2006 280da bow thruster

C

Chris S280

New Member
Mar 14, 2020
23
Boat Info
2006 Sea Ray Sundance 280
Engines
twin 5.0 w/ Bravo III Drives
Looking for some info on the wiring on a bow thruster. I purchased the 280 last year and there is a separate battery under the cushions in the bow of the boat. There are no wires running to the battery to charge it i was told by the marina that i bought it through that the previous owner had to take the battery out every so often and recharge it. Im thinking there has to be a better way to keep it charged besides having to pull it out every now and then. If i would be able to remove the battery and use the other ones for the rest of the boat would be great cause it would give me more storage space. Thank you in advance for any info that you have.
 
You should definitely consider moving the battery - possibly creating a larger "house" bank in the bilge if you want to. Right now, it's not a safe situation. Batteries give off hydrogen gas and they are required to be in a well ventilated compartment - which it is not. I don't know what the specific rules are about batteries in sleeping areas (even if you created a ventilated compartment), but that could be another issue.

Run new power wires from the bilge to the thruster. Check power requirements and size wires/cables appropriately. You can snake wires up either side of the boat from the bilge - just depends on what makes the most sense for you.
 
Lazy Daze said:
You should definitely consider moving the battery - possibly creating a larger "house" bank in the bilge if you want to. Right now, it's not a safe situation. Batteries give off hydrogen gas and they are required to be in a well ventilated compartment - which it is not. I don't know what the specific rules are about batteries in sleeping areas (even if you created a ventilated compartment), but that could be another issue.

Run new power wires from the bilge to the thruster. Check power requirements and size wires/cables appropriately. You can snake wires up either side of the boat from the bilge - just depends on what makes the most sense for you.
Click to expand...

As of right now there are 2 batteries on position 1 of the master switch and 1 battery on position 2 and 1 battery on the second master switch. So there is a total of 4 batteries in the bilge area of the boat with the one in the bow that makes a fifth battery total. I should be able to just eliminate the one in the bow and just come off of the house batteries there should be enough power coming off the house batteries do you think?
 
Lazy Daze said:
You should definitely consider moving the battery - possibly creating a larger "house" bank in the bilge if you want to. Right now, it's not a safe situation. Batteries give off hydrogen gas and they are required to be in a well ventilated compartment - which it is not. I don't know what the specific rules are about batteries in sleeping areas (even if you created a ventilated compartment), but that could be another issue.

Run new power wires from the bilge to the thruster. Check power requirements and size wires/cables appropriately. You can snake wires up either side of the boat from the bilge - just depends on what makes the most sense for you.
Click to expand...

What he said... BTW hydrogen gas is explosive.
 
ill be pulling that bow battery as soon as i get the boat back this week. and start working on running new cables. something to do during the quarantine.
 
Yeah, you'll be fine with your existing batteries. You'll be running the engine and charging the batteries, anyways.

Stbd side... follow the existing pathway of cable - up behind the false wall of the cockpit sink (can remove the carpeted back (feel for screw heads hidden in carpet), then remove the cubby by the driver and try to push a fish past the head (there's space between the outboard head wall and hull side) and then behind the galley. I haven't gone that far on a 280DA to give you any specifics on the galley and access, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

Port side... may need to remove the midcabin mirror to help get to the MDP and then figure out how to get behind the dinette.

I've never wired one up... How much amperage does the thruster pull? Can you add a breaker to the cabin MDP and get power there? Or possibly start at your main DC breaker panel. You can check wiring diagram in your manual for wire size available - or just pull the panel(s) as they come out easy enough.
 
My recommendation would be to go down the port side. The high amp wires for the windlass go that way and the batteries are on the port side. There is also more space for new batteries on that side (The stbd side has the vacum generator and holding tank). So its a straight shot and will be a shorter wire run.

You open the mirrors and just unscrew the covers that are along the top. Next if you drop the main power panel you can see the path up along the side of the hull. You may have to fish something along the top of the tambor shelf, but that is also the ac chase so it should be cool running.

