics before he starts ripping people off for a patented wiring harness at 2000% markup.
He did get one part right. Electrical noise. That’s what’s causing units to be hazy and such. And “tricking” my butt. I guess that alt gauge in your truck is being “tricked” into thinking it’s got 13.5v going to it when it really don’t either 😂😂😂Which is why all units CLEARLY state RUN DIRECTLY TO BATTERY. He’s got $30 worth of 10awg and some “wire nuts” go get you some twisters from Lowe’s and you got the same thing
Dude, im running an X78 Lowrance from 1998! I can't imagine dropping 6k on graphs to catch fish but well you know im just a regular dude. This sport has exceeded my means but I still love to fish.
how have i lost a connection to reality? i've had black and white graphs on a modified 77 jon boat and gradually built things up. you don't need great electronics to go fishing but i have fun with them does that make me love fishing less?
Dude, saw you on smallmouth crush the other night and you were awesome. Love your approach and I appreciate why you don't believe in and pursue tournament fishing AND I found it fascinating that you were on the leading edge of all this youtube fishing vid stuff... Back to the googlevid days. Extremely impressive. I am a fan!
No man that was disappointing. You just ran dedicated wiring directly to the battery. That connector wont ever beat a solder and heat shrink. If you seeing 14v on your finder, that's cuz your motor is running and the alternator is charging the battery.
Mikey love the videos. Not trying to be a dick but that guy working on your boat doesn't add up. Upgrading wire gauge and having dedicated wiring for graph's is great but. Twist connector's. Come on those things are more for a temporary repair. The wires should be coated with Dielectric grease and crimped or soldered and covered with heat shrink. There needs to a fuse at your power shutoff switch. Having inline fuses for the units need to be accessable. That's why on most boats there's a centrally located fuse panel. Having inline fuses located under a screwed shut panel is no good on the front graph's. Like I said I'm not trying to be a dick and I'm not a keyboard warrior. I'm definitely not a know it all. But I do play one on TV. Lol!
Buy a spool of 10ga. jacketed marine grade duplex wire (can buy shielded if you are worried about electromagnetic interference), blue sea systems fuse and ground block, and a few heat shrink butts (crimp or built in solder connections). The only thing I see beneficial about what they are doing here is a larger gauge dedicated power source to mitigate voltage drop.
So how does the on off switch work exactly from the battery? I am getting ready to set my system up and now ordering one, But my questions are do you turn the power off when cranking and then turn it on so your getting juice to the fish finders when your running? Also having these connected directly to your cranking motor how does that pull your battery power down from having juice to crank your battery if your using your fish finders most of the day fishing and not running your motor? just seems that your pulling juice from your cranking battery and do you risk not having enough juice to crank your engine over? Sorry to sound stupid on this Im not and electrocution and I have a set of batteries for my trolling motor that most of my electronics are also hooked to while my cranking battery is isolated for only the engine use. One last question regarding in line fuses I have seen a couple videos where you discuss using 20 amp fuses and 5 amp fuses? I am only hooking up 2 fish finders one at the council and one at the bow of the boat, I have a 18 foot boat do I use the 5 amp fuses or the 20?
I know this is an older video but just wanted to point out that seeing up to 14v while the outboard is running when you units are connected to the starting battery. That is normal, and correct, when an engine’s 12v charging system is operating correctly. It has to supply a voltage higher than the batteries nominal 12.6v to charge the battery. If it’s less, your battery is not being charged. It not tricking you unit, it really is getting that much voltage.
Need a scaled back shorter option. I have a MV1860 Jon boat with one graph at the bow and the battery stored at the bow 3 ft away. This only comes in 26 ft. length and with a switch and one inline fuse you’re looking at $260+.
You should never have non marine grade connections in a boat. I saw a few in this video pre existing. Also why not remove those splices ? Wouldn’t that be a weak point with your nicer harness layout ?
The reason it shows 13-14v while running is because of the alternator. They run at approximately 14v to keep the battery charged and run the electric components of the engine.
Jonny_Schools shhh 🤫🤫🤫 it’s pretty apparent he doesn’t know any better. It’s VERY apparent he doesn’t know about electricity which lets me know he knows NOTHING about the product he’s trying to sell. The same wiring he’s using can be bought on eBay right now for $50. Put you some real connections on it whether it be from a bus bar or uninsulated butt connectors then adhesive lined heat shrink and have a 1000x better setup than this garbage here all for less than 75 bucks
@@williamthigpen4480 This is from Code of Federal Regulations Title 33 CFR Sections 183.401 - 183.460 on marine wiring. Solder is permitted but cannot be the sole means of making the connection. This is because if the connection becomes very hot the solder might melt. Solder also tends to make the end of the wire into a solid wire as it wicks into the stranded conductors. The end of the wire then loses it flexibility and so is more prone to cracking induced by vibration.
