# Wiring through pedestal guard



## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

I am installing a Garmin 545s on a Edison platform attached to my Edison pedestal guard. The 545s accepts three cables, one from the depth transducer, one from an XM antenna and the Garmin power data cable. The antenna and transducer cables have large connection plugs on their ends and drilling holes in the pedestal guard large enough for them to pass through is a concern. Has anyone done this? 

I want to run the cables out of the way. I have asked Garmin about a splicing option and their only response is we don't recommend it. The holes in the Edison cast aluminum pedestal table are too small and will have to be drilled out, too. I am surprised that Garmin and Edison are building products that are expected to work for the end user that are not engineered to work together.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Downeast450


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

I wired our Ray Marine C80chartplotter, autohelm, remote stero through an Edson double bend pedestal guard. Splicing the wires was no big deal.

The holes are 9/16" and i used fishing line with a bolt as a messanger line to pull up the wires. This all fits right behind the two navpod holders so everything is neat and no wires are seen. I ran the wires right out through the feet under the cockpit sole Maake sure you use rubber gromets to outline the holes and the foot of the guard.

Dave


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## TaylorC (May 15, 2008)

*Field mods are normal*

I'm not sure what you mean by an Edison Platform. Is it the Clamp-on Platform - Center Mount or something like that? As I see it, the deal with installing accessories on boats is there is not a huge market and there is a lot of variation it what combination of products people use, and I always expect a little field modification is going to be required for a good custom installation.

If I were buying that product, I'd rather drill the holes I need than have a lot of extra wholes I don't need.

One thing to consider is that once you drill oversize holes large enough for the connectors, you might want to put some rubber grommets like these in to protect the cables, and that will give you a more finished look, hide the fact that the hole is larger than the cable, and protect the cables from chafe.

I agree with Garmin - don't cut and splice, that's asking for trouble down the road.


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

I got a terse one sentence from Garmin, " We don't recommend...". It sounds like a CYA statement with no allowance for a capable electrical splice. Yes, it is that clamp on mount. My concern with the large holes is weakening the guard.

I do avoid splices in data cables in my job as a networkk admin. I am not so sure there is a problem with them in these applications. Knowing that the installs you did involved splices is encouraging. Did you solder joints?

TD


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Yes I did solder the connectionsTry this link. Here is a picture of the final setup with the happy Admiral on our trip from Annapolis area to NYC last summer.. Chartplotter (C80)is in the lower Navpod Granprix and wind, autohelm, tridata and stero/ ipod remotes are in the 4 insert upper navpod. I had a machine shop drill the holes perfectly so they were centered ( they were hard to drill straight)for about 40 bucks. 2 (7/16)" holes were for the out wires and 8 small 3/16" holes for the navpod screws to hold them to the pedestal guard. The only wire you see is the one from my i pod which is in a cup holder to the remote on the navpod face

IMG_0437.jpg picture by chef2sail - Photobucket

IMG_0443.jpg picture by chef2sail - Photobucket

Dave


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## TaylorC (May 15, 2008)

Oh... I see now, you using a hole to get into 1" tubing of the guard... yes, I can see where large hole there would be a problem. 

I actually ran my wires down inside the pedestal itself, and wire tied them back out of the way of the chain and cables. In my case I had a wood spacer between the pedestal and the compass and I carved a grove into the bottom of the wood to provide a way out. Since my GPS is not enclosed in a pod, having the wires run outside from the pedestal to the RAM mount was unavoidable, but it also allows swiveling the GPS display when I'm navigating in the rain from under the dodger. 

Sounds like in your case splicing may be unavoidable.


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## badsanta (Oct 16, 2006)

I know it more boater bucks, but Edson makes a larger pedestal guard tube for more room. But then you just need more parts. When does it stop!


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

I did pretty much what you are talking about last year--installed the 545s and ran that big honking Garmin cable inside my 1 1/8" Edson pedestal guard. But I have to admit, I didn't install an XM antenna. The 545s sits on the Edson tray that sits between the two bars, not on one of the ones that goes off one bar.

But I did cut the connector plug off the cable to keep my hole size down to something like 7/16". I spliced the transducer cable following instructions of Airmar, the maker of the shoot-thru-hull transducer. They said splicing would be fine, recommended soldering, and they were right, it was fine.

As I remember it--keep in mind that boat projects fade in my memory to a haze of sweat, fret, and gymnastics--I had to splice one of the wires up top before pulling the cable down through the tube foot.


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

Thanks for the replies and the suggestions. Very nice set up in the pictures. I am out of town right now but will probably opt to splice the wires. The Garmin mount has access holes at both guard locations so I can run two wires through each one. I want to route the remote mic too. I expect to add the AIS option for a cruise to Nova Scotia in the fall. That is a lot of wires.

It occurs to me that a piece of PVC pipe inside the pedestal guard that goes through the cockpit floor, is sealed in place, and is rises up inside the guard high enough to keep water in the cockpit from leaking through the hole drilled in the cockpit floor might be a necessary step. The wires from the guard would run down through the PVC pipe and through the cockpit floor. How did you seal that opening?

