Inline fuse holder installation

I bought a Humminbird 385 and it says I need to install a inline fuse holder if connecting right to the batteries. I bought a fuse holder but how the heck do I install it? Its one that just screws together in the middle but there is no ends to the wires. Do I have to cut something?

Just an FYI, good quality, I don't mean auto store, crimp connectors with the correct crimpers are far better than solder. Case in point is the military and aircraft industries, they no longer solder anything. The reason being there is a higher chance of melted insulation, fluxes promting corrosion, fatigue in high vibration areas. Granted the terminals and tools are a bit more pricey, but the percentage of failure reduces to nothing if care is taken. I do a lot of wiring on race cars, boats and custom hot rods, so failure is not an option. Also 12 volts will start fires just as easy as a match. Heat shrink is used throughout, extra protection, insulation and just plain looks good. Use the adhesive lined for the ultimate seal. Almost every boat has an extra fuse, switch or power supply somewhere for ease of adding extras. If not ,follow the previous suggested guidelines with a quality marine/military fuse holder and enjoy the fact your gear is trouble free. Just be safe with wiring and don't be afraid to ask questions.

If you are going to incorporate electronic devices in your boat then they need GOOD wiring to run correctly with the correct sized or overzised wiring to provide the current and amps to power them. Most of the boat wiring I have ever seen is at best minimal when it is new but after a few years it has deteroiated to crap.

If you go to the big box sports stores and look in the boating section I have found inline fuse holders that are black rubber with a red pigtail about 4" long sticking out each side they are sealed on the ends and have a number of sealing rings around the middle section where they enclose the fuse in a waterproof jacket of rubber. They come in a number of different wire sizes to accomidate different amp and current loads. When using these place them as close to the battery as you can to limit the length of wire that in not fuse protected. You want the fuse to stop any short circut so the more wire there is before the fuse the more area that can become cut or pinched and turn into a red hot melting knife cutting into other wiring causing batteries to explode or thousands of dollars of boat rewiring or worse case a floating bonfire.

Strip back about 3/8" of wire on each wire you are going to join then slide a chunk of heat shrink tubing (radio shack) over the wire and slide it as far away from the joint as you can get it to stop it from shrinking as you solder the wires (heat will travel up the wire quite a ways. Now press the two wire ends together sliding the opposing strands of each wire end into an interwoven bundle then with your fingers roll the ends to make it round as you can. Heat up your solder iron and apply to the new bundle of wire ends you have created. Keep holding it there until you can melt the solder by touching the wires not the solder iron tip, keep flowing solder and moving your iron around the bundle until you have a solid SHINEY lump of wire and solder. remove the iron and don't move the new joint until it is cool to the touch (can take a few minutes with large guage wires). Now wipe some DiElectric grease over the entire joint and slide the shrink tubing to cover the new joint. apply heat to shrink the tubing. Wrap the whole joint and shrink tubing in good quality electrical tape starting 1/2" before the shrink tubing and finishing 1/2" after the shrink tubing. Coat the new properly sized fuse (bigger is not better) ends in DiElectric grease and insert the fuse into the holder and inspect your work.

Have a beer and know the new inline fuse you just installed will be protecting your electronics and your boating investment for years to come if you followed all of the step to a T.

Looks like the original poster went to the fuse panel to solve his troubles, but for anyone else reading this.....

I would not use the "screws together" type of round fuse. Those things just flat suck. Period. The ONE exception is the one that's on my portable ice fishing pack. For some reason that one just never loses connection.

But, EVERY single other one I've ever had has been replaced with the big "tooth" style drop-in fuses because of connection issues.

Save yourself a ton of headaches. Go to the auto section at Fleet Farm, get one of their auto drop-in fuse thingeys that takes the "tooth" shaped fuses.

-Eric

Fuse box: Even better!

Thanks for the help guys. However I have a fuse box that I didnt know about so I can just use that.(Still new to the owning a boat thing)

All that the coach said plus solder the wires. Be careful with the heat shrink, soldering the wires will shrink the tube and it won't fit. I usually double layer the heatshrink with one on the wire splice and one over both wires to limit the mess.

To install an in-line fuse holder, you need to cut the wire (presumably in the middle), then strip back each newly-cut end @ 3/8", then cut the positive side of the sonar power cable, strip back those back @ 3/8", and connect the ends of the fuse holder to the exposed ends of the positive power cable using butt connectors.

If you locate the fuse holder connection somewhere where it will be exposed to getting wet (like on the transom), you might want to seal the butt connectors with shrink tubing.