@@williamthigpen4480 LMAO. You know nothing about electronics if you think soldering is the best for a marine setup. Go back to school. Like Johnmuirhead said above, soldering is brittle and can melt. Heat shrink crimped connectors are the bee's knees on a marine setup.
When the motor is running and it shows 13.5 to 14.5 volts that is because that is what your graph is getting when main motor is running it is charging at 13.5 to 14.5 volts it is not tricking your graph to thinking it is getting that
You got the heat shrink part right. Solder? Nope, afraid not; use solderless crimp terminals/connectors instead. The aviation industry does this for numerous reasons that also apply to marine electrical systems.
@@78freewheeler I am in the process of making my own. I am getting marine grade shielded wire. It's a little more expensive. Still quite a bit cheaper with a DIY job.
Pretty much. Solder connections with heat shrink is best with 8 to 10 awg wire will do exact same thing and be alot cheaper then this $240 wiring harness
@@mikeybalzz It totally shuts off, and it will try to come back on, but as long as I'm running in rough water it will never open. Once I shut down it will open and start working again. Sounds like a bad connection somewhere in the unit?
@@johnkoons7163 definitely sounds like a connection problem. if your unit is hooked up to a board under your console i'd start by looking at that and just see if any connectors are lose. that sucks man i feel for you. electrical stuff is the worst to track down.
Great video for those that know nothing about electricity. The only positive result was isolating the graphs power from the boats wiring and voltage supply. You gain NO more power than the original wires. 5 amp at 12v no matter how big the wire is. That being said a proper test would be testing at the battery and then at the units the voltage should be the same. If not you have a voltage drop which would be resolved by increasing wire size. All wire connections should be soldered and marine heat shrink applied to reduce corrosion. Sever months of moisture those twist connectors will be corroded. To be clear the voltage being displayed of versus motor running is the alternator charging the battery at a regulated rate Approx. 13.6v Again that is determined by the load applied to it. as load increases the voltage decreases. A good marine battery fully charge should be closer to 13v than 12v
I hate to burst your bubble, but some of what you say is wrong. A technically trained person (think electrical engineer) knows this. "Power" is measured in watts consumed by the device, meaning when the working load is applied. The voltage at the load is not fixed at 12V; the less adequate the wiring is, the more the voltage will drop at the load. You CAN get more power at a remote point by doing something to hold the voltage higher - meaning reduce voltage drop along the conductor. When you measure the no-load voltage at the bow of a boat you'll likely see no difference than at the battery unless you have expensive test instruments. This is because mere milliamps are required for the voltmeter's load on the circuit. As load increases, the voltage drop along the length of the conductor increases (V = Amps x Total Ohms for the conductor's resistance). Wire has resistance per foot of length for any given gauge, so the longer the wire, the greater that voltage drop. So, for example, the power available at the bow may be 5A x 12V = 60 Watts, or with a smaller gauge wire, you might get 5A x 11V = 55 Watts because the voltage drop in the conductor is higher. As the wire gauge decreases, the voltage drop increases, so the available power in watts at the end of the conductor DOES fall. Adding the outboard starter load drops the source voltage, so the voltage at a graph may fall so low it doesn't meet spec, and the unit shuts down. An adequate low resistance circuit to the load AND BACK to the battery will stop his problem unless he has an inadequate battery by spec or by failure. By the way, the units were not "isolated from the voltage supply" as they are still connected to the same battery. What happened is the units are further isolated from sources of electrical noise in the boat's equipment such as bilge pumps and livewell pumps. This happened by going back to the battery to implement a dedicated "subsystem" of power distribution to the graphs.
So basically you're running a dedicated line to your screens from the battery, rather than pulling power from the fuse block at console? Do you really need your harness to accomplish this? It seems like a nice product, but making "quality connections" is paramount in any wiring installation.
For any size wire, the longer it is the more resistance it yields. Smaller wires give more resistance for a given length than larger wires, so running 20 ft of heavy wire to 2 ft of small wire (the leads from the units) gives less total resistance than 22 ft of the small wire.
Ermanno D'Angelo the line loss on 12v dc is minimal, you are right. 25 ft of 12 awg with a 1 amp load would be like a .66% loss of voltage, those giant wires are for show.
Your installer probably ran 16 gauge wire to your units, run 10 gauge directly to all your units off your power and their won’t be such a high power draw when you crank the big motor. Upgrading to lithium’s will not change the current supply of your graph wiring.
"your" is making smart predictions. If your graph shuts down when you crank the outboard, that typically is caused by: 1) The wiring between the battery and the graph has (unnecessary) splices of a substandard quality and/or the conductor's gauge is too small (16 ga. being common, heavier 10 ga. being what often corrects the problem)., or 2) Your battery is inadequate to begin with or is beginning to fail. Buying a Lithium technology battery is NOT the way to fix this issue, and it may not! (especially if the wiring is substandard). Get your cranking battery load tested, and make sure it is rated to crank your outboard in the first place.