Tundra Down


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

The Airmar shoot thru is the transducer I have and I will check their web information for their recommendations on splicing it.

Thanks,

Tundra Down


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

Thanks for the replies and the suggestions. Very nice set up in the pictures. I am out of town right now but will probably opt to splice the wires. The Garmin mount has access holes at both guard locations so I can run two wires through each one. I want to route the remote mic too. I expect to add the AIS option for a cruise to Nova Scotia in the fall. That is a lot of wires.

It occurs to me that a piece of PVC pipe inside the pedestal guard that goes through the cockpit floor, is sealed in place, and is rises up inside the guard high enough to keep water in the cockpit from leaking through the hole drilled in the cockpit floor might be a necessary step. The wires from the guard would run down through the PVC pipe and through the cockpit floor. How did you seal that opening?

Tundra Down


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

I got my Airmar info by phone talking a couple of times to one very patient tech person. Not hard to get them by phone.


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

My wires ran down through the tube which was secured by feet with a thumbscrew into the cockpit floor. I drilled a hole through the cockpit floor through the middle of each of the feet, lead the cables through the holes into the engine room space, i reseated the pedestal gaurd, then epoxied the feet and guard back onto the cockpit floor and created a good seal..


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

Thanks again,

I have to launch before I can get to the installs. I have installed the thru hull transducer but the rest must wait.

All of these suggestions will be a big help. The 545s looks like a nice package for our little boat sailing here in the Bay of Fundy and along the Maine Coast. I know my wife will appreciate the upgrade from lat / lon to a chart and so will I. The XM weather is nice and it will feed audio back into the stereo. Very nice and compact. AIS is our plan for avoiding ships when we venture into shipping lanes. We wll keep the old GPS as a backup and one of them will be connected to our VHF. I may leave the old set up alone there.

Tundra Down


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## lancelot9898 (Dec 30, 2008)

A couple of years ago I installed a Furuno chartplotter/radar at the helm and had a problem of getting the external GPS attenna wire to the display unit. Furuno did not want me to splice the wire either, but upon talking to the engineering department I was told what they would suggest using if I really needed to splice. There's a special waterproof structure that all the tiny wires are contained within and instructions for making the splices along with the crimp connectors. It has worked fine and hopefully will continue (knock on wood).


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## delan (May 2, 2009)

I have the same setup, edson binnacle with garmin 545s I ran all my transducers to an older unit at the charting table, then ran one cable to the unit at the helm, set it as a repeater. You get all the features, one data cable plus power cable. I ran one in each leg of the stainless binnacle angle guard, and out through the sole of each.


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

Thanks again,

Since this is an older, straight, guard I think I am going to try to get away with drilling the necessary large holes and if it seems to have seriously weakened the guard I will replace it with a new guard that is curved away at the top and is a little taller. I will need to enlarge the holes in the cast aluminum clamp on pedestal table, too. That will be a hidden modification and won't weaken anything that is structurally important. I could cut too those holes from below turning them into slots and secure the wires in them with 5200. 

I "mis spoke" in an earlier reply RE: the transducer I have installed. It is a shoot thru, not a thru hull model.

Tundra Down.


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## lancelot9898 (Dec 30, 2008)

One additional note about the way I ran the wires in my Edson guard. I didn't. The wires come up through the middle large post that the compass sits upon. The top of the structure had to be removed including the compass to access the wires and the pods are mounted on a horizonal structure port and starboard with the wires coming out under those structures to the pods. The edson catalog no longer shows this item since it was put on more than 20 years ago when the boat was new. There was also no drilling invloved. I did make an split "O ring" out of starboard to raise the height of the compass about a 1/2 inch which allowed the passing of the additional wires from the center post to the pods.


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

Drill baby drill. I am going to see how strong this guard is with a 1/2" hole drilled through it. That will be two 1/2 " holes, one on each side. If it needs to be a little larger I can file a wide spot on one side of the hole to fit the largest plug. The clamp on pedestal mount should add strength since it will be clamped over the spots where the drilled hole is. It is a cast aluminum mount and is fairly robust. I will be routing the wires directly down through the guard tubing.

Thanks again,

Tundra Down


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## BrightEyes (Jan 28, 2010)

*The Conclusion????*

downeast450,

So how did this work out for you? I wish i had found this thread about a week earlier. I have this same problem and its a mess. I started drilling thinking i could make the hole big enough but it still wont fit, i kept drilling a slightly larger hole thinking it would make it and once the hole was big enough it still wont slid down and in cuz the connection part hits the back of the inside of the steel tube. so now i have this huge hole and i still cant get the wireing in.

since then ive heard alot of ppl saying to just splice the wire but that is WAY over my abilities so im a loss right now.

let me know how it worked out for you.

thanks,
Bright Eyes


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