Power and NMEA socket/plugs

[JumbleDuck]

I spent a cheerful two hours today ripping the instrument wiring out of my boat. Not the very neat original B&G stuff, but the later accretions - VHF, radar detector, GPS, gas alarm, navtex - which seem to have been connected together with silly string.

I would like to have a reasonably neat way of connecting power and data: the later will just be a bus with NMEA0183 going in from the GPS and going out to the VHF and maybe to something else later. It would be nice to have a wee panel with a row of fused sockets for power and a row of data sockets for NMEA. Before I go trawling through the CPC website, has anyone any bright ideas about what I might use?

 

[ianj99]

http://www.rapidonline.com/cables-connectors/15a-barrier-terminal-blocks-63857 for power and / or nmea - screw terminals

Link several together for +v, -v, nmea data to other devices, and 1 for each nmea input.

http://www.rapidonline.com/cables-connectors/tab-terminal-block-61876 also for power or nmea with crimp female blade connectors

Plenty of other multipole connectors on Rapid's website but you'd need to solder them on.

 

[pvb]

Surely NMEA wiring is a one-time action? Why would you want sockets? Just hard wire it.

 

[Yngmar]

I'd use DIN rail for power. Lovely to work with, nice and clean and very flexible in what you can clip to it (terminals, fuses, fused terminals, bridges that go into the center slot of the terminals, etc.). The terminals to use on boats (where you'll have stranded wire only) are screw type with a plate shielding the cable from the screw. Or you can crimp bootlace ferrules to your wire and use cheaper plate-less screw terminals.

Both RS Components and Farnell have oodles of this stuff, as will your local sparky supplier.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Many thanks for the suggestions. I have meanwhile bought a dual circuit + negative busbar fusebox like this

from eBay. At the moment there is a single heavy-ish supply from the battery to the original B&G instruments, with other stuff hung on it later. I'm going to add a separate circuit for the GPS, radio an so on, because I like to keep power use to a minimum and the B&G stuff is a bit hungry. It's hidden behind a fold-down chart table, so nice to be able to switch it from the main panel. Having reflected, I'll probably hard wire everything to the fuse box and fit a couple of standard cigarette lighter sockets to feed anything attached occasionally.

pvb, the GPS -> radio NMEA connection can certainly be hard wired, but I'd like to have a breakout from that in case I want to feed GPS data to something else.

ianj99, great suggestions from Rapid. At some point I shall have to do something about the rats' nest behind the main panel (it's nowhere near as bad as the instrument spaghetti, though) and those look like just what I shall need there.

 

[nigelmercier]

... The terminals to use on boats (where you'll have stranded wire only) are screw type with a plate shielding the cable from the screw. Or you can crimp bootlace ferrules to your wire and use cheaper plate-less screw terminals.

I'm in a similar situation, looking for a "chocolate block" type connector with shields above the screws, rated at at least 16A. I've got some 1.5mm² ferrules, but I'm not sure I have the right crimping tool. I've also got some barrier terminal strips, but these need ring terminals.

To the OP, this is how I wired my NMEA devices: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...unction-Box-suggestions&p=5032335#post5032335

 

[pvb]

I'm in a similar situation, looking for a "chocolate block" type connector with shields above the screws, rated at at least 16A.

F-3245 on this page - http://www.indexmarine.co.uk/connector.html

 

[nigelmercier]

F-3245 on this page - http://www.indexmarine.co.uk/connector.html

Thanks for that. No prices, but now I know the keyword is "leaf" I found them at RS. Only trouble is I now have to find more stuff to make the order over £20

 

[pvb]

Thanks for that. No prices, but now I know the keyword is "leaf" I found them at RS. Only trouble is I now have to find more stuff to make the order over £20

Many chandleries sell Index Marine products, or there's an online store at http://www.indexmarine.uk.com/Products/Waterproof-Accessories?search=f3245 although the home page says they're not despatching until later this week.