@@randyroth383 no, he has inadequate wiring resulting in voltage drop below minimum for the unit when he engages the starter, so it shuts down. This problem seems to occur 100s or 1000s of times per month as a result of shoddy installation or sometimes weak starting battery about to fail. I'm always amused watching people's very expensive attempts to correct a $20 wiring issue.
I was watching when he was wiring the front graph, now why did u leave that butt splice in the harness off the inline fuse instead cutting that out of the way? More resistance right there and isn't that what u guys are trying to get rid of as far as using bigger wires?
If you are showing 13 or 14, because the way you wired your system you wired into the electronics in the engine. You were reading the amps from the Generator. Only my thoughts men!
This wiring harness makes absolutely no sense to me. I've done electrical work for years and I see no difference than running a dedicated power wire from the battery to the unit and soldering your connections. When your volts are reading higher than 12 when your engine is running it isn't tricking the unit at all. It's giving you a true reading of the voltage charging your batteries coming off the alternator. I'm not trying to be a keyboard warrior, but this made my head hurt. I'm certain it works, but soldering is better than twist or crimp connections. Also I've seen plenty of boats with crimps that work just fine....my buddy Paul's rig is a birds nest and his Livescope still works lolol
Solder isn't better for a boat. It creates rigid points where the conductors are prone to break adjacent to the solder joint. Crimped terminals with adhesive shrink tubing are actually preferred.
@@txman201 Yes I stand corrected here as I learned from a marine tech. I just bought a new Ranger and installed new graphs. I went the way of crimps and shrink tubing.
One note... A fully charged 12V lead-acid battery actually should measure 13.2 Volts. (2.2V x 6 cells = 13.2V) Wire voltage drop should be negligible...
I know what your talking about, i can barely see my hummersbird units. Oh wait i figured it out. Im 6’-6” tall and my flush mount bird is a helix 5 🥴🥴🥴. Its really my fault, i put my spare pesos on 2 power poles instead of electronics. Can i set up a Go Fund Me for new equipment?
Why not just run all your units off of it's own 12 volt deep cycle . That's how i run mine and those just seem to be nicer butt connectors. I could have missed something in this video . Screen flashes I have never experienced that not one time. I never liked the idea of running your graphs off your starter battery . High end units get their own battery . For all i know maybe i shouldn't be running my graphs like that.
No graph will perform any better or be more clear/detailed with more voltage than recommended. It can underperform, flicker, or shut off with improper voltage or wire size or bad connections. Most boats from factory dont have proper wire size. With the amount of units many have on boats now and size of screens, a Lithium battery is almost a must have for electronics. Multiple units, Livescope, 360, etc can draw 5+ amps. That will drain a standard wet battery pretty fast. A good 100+Amp hour lithium these days is about $1000. Many have built in processors with a phone app that monitors them and shows amps being drawn and estimated time left.
Do you like blowing smoke on things you don't understand? Seems so. Quite a few of the premium 12" screen units draw a typical 2 amps, others far less. A proper main battery in a boat typically isn't depleted by having electronics attached. Note that any time the outboard is on and above idle, the battery is being charged, as well as providing power for the electronics. I've got a Group 31 AGM for starting my Merc 250 and running 4 12" graphs. I have yet to need to use my jump-starter. I do put the two console units in standby when I go to the bow to fish. I have 3 100A lithiums for the TM, but have yet to need a 5th battery.
OMG, it was hilarious when he said the alternator tricked the display voltage. 😆😆😆 Clearly has no clue what's going on here, he just upgraded wire and downgraded the connections. Those twist on connections are not water tight either...
Omg. Selling snake oil to guys with no dirt under their fingernails. I’m the time it took you to watch this you could have watched a video on how to do it the right way with solder and shrink wrap.
Actually the better right way is with marine grade wire, solderless crimp terminals, and heat shrink. Solder and shrink tubing isn't preferred in marine work for the same reason it's typically not preferred (or even allowed) in aviation - it creates stiff points in the wiring where vibration can break the wire inside the insulation.
LOL!!! What a scam! Sure, higher gauge wires will reduce resistance thus keep the voltage higher. But the kiddo talking about "you're getting clean power to this unit" it's separated from all the nitty n gritty on the panel! 🙄🤔 NOOOOOO! As long that you are connecting it to the same battery you will get that interference unless you galvanicly separates the circuit with a dc/dc converter. Ohh i forgot, when the engine is rundning the alternator should output atleast 13,4 V when not loaded to hard f.e. charging a separate battery group that are at very low voltage or under hard use. Don't buy this product unless it is cheaper than higher gauge wire. /Anders a Marine electrician.
It's beyond laughable that after installing this allegedly magical wiring harness that will allegedly speed up the processors in your units by providing the right amount of power, the graph on the console shows only 12.1 Volts after measuring 12.56 volts at the battery less than hour hour earlier. Clearly the battery isn't up to snuff, no wonder your graphs were "blinking" by 1-2PM while fishing!