Forward in the port closet is another cover. If you come into that you should be able to drop the wires down through the closet into the stbd side vee berth cubby and then into the big hole under the center of the vee berth.
 
Thank you Henry and Lazy Daze for all the help and good information i appreciate all of it. I will be giving it a shot here later on this week i hope and let you know how i make out. All the manuals for the bow thruster are in the boat so once i go over them i will know what the best way to go is. It just amazes me how whoever installed this originally didn't do it the proper way and also prior to the year that i bought the boat theres a sticker on it that says it went through a safety inspection from the state of New York and everything passed I guess they didn't think a battery in the v berth was an issue HaHa. Safety is the number one priority for me and my family and I thank you both again for helping me out.
 
Not sure how your boat is wired but on my 2008 the windless and bow thruster are on the same feed from the engine room.
There is a circuit breaker in the engine room and then one breaker at each windless, bow thruster.
I know it was a big wire I think it was like # 2 or 2/0 not sure of the size.
Comes off the starting batters.
My guess is the battery in the bow is cheaper then the wire.
 
Spark600 said:
Not sure how your boat is wired but on my 2008 the windless and bow thruster are on the same feed from the engine room.
There is a circuit breaker in the engine room and then one breaker at each windless, bow thruster.
I know it was a big wire I think it was like # 2 or 2/0 not sure of the size.
Comes off the starting batters.
My guess is the battery in the bow is cheaper then the wire.
Click to expand...
thank you ill check it out gotta see the size wire they got running there
 
Henry Boyd said:
Isn't that going to make dropping anchor difficult?
Click to expand...
How is that when docking not using the anchor and when anchoring not using the bow thruster.
This was set up like this from the factory when boat was new.
The switch on the dash just powers either one so you can't use the two at the same time.
 
Spark600 said:
How is that when docking not using the anchor and when anchoring not using the bow thruster.
This was set up like this from the factory when boat was new.
The switch on the dash just powers either one so you can't use the two at the same time.
Click to expand...
Can you share some pics and more info on this? Did you buy the boat new? This was never a factory option on this boat and I'm wondering if it was something done at the dealer level? If Sea Ray did it, this would have been something "over and above".
 
No I did not buy the boat new and it was on my previously owned Formula PC, If you want I can probably dig up some old photos if you want.
 
Spark600 said:
No I did not buy the boat new and it was on my previously owned Formula PC, If you want I can probably dig up some old photos if you want.
Click to expand...
No, don't put yourself out. If you have them readily available, great - if not, don't worry about. I work at a Sea Ray dealership and had never seen this before (specifically, the "switch" to pick which system) from Sea Ray. I was just curious about the whole setup, that's all.

If this was done correctly, there must be more going on since the feed shouldn't come directly from the battery without going through a disconnect (shouldn't be "always" hot). I would imagine there is a large solenoid/relay involved, too.
 
Yes there is a solenoid at each and a battery switch in the engine room that will power the two.
They ran one wire to the bow thruster solenoid for the power and came off same terminal to power the windless solenoid.
 
Spark600 said:
No I did not buy the boat new and it was on my previously owned Formula PC, If you want I can probably dig up some old photos if you want.
Click to expand...

Silly me, I thought we were discussing a Sea Ray 280. I suppose I should have chimed in and suggested the OP didn’t need a bow thruster, just use the pods in joystick mode instead. Oh wait, 280s don’t come with pods.
 
I had my bow thruster installed. In the floor storage where the tube, thruster motor are located there are 2 AGM (no off-gassing) batteries located, 1/0 cables run back to the ER where they connect to battery combiner and that is then connected to the house bank for re-charging.
 
Henry, good point about routing the wires along the port side. That makes the most sense.

Chris, does your 12V DC breaker panel have any extra spaces in it for another breaker? There are some pretty heavy gauge wires already feeding that - possibly a 6g or 4g. Check your wiring diagram to double check me - or just open up the panel. Maybe that's enough for your application? Then you could run the thruster wiring from there.
 
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