should I rewire this fuse block?

[Pachanga Boy]

so lets start off by saying that 3rd graders probably understand electrical wiring better then I do. Basically I'm struggling with the issue that after many owners and lots of aftermarket spaghetti I'm trying to add a few extra accessories (lights, a cigerrete lighter, TV antenna) and I've run out of room on the existing fuse block that is under the dash. the problem I'm running into is that the fuse block is wired to the accessory breaker on my dash, and if I understand the way this thing is currently powered nothing is actually fused (accept one connection on the bottom which isn't actually getting any power, which I don't understand but again I'm an idiot with electrical). so the question is should I:
A. ditch the fuse block and just get some sort of disribution block since it's already inline with a 15 amp breaker?

B. run new power directly from the battery to this block and bypass the breaker and rewire to be an actual "fused" block.

C. ditch this old fuse panel and upgrade to a new one retaining the same leads to/from the breaker.

D. leave it alone it's worked this long, and just add a new block for the extra accesories you want to add.

E. just call a professional because I obviously have no clue what I'm talking about.

just trying to be safe, and with what might be 6 plus accessories running from stereo's to TV's to lights I don't want to overload and melt the boat.

sorry just figured out I probably should have posted this in the "electrical Stuff" forum

 

[JimG]

For more circuits, I would replace and re-wire. Maintaining the separately fused circuits will help with troubleshooting problems. The way it's wired now, as you deduced, only one circuit is fused... the remaining circuits are tied directly to the buss which is not safe, especially for the smaller gauge wires like at position 2 from the bottom.

 

[Lazy Daze]

I agree - start fresh. For one, to get rid of that mess... two, so you know EXACTLY what you're dealing with... three, you want to add more things to the circuit which means you may need to use a bigger feed wire to the new block... and four, it's probably not long until the breaker on your dash starts to trip intermittently (and eventually fail) from age.

Check the B+ lead that is currently going to the circuit breaker. I would think you'll want that to at least be a 10-gauge. If it is, great - use that as your lead to the new block. If not, run a new wire from the battery. I'd probably go with an 8-gauge, if it was me. But, ideally, you should figure out the draw that everything you anticipate using will be pulling, along with the distance from the battery to the block and back (to the engine grounding point) to appropriately size your wiring. You may need to upgrade the ground wire, to.

As far as a new block goes, there's lots to pick from. Decide how many total circuits you'll need and buy a block that has at least two more circuits than that.

 

[2000SEARAY280SS]

Make sure you do all of this with the DC powered off verified with a volt meter red to right and black to left set to 20 volts DC or higher in case the block is wired directly to the battery.

Until you decide what you want to do there are a couple of easy things you can do with what you have.

On the left of the picture you posted it looks like a ground black wire is disconnected. My bet is that a bolt at the top of the ground bus fell out and the lug is dangling making intermittent contact. You can double it up with another black wire lug on the left side of the block. this should bring something back to life on your boat.the block is direct

Do you see the bolts in the middle of the block those are where the positive leads for the devices being fused need to attach. Right now you are not fusing any of your devices except that heavy gauge red wire at the bottom of the block since every thing is attached to the main positive bus on the right. If you want to fuse the downstream devices move the red wires with blue lugs to the screws at the center of the block.

What I can not determine are the fuse ratings needed for your powered devices. Check what fuse size is installed to the left of the red/blue lug wires and if that small wire is around 5 amps and the rest are in the 10 to 15 range you should be good just moving the red/blue wires to the center of the block.

 

[Pachanga Boy]

Thanks guys upgraded to a new block and ran new wire back to the house battery. So it's just permanently powered and moved the stereo to the breaker. It was a messy task with tons of random dead wires and ones that were spliced in multiple spots. I got photos somewhere....hmmm. Anyway thanks for the help guys I feel a ton better about it