THIS PRO would NEVER USE this harness. It’s not the wiring you’re using. It’s MOISTURE that’s killing your power. Copper oxide IS NOT A GOOD CONDUCTOR, its an insulator. MOISTURE 💦💦💧💧🌧🌧 KEEP YOUR CONNECTIONS AWAY FROM MOISTURE. I saved your money 💰 BIG-TIME 💵💶💷💴 you’re WELCOME
It could be electrical noise from the other components as well if it’s tied in at a fuse block etc. which is why all units say run directly to battery. Basically if anyone is already running directly to the battery they ain’t gonna gain anything with this $200 piece of trash
Why did you install the fuses at the bow? This raises two concerns. 1) if you're on the water and blow a fuse, you don't have quick access to it. 2) if the wires short together at the bow, they can heat up and catch on fire. This is a safety concern which is why the fuse should be located close to the battery. Or, if you use a fuse box, it would be wise to install an inline fuse near the battery on the main power lead to the fuse box large enough to carry the combined load.
The units are not "tricked" by the alternator running. The alternator is supplying more voltage and amps than the battery which is why you see an increase on your graphs. Additionally, the graph voltage is not very accurate, not compared to a multimeter. And voltage readings are subjective with a current load.
There's nothing about this harness that can produce better results than using quality multi-strand marine grade wiring and quality connections.
I've been saying everything you said here for the last 2 years, at sxs extreme and marine, we make our own in-house harness and it has breakers near the battery for EACH run. It also has actual fuse blocks to connect all of your graphs up to at the end of each marine grade wire Instead of finger tight posylock connectors that can rattle loose and we install a battery disconnect switch... Nothing like paying $400 for sub par equipment.
@@sandman70131the wire needs to be fused at the battery according to the size of the wire you run, I ran #8 from the battery with 40 amp breaker to a terminal strip that is wired with ring terminals and the 5 amp fuse is off the terminal strip that is protecting the supply wire to the graphs.
Solder and heat shrink would be WAY better than any screw lock connection. Also when you splay twisted copper you are losing conductivity, electricity runs on the outside of the wire.
Thats why I solder my connections and I run a separate power and ground for my graph then for anything else
I just tried soldering my mega live and 360 together with a main line going direct to the battery and the live won’t activate unless I disconnect the 360.🤷🏿♂️
@crappienaterfishing1198 sounds like your main wire is to small to carry the base load. Or your battery isn't charged completely up
I just ran 10 guauge dedicated power from my main battery to a Blue Seas fuse box I mounted in the starboard front box. Then 12 guage wire from the fuse box to all the graphs. I used all marine tinned wire. I also fused all connection appropriately.
Bill Gibson 100%. I ran 8 gauge wire from my battery to a blue seas fuse box. Then 10gauge to all 3 of my units. I can fish all day and never get a low voltage alarm.
Did your graphs function better,
Easiest way to fish gunnels on bass boats is use 3/8" pex pipe. Fish tape gets tangled in the wiring harness. unless there is a conduet. Do this every day
Im so Glad I read the comments on this video ..I dont feel crazy now ... I was looking into buying this harness .. I didn't like the idea of the "fancy wire nuts" and than when I went into the website and seen it would cost me almost $300 for what I needed I was like what a freakin minute . I started looking into what I could buy and I could buy everything I needed to do it my self for around $50 ,, and Not use "Fancy Wire Nuts" .. I dont like hating on people or anything like that ,,, But this product gets a Hard Pass from me ..
Lol no you can’t 50 ft of tinned copper duplex wire is more than 50 bucks. Plus battery switch, connectors, fuses, you’re looking at over a 100 bucks easy to wire up multiple graphs.
Yea....I priced out connectors, battery switch, fuses, fuse box, tinned copper wire.....easily over $200.....
I like that this guy wants to run a dedicated wiring harness to the units but his understanding of what's actually going on and his twist connectors are not what I personally agree with. To each his own and I wish everyone the best. You have an awesome channel and I'd love to throw some lines with ya one day bro!
Considering the distance you have to run to get to the bow, use a shielded cable with the shield connected to earth ground. This works great for eliminating noise, it's similar to shielded antenna wire. I also use silicone dielectric compound on all marine electrical wires, it prevents corrosion.
You're going overboard on the shielding thing. There is no low-impedance earth ground on a boat. I know some larger saltwater boats have a grounding plate, but that's related to electrolysis prevention and not EMI. Running sufficient gauge with good termination fixes most issues. If you think you're picking up EMI, twist the power & Gnd wires together with 3 twists per foot or so. Most never have this particular issue.
I did this mod to my Lives last year, except I soldered and shrink tubed my connections. But it makes your graphs better.
