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Northeaster · 03-07-2009, 10:03

Hi Folks,

Just hooked the new 18" raydome up t omy Raymarine C80 display, and it is working fine.
However, I noticed that I had let's say 12.60 volts at my DC panel (using a meter accross the back posts of the old broken old analog battery gauge), whereas I only measured about 12.00 a few feet away at the connection block, where the Raymarine power is attached.

As I thought this drop seemed excessive, I temporairly connected in a larger (12Ga) wire from the DC panel, to the Raymarine power connection point only, and still had ablou the same drop.

Questions:

1. Is this normal, or easily explained?
2. Is the fact that I am metering voltage at the DC panel, with little of no amperage draw on it, giving me the higher reading, whereas a few feet away I am measuring with the power to the unit turned on?

The feed to the DC panel (from the battery switch) is original, and perhaps undersized, but since I didn't have any other circuits on at the panel, I would not think this would be an issue. I could see if I was running the cabin lights, water or bilge pump, etc at the same time, all over a possibly undersized feed!

Thoughts?

03-07-2009, 10:03	#1
Northeaster Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Nova Scotia, Canada Boat: Seafarer 30 Impetuous Posts: 276	Acceptable DC Voltage Drop? Hi Folks, Just hooked the new 18" raydome up t omy Raymarine C80 display, and it is working fine. However, I noticed that I had let's say 12.60 volts at my DC panel (using a meter accross the back posts of the old broken old analog battery gauge), whereas I only measured about 12.00 a few feet away at the connection block, where the Raymarine power is attached. As I thought this drop seemed excessive, I temporairly connected in a larger (12Ga) wire from the DC panel, to the Raymarine power connection point only, and still had ablou the same drop. Questions: 1. Is this normal, or easily explained? 2. Is the fact that I am metering voltage at the DC panel, with little of no amperage draw on it, giving me the higher reading, whereas a few feet away I am measuring with the power to the unit turned on? The feed to the DC panel (from the battery switch) is original, and perhaps undersized, but since I didn't have any other circuits on at the panel, I would not think this would be an issue. I could see if I was running the cabin lights, water or bilge pump, etc at the same time, all over a possibly undersized feed! Thoughts?