let's go a little further on this again,shall we...

new digital electronics-these require a constant voltage to operate correctly.a common problem with the raymarine "c" series sets is the wiring to power the set,not the unit itself.what i'm saying is,you need a seperate feed and ground to a seperate ground buss and power buss for these style electronics,without these,you're kinda asking for trouble.i've seen way too many installers set these up wrong,or rely on the boat mfg's power and ground buss-a boat that's common to this is both the gradys and the parkers,terrible electical systems...these boat mfg's use a 10g wire from a main breaker to feed the entire electrical system-not good...think of it like this...you have a gardne hose running water to you,another guy,he taps into the hose,the flow of water to you is diminished,right ? another guy,he taps in to,the flow is even more diminished,right ? same thing applies with electricity...think about electricity as being water,both take the path of least resistance,right ?

it's very difficult to diagnose an electrical problem over the phone,things get lost in conversation-remember that...the system that most people have the most problems with is the electrical system,alot of guys get really confused really quickly too when it comes to electrical...all this is the reason,i have a one day seminar on the schedule,dedicated to 12v electrical systems...now,don't get thinking,"i'm never gonna be able to understand all this" and "i got no clue what this guy is talking about with "ohm's law" and paralleling batteries",don't sweat it...when you get done,you will be able to properly trouble shoot your electrical problems,you will also be able to make connections the correct waterproof way,and you'll understand the basics-even an electrical engineer will learn from this...it's on the schedule...
i read alot of these forums and i post things on them too...the whole reason i ever got involved in all this is due to the incredible amount of misinformation i see and read.the marine industry is an very interesting industry,nothing like the automobile industry.i first started running service seminars for maintaining outboards,i started this fall-never did it before,reason i started it was what i read concerning servicing outboards-some guy was giving completley wrong advice to an inexpereienced guy...ok,sounds harmelss engough right ? think about this for a second,someone else read the same advice,believed what he read,followed the instructions and destroyed his engine-not good huh ? can it happen ? sure can...same deal with electricity here...some of the stuff i have read and seen is down right scary...i had a boat in for service,it belonged to a gentleman who's an electrical contractor,a certified electrician...his bilge pump,the auto side was fed froma single piece of solid core copper wire,stripped and wrapped under the positive battery terminal,no fuse,and conectedto the auto switch feed using a "wire nut"...
here's the picture of it...

look at the thin black wire,this is the feed for the auto bilge switch...




these are the connections for the only bilge pump on the boat...




i forgot to mention the battery cable to feed the port engine,it was bolted together...nice huh ?




this is all done by a cerified electrician...nice huh ? this is the reason i'm not impressed with what people claim they know or what certifications and education the claim they have,trust me,i've seen just about everything...
i'll post up the dates i have for the electrical seminar...