Power Wiring; #8 stranded copper, tinned, marine grade, twisted pairs (separate negative and positive) twisted together, preferably inside a metal shield (a foil shield, or run inside conduit), soldered connections, light coat of silicone grease, covered with heat shrink. Separate power runs to: bow electronics, console electronics, trolling motor etc. Each run; fused, and run through the master battery ON/OFF switch directly to the battery bank. Mechanical Connectors are potential points of failure.
What am I missing? It looks they're just running dedicated power wires.. what did they take years to develop and what did they patent? Just the screw-type connectors ?
Mike McD Agreed. Looks like upsized power wiring upgrade with special electrical connectors. I’m confused too.
Well if it's "PATENTED" he can sell some one who knows nothing about electronics a $10 rig for $199 dollars. Screw/twist connectors are absolute trash. Mikey does great stuff but this kid is blowing smoke. The graph is absolutely reading 13V's by the way. It is not "tricked" by anything. Charging voltage for any battery is more than its voltage rating and a $3000 Lowrance graph that runs GPS, multiple different kinds of sonar and other various processes is certainly getting a voltage reading correct. Kid needs to go to school and learn about electronics before he starts ripping people off for a patented wiring harness at 2000% markup.
Its the yellow electrical tape that makes it “super stream line”.
He did get one part right. Electrical noise. That’s what’s causing units to be hazy and such. And “tricking” my butt. I guess that alt gauge in your truck is being “tricked” into thinking it’s got 13.5v going to it when it really don’t either 😂😂😂Which is why all units CLEARLY state RUN DIRECTLY TO BATTERY. He’s got $30 worth of 10awg and some “wire nuts” go get you some twisters from Lowe’s and you got the same thing
Dude, im running an X78 Lowrance from 1998!
I can't imagine dropping 6k on graphs to catch fish but well you know im just a regular dude. This sport has exceeded my means but I still love to fish.
how have i lost a connection to reality? i've had black and white graphs on a modified 77 jon boat and gradually built things up. you don't need great electronics to go fishing but i have fun with them does that make me love fishing less?
Dude, saw you on smallmouth crush the other night and you were awesome. Love your approach and I appreciate why you don't believe in and pursue tournament fishing AND I found it fascinating that you were on the leading edge of all this youtube fishing vid stuff... Back to the googlevid days. Extremely impressive. I am a fan!
Where's the before and after footage of how well it works?
No man that was disappointing. You just ran dedicated wiring directly to the battery. That connector wont ever beat a solder and heat shrink. If you seeing 14v on your finder, that's cuz your motor is running and the alternator is charging the battery.
@mikeybalzz fishing: Nice video but where is the follow up one where you show the images on the water? Can`t find it.
Thanks in advance.
Specifically why I run dedicated 10awg wire to my console graphs and a separate run to my bow graphs.
Mikey love the videos. Not trying to be a dick but that guy working on your boat doesn't add up. Upgrading wire gauge and having dedicated wiring for graph's is great but. Twist connector's. Come on those things are more for a temporary repair. The wires should be coated with Dielectric grease and crimped or soldered and covered with heat shrink. There needs to a fuse at your power shutoff switch. Having inline fuses for the units need to be accessable. That's why on most boats there's a centrally located fuse panel. Having inline fuses located under a screwed shut panel is no good on the front graph's.
Like I said I'm not trying to be a dick and I'm not a keyboard warrior. I'm definitely not a know it all. But I do play one on TV. Lol!
You're dead on Lance.
if you talk to any certified electrician they gonna tell you this product esp. the twist connector is subpar/inadequate 🤦♂️
Happy to tune into a new video. Keep them coming Mr. Balzz!
Buy a spool of 10ga. jacketed marine grade duplex wire (can buy shielded if you are worried about electromagnetic interference), blue sea systems fuse and ground block, and a few heat shrink butts (crimp or built in solder connections). The only thing I see beneficial about what they are doing here is a larger gauge dedicated power source to mitigate voltage drop.
So how does the on off switch work exactly from the battery? I am getting ready to set my system up and now ordering one, But my questions are do you turn the power off when cranking and then turn it on so your getting juice to the fish finders when your running? Also having these connected directly to your cranking motor how does that pull your battery power down from having juice to crank your battery if your using your fish finders most of the day fishing and not running your motor? just seems that your pulling juice from your cranking battery and do you risk not having enough juice to crank your engine over? Sorry to sound stupid on this Im not and electrocution and I have a set of batteries for my trolling motor that most of my electronics are also hooked to while my cranking battery is isolated for only the engine use. One last question regarding in line fuses I have seen a couple videos where you discuss using 20 amp fuses and 5 amp fuses? I am only hooking up 2 fish finders one at the council and one at the bow of the boat, I have a 18 foot boat do I use the 5 amp fuses or the 20?
I just boat another boat. It has an hds live 16 .Im a brackish water fisherman but gonna try to do some scanning today for deep speckle trout.
