Installing A Bow Mounted Fish Finder

[FrogFreak]

OK, I have a question. Can I tap into the wires for my bow trim controls to wire my fish finder at the bow? I really don't want to run wires all the way back to the cranking battery if I can help it. I haven't bought a fish finder yet, I'm just doing some research. If I can use the trim control wires, I'm guessing I can pigtail the hot and the ground? Thanks for any help here.

[Wayne P.]

There is no ground wire on the trim switch. The switch distributes the positive side of the circuit to each trim soleniod just like a light switch on your house. 

 

If you get a simple sonar unit with mininum power requirements, yes you can use the boat wiring harness.

A unit with GPS, 2D sonar, and the imaging technology has a higher amp usage and typically the resistance in the boat wiring harness cannot support those units. 

[FrogFreak]

There is no ground wire on the trim switch. The switch distributes the positive side of the circuit to each trim soleniod just like a light switch on your house. 

 

If you get a simple sonar unit with mininum power requirements, yes you can use the boat wiring harness.

A unit with GPS, 2D sonar, and the imaging technology has a higher amp usage and typically the resistance in the boat wiring harness cannot support those units. 

 

Thanks for the info, I've decided I just need to mount my one fish finder with a ram type mount so I can swivel it to view it when I'm at the bow. Now to figure out what's involved with that.