I know this is an older video but just wanted to point out that seeing up to 14v while the outboard is running when you units are connected to the starting battery. That is normal, and correct, when an engine’s 12v charging system is operating correctly. It has to supply a voltage higher than the batteries nominal 12.6v to charge the battery. If it’s less, your battery is not being charged. It not tricking you unit, it really is getting that much voltage.
Need a scaled back shorter option. I have a MV1860 Jon boat with one graph at the bow and the battery stored at the bow 3 ft away. This only comes in 26 ft. length and with a switch and one inline fuse you’re looking at $260+.
Save $200 and run 10awg designated power and ground wires for your graphs with crimp connectors with heat shrink or solder and heat shrink
You should never have non marine grade connections in a boat.
I saw a few in this video pre existing.
Also why not remove those splices ?
Wouldn’t that be a weak point with your nicer harness layout ?
The reason it shows 13-14v while running is because of the alternator. They run at approximately 14v to keep the battery charged and run the electric components of the engine.
Jonny_Schools shhh 🤫🤫🤫 it’s pretty apparent he doesn’t know any better. It’s VERY apparent he doesn’t know about electricity which lets me know he knows NOTHING about the product he’s trying to sell. The same wiring he’s using can be bought on eBay right now for $50. Put you some real connections on it whether it be from a bus bar or uninsulated butt connectors then adhesive lined heat shrink and have a 1000x better setup than this garbage here all for less than 75 bucks
Soldering is the best connection hands down. Prove me wrong. I will wait
@@williamthigpen4480 This is from Code of Federal Regulations Title 33 CFR Sections 183.401 - 183.460 on marine wiring.
Solder is permitted but cannot be the sole means of making the connection. This is because if the connection becomes very hot the solder might melt. Solder also tends to make the end of the wire into a solid wire as it wicks into the stranded conductors. The end of the wire then loses it flexibility and so is more prone to cracking induced by vibration.
@@williamthigpen4480 LMAO. You know nothing about electronics if you think soldering is the best for a marine setup. Go back to school. Like Johnmuirhead said above, soldering is brittle and can melt. Heat shrink crimped connectors are the bee's knees on a marine setup.
When the motor is running and it shows 13.5 to 14.5 volts that is because that is what your graph is getting when main motor is running it is charging at 13.5 to 14.5 volts it is not tricking your graph to thinking it is getting that
Do you make it for Kayak units?
Where can I get those connectors at and what size wire did you use?
Great video always great information
I solder my connections and use heat shrink to keep them dry.
You got the heat shrink part right. Solder? Nope, afraid not; use solderless crimp terminals/connectors instead. The aviation industry does this for numerous reasons that also apply to marine electrical systems.
Was there ever a follow up video showing the graphs?
Where can I get the quick connections
Except for not seeing Bog I like the install videos.
Going to install seaclear in my champion
What kind of wire splitters are those?
When are you getting your other graph fixed or replaced, I know your missing it
8:32-9:07? What's up with that? Just black screen
Snake oil.
T Andrew people don’t realize all it is is 8 or 10awg in a fancy jacket with essentially wire nuts.
@@78freewheeler I am in the process of making my own. I am getting marine grade shielded wire. It's a little more expensive. Still quite a bit cheaper with a DIY job.
Pretty much. Solder connections with heat shrink is best with 8 to 10 awg wire will do exact same thing and be alot cheaper then this $240 wiring harness
Question guys, I have a rev.2 HDS 12 touch, and when running rough water, the unit shuts off. Will this harness resolver that?
U mean the power goes off or it stops scanning?
@@mikeybalzz It totally shuts off, and it will try to come back on, but as long as I'm running in rough water it will never open. Once I shut down it will open and start working again. Sounds like a bad connection somewhere in the unit?
@@johnkoons7163 definitely sounds like a connection problem. if your unit is hooked up to a board under your console i'd start by looking at that and just see if any connectors are lose. that sucks man i feel for you. electrical stuff is the worst to track down.
Will it work for Humminbird Helix
Does the harness work with mega 360 and live?
works with all of them yup
@@mikeybalzz I bought it!
This is huge when it comes to graphs, quality in equals to quality out
Great video for those that know nothing about electricity. The only positive result was isolating the graphs power from the boats wiring and voltage supply. You gain NO more power than the original wires. 5 amp at 12v no matter how big the wire is. That being said a proper test would be testing at the battery and then at the units the voltage should be the same. If not you have a voltage drop which would be resolved by increasing wire size. All wire connections should be soldered and marine heat shrink applied to reduce corrosion. Sever months of moisture those twist connectors will be corroded. To be clear the voltage being displayed of versus motor running is the alternator charging the battery at a regulated rate Approx. 13.6v Again that is determined by the load applied to it. as load increases the voltage decreases. A good marine battery fully charge should be closer to 13v than 12v
I hate to burst your bubble, but some of what you say is wrong. A technically trained person (think electrical engineer) knows this. "Power" is measured in watts consumed by the device, meaning when the working load is applied. The voltage at the load is not fixed at 12V; the less adequate the wiring is, the more the voltage will drop at the load. You CAN get more power at a remote point by doing something to hold the voltage higher - meaning reduce voltage drop along the conductor. When you measure the no-load voltage at the bow of a boat you'll likely see no difference than at the battery unless you have expensive test instruments. This is because mere milliamps are required for the voltmeter's load on the circuit. As load increases, the voltage drop along the length of the conductor increases (V = Amps x Total Ohms for the conductor's resistance). Wire has resistance per foot of length for any given gauge, so the longer the wire, the greater that voltage drop. So, for example, the power available at the bow may be 5A x 12V = 60 Watts, or with a smaller gauge wire, you might get 5A x 11V = 55 Watts because the voltage drop in the conductor is higher. As the wire gauge decreases, the voltage drop increases, so the available power in watts at the end of the conductor DOES fall. Adding the outboard starter load drops the source voltage, so the voltage at a graph may fall so low it doesn't meet spec, and the unit shuts down. An adequate low resistance circuit to the load AND BACK to the battery will stop his problem unless he has an inadequate battery by spec or by failure.
By the way, the units were not "isolated from the voltage supply" as they are still connected to the same battery. What happened is the units are further isolated from sources of electrical noise in the boat's equipment such as bilge pumps and livewell pumps. This happened by going back to the battery to implement a dedicated "subsystem" of power distribution to the graphs.
Looks like an easy way to upgrade to dedicated power.
So basically you're running a dedicated line to your screens from the battery, rather than pulling power from the fuse block at console? Do you really need your harness to accomplish this? It seems like a nice product, but making "quality connections" is paramount in any wiring installation.
Nice harness. Terminal buses are nice also
Just here to appriciate the lexus floor mats
I don’t understand running huge wires from battery but they connect to the dinkey little wires coming from units.
For any size wire, the longer it is the more resistance it yields. Smaller wires give more resistance for a given length than larger wires, so running 20 ft of heavy wire to 2 ft of small wire (the leads from the units) gives less total resistance than 22 ft of the small wire.
Ermanno D'Angelo the line loss on 12v dc is minimal, you are right. 25 ft of 12 awg with a 1 amp load would be like a .66% loss of voltage, those giant wires are for show.
I bought super expensive graphs and my console graph always shuts off when I crank my motor over. Waiting on a Lithium Pro to see if that fixes it.
Your installer probably ran 16 gauge wire to your units, run 10 gauge directly to all your units off your power and their won’t be such a high power draw when you crank the big motor. Upgrading to lithium’s will not change the current supply of your graph wiring.
"your" is making smart predictions. If your graph shuts down when you crank the outboard, that typically is caused by: 1) The wiring between the battery and the graph has (unnecessary) splices of a substandard quality and/or the conductor's gauge is too small (16 ga. being common, heavier 10 ga. being what often corrects the problem)., or 2) Your battery is inadequate to begin with or is beginning to fail. Buying a Lithium technology battery is NOT the way to fix this issue, and it may not! (especially if the wiring is substandard). Get your cranking battery load tested, and make sure it is rated to crank your outboard in the first place.
Mabe a dead spot in the key switch when it's in the crank spot.🤔
@@randyroth383 no, he has inadequate wiring resulting in voltage drop below minimum for the unit when he engages the starter, so it shuts down. This problem seems to occur 100s or 1000s of times per month as a result of shoddy installation or sometimes weak starting battery about to fail. I'm always amused watching people's very expensive attempts to correct a $20 wiring issue.
@@user-xt3hs8ys5c you're very welcome. This topic is something I happen to know a lot about (professionally).
Why is this better than running dedicated wires from the battery?
Fish On! It ain’t. It’s snake oil go get people to spend their hard earned money on $30 worth of wire.
I was watching when he was wiring the front graph, now why did u leave that butt splice in the harness off the inline fuse instead cutting that out of the way? More resistance right there and isn't that what u guys are trying to get rid of as far as using bigger wires?
If you are showing 13 or 14, because the way you wired your system you wired into the electronics in the engine. You were reading the amps from the Generator. Only my thoughts men!
So if Carbon units are Live capable, why upgrade to HDS Lives?
Also called fish tape
8AWG marine wire, Fuses and a cut off switch for $450.
This wiring harness makes absolutely no sense to me. I've done electrical work for years and I see no difference than running a dedicated power wire from the battery to the unit and soldering your connections. When your volts are reading higher than 12 when your engine is running it isn't tricking the unit at all. It's giving you a true reading of the voltage charging your batteries coming off the alternator. I'm not trying to be a keyboard warrior, but this made my head hurt. I'm certain it works, but soldering is better than twist or crimp connections. Also I've seen plenty of boats with crimps that work just fine....my buddy Paul's rig is a birds nest and his Livescope still works lolol
Solder isn't better for a boat. It creates rigid points where the conductors are prone to break adjacent to the solder joint. Crimped terminals with adhesive shrink tubing are actually preferred.
@@txman201 Yes I stand corrected here as I learned from a marine tech. I just bought a new Ranger and installed new graphs. I went the way of crimps and shrink tubing.
@@bassinwithbuck4955 enjoy it. I have a 521c. I'm in the middle of a DIY upgrade - Ghost + 2 more screens upsized to 12 inch, 4 total now.
One note... A fully charged 12V lead-acid battery actually should measure 13.2 Volts. (2.2V x 6 cells = 13.2V) Wire voltage drop should be negligible...
I know what your talking about, i can barely see my hummersbird units. Oh wait i figured it out. Im 6’-6” tall and my flush mount bird is a helix 5 🥴🥴🥴. Its really my fault, i put my spare pesos on 2 power poles instead of electronics. Can i set up a Go Fund Me for new equipment?
Why not just run all your units off of it's own 12 volt deep cycle . That's how i run mine and those just seem to be nicer butt connectors. I could have missed something in this video . Screen flashes I have never experienced that not one time. I never liked the idea of running your graphs off your starter battery . High end units get their own battery . For all i know maybe i shouldn't be running my graphs like that.
Snake oil and nothing more.
Source: Basic Physics in high school. Many more years of physics in college confirmed.
No graph will perform any better or be more clear/detailed with more voltage than recommended.
It can underperform, flicker, or shut off with improper voltage or wire size or bad connections.
Most boats from factory dont have proper wire size.
With the amount of units many have on boats now and size of screens, a Lithium battery is almost a must have for electronics.
Multiple units, Livescope, 360, etc can draw 5+ amps. That will drain a standard wet battery pretty fast.
A good 100+Amp hour lithium these days is about $1000. Many have built in processors with a phone app that monitors them and shows amps being drawn and estimated time left.
Do you like blowing smoke on things you don't understand? Seems so. Quite a few of the premium 12" screen units draw a typical 2 amps, others far less. A proper main battery in a boat typically isn't depleted by having electronics attached. Note that any time the outboard is on and above idle, the battery is being charged, as well as providing power for the electronics. I've got a Group 31 AGM for starting my Merc 250 and running 4 12" graphs. I have yet to need to use my jump-starter. I do put the two console units in standby when I go to the bow to fish. I have 3 100A lithiums for the TM, but have yet to need a 5th battery.
OMG, it was hilarious when he said the alternator tricked the display voltage. 😆😆😆 Clearly has no clue what's going on here, he just upgraded wire and downgraded the connections. Those twist on connections are not water tight either...
Omg. Selling snake oil to guys with no dirt under their fingernails. I’m the time it took you to watch this you could have watched a video on how to do it the right way with solder and shrink wrap.
Actually the better right way is with marine grade wire, solderless crimp terminals, and heat shrink. Solder and shrink tubing isn't preferred in marine work for the same reason it's typically not preferred (or even allowed) in aviation - it creates stiff points in the wiring where vibration can break the wire inside the insulation.
LOL!!! What a scam! Sure, higher gauge wires will reduce resistance thus keep the voltage higher. But the kiddo talking about "you're getting clean power to this unit" it's separated from all the nitty n gritty on the panel! 🙄🤔 NOOOOOO! As long that you are connecting it to the same battery you will get that interference unless you galvanicly separates the circuit with a dc/dc converter.
Ohh i forgot, when the engine is rundning the alternator should output atleast 13,4 V when not loaded to hard f.e. charging a separate battery group that are at very low voltage or under hard use.
Don't buy this product unless it is cheaper than higher gauge wire.
/Anders a Marine electrician.
I must be a the short buss, hard to find out what they are talking about.
You're just eliminating voltage drop with over sized wiring.
Stuff to high order same thing of eBay for less then 100 they want 500
It's beyond laughable that after installing this allegedly magical wiring harness that will allegedly speed up the processors in your units by providing the right amount of power, the graph on the console shows only 12.1 Volts after measuring 12.56 volts at the battery less than hour hour earlier. Clearly the battery isn't up to snuff, no wonder your graphs were "blinking" by 1-2PM while fishing!
HDSI? U Mean LOW-Rance? NO CHANCE IN FRANCE ! GARMIN's THE BEST !
THIS PRO would NEVER USE this harness. It’s not the wiring you’re using. It’s MOISTURE that’s killing your power. Copper oxide IS NOT A GOOD CONDUCTOR, its an insulator. MOISTURE 💦💦💧💧🌧🌧 KEEP YOUR CONNECTIONS AWAY FROM MOISTURE. I saved your money 💰 BIG-TIME 💵💶💷💴 you’re WELCOME
Thanks!
It could be electrical noise from the other components as well if it’s tied in at a fuse block etc. which is why all units say run directly to battery. Basically if anyone is already running directly to the battery they ain’t gonna gain anything with this $200 piece of trash
first hahah
Awesome stuff but poor instructions and bad video quality. Sorry but true.