Romex for 342 outlet

Liberty44140

I need to add an outlet in the cockpit for the tv add. Anyone recall if the outlets existing are 14g or 12g romex?

Black_Diamond

14G. 

If the amp draw is low, tap into the outlet for the frig/ice maker. Save a lot of trouble!

Liberty44140

thanks. Very low draw, new 24" led smart tv. The outlet will be hidden behind the ice maker so I plan to tap in to the cockpit outlet by the cockpit sink. I thought of hard wiring the tv power cord in to the cockpit outlet work box but that is a no no, right? Would make life easy. Admiral wants the tv to get power when the outlets switch is on like the tv does down below. 

Black_Diamond

Yeah. I would not hard wire the TV power supply. Stay with a plug. 

Liberty44140

Noted. This will be a neat project, tv will quick connect from down below to cockpit, will post pics. 

Michael T

@Liberty44140 I'm sure that you know there are extra ports on the back of your electrical panel that would allow you to run 110v power to a power pox to plug your set (or anything) into. I ran 4 or 5 new 110v boxes in my 2013 EC 310 - right from the panel. I described the process with pictures on this site a few years ago.

Cableguy Greg

Great Lakes Skipper has some premade 120VAC wires and plugs for our boats.

raybo3

Never use romex on a boat. You need marine grade wire. A friend of mine uses a piece of 12/2 romex snaked behind his cockpit seats and plugged into his main electric panel. Then that area of the YC starting having electrolysis problems. I "probed" his boat using an under water prob with a fluke multi meter. His boat was "throwing" 5.4 volts into the water. After much troubleshooting we removed the romex and put marine grade wiring and the voltage problem was gone. I do not know why but the romex was the problem. Then found the same thing on another older boat......... Not sure if its the zinc oxide in the marine wire but I would never use romex on a boat IMO..................... Just say'n  

Liberty44140

Guys thanks! In all of my years working on boats I had no idea that you couldn't use romex (I've never added it to a boat before thank heavens) So new plan, ill be at west marine this weekend and I would assume I can buy it by the foot there, only need 4 ft or so since that cockpit outlet is right there. Looks like west has 14/3 triplex for $1.30 a ft. MT yep I know there are extra ports on the panel but for this I just don't want to deal with running wire from the panel as my current project list will take me in to May. "Maybe next year" the cord going to the ice maker has 3 outlets at the end of it so I could always just plug the tv in to that as 2 outlets are never used but the admiral didn't like that, she wanted the tv on the outlets and not on the ice maker switch. Thx 

Stodge

@Liberty44140 Why not get a 12 volt TV?  I found both a 12V TV and a separate 12V Blueray Player for our boat.  

Liberty44140

Good question @Stodge. I put a lot of thought and research in to what TV we wanted... AC vs AC/DC, smart, DVD combo, etc...  and it comes down to what you want out of your TV. We wanted a 24" smart TV. We do not need DVD and I didnt want to spend more than $150. Voila - Samsung smart 24" LED for $125.00. I realize you can buy roku/chrome to make any TV smart, but since I am using the same TV in the cockpit and down below I wanted as few items as possible plugged in to this. At the dock we mainly use Netflix and Hulu. We really dont watch DVD's and our entire collection of DVD's is now burned on to a hard drive or flash drives that can be plugged in to the TV's USB port to watch our entire collection in those rare times we want to watch one (We usually keep 5-6 movies on a memory stick anyway). Lastly we really dont watch TV away from the dock and if we did I could always add a small inverter or run the genny. With the TV quick connecting in to two places I will have power cords in both places that pop in and out and the antenna cable will be in both places with quick connects, no screwing in the coax. Thanks! 

Stodge

We are the other way around.  We watch TV or movies when we're out on the hook over night.  I can actually get a good selection (25+) channels over the air.  My player has SD card and USB input so I can also use it to review photos taken during the day or any other media.  A friend has a Raspberry Pi on his boat that he uses as media server (with KODI).  I haven't gotten there yet.

Liberty44140

Yea same here, being positioned between Toledo & Cleveland we get a couple dozen channels too. Was really surprised by that. Now I have to learn what a Raspberry Pi is  

Stodge

It's a small (pack of cigaretts) computer that has Wifi, Bluetooth, USBs, Ethernet and an HDMI output.  It uses a microSD card for the "hard drive".  There are a bunch of pre-built images for things like arcades, media players, or just plain Linux.  They cost $35 and are powered with a cell phone charger.  Lots of possibilities.

DanD2

I would get a TV that runs on 12V. It would certainly be a lot easier to hook up and you would not need the gennie when you are on the hook.

reneechris14

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BCS1EM2/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1490309701&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=ac/dc+tv+dvd+combo

Liberty44140

Thanks guys, like I said the best set up for what we want out of our tv is an AC, smart, non DVD tv and it is already bought. Super easy to add an inverter at the tv should our 12v needs change. Will post pics of it all set up. 

Cableguy Greg

@Liberty44140, Have you looked for an AC TV that has an external power pack that is 12VDC to the input of the TV? A lot of the smaller, 32" and down are built this way. Unfortunately Samsung runs on 16VDC, so that wouldn't work.

Liberty44140

Hey Greg, no I didn't as I assumed buying a second power cord for that would be difficult. Once we decided on a smart tv and was clear that it had to be a tv where we could easily buy a second power cord so the cord was already there in both locations all 12v options I found were off the table. It was very easy to find an additional power cable for the Samsung and that was important so that it would be easy to plug power in to the tv up and down without having to move the cable. Will really be plug and play in both locations. 

Michael T

Correct all. If running wire for 110v usage you must use marine 110 volt (stranded and tinned) wire not only for your safety but to maintain your insurance.

JLAS

@Liberty44140, I assume you already have the tv.  Right?  I will do the same thing to my newly purchased 320.  I think will choose the 12v route bc they consume considerably less power than AC TVs, and my little one enjoys watching movies.  Smart idea on your part by using the same TV inside/outside the cabin. 

 Often, 12 volts TV can be connected to both AC/DC so when one is away from the dock the powers automatically switches to 12volts. Based on the size of the breakers perhaps the AC could be tab to the icemaker plug and the 12 volts to the blender.

Vimar brand offers nice combos like AC/DC and TV antenna plugs so you don't have to make different holes on your fiberglass.  

Watching Netflix? Does your marina offer wifi?  If so, you are a lucky man. 

Liberty44140

Thanks MT! Will be using marine grade wire to run my beautiful new ac outlet. Lol 

JLAS

@Liberty44140, I assume you already have the tv.  Right?  I will do the same thing to my newly purchased 320.  I think will choose the 12v route bc they consume considerably less power than AC TVs, and my little one enjoys watching movies.  Smart idea on your part by using the same TV inside/outside the cabin. 

 Often, 12 volts TV can be connected to both AC/DC so when one is away from the dock the powers automatically switches to 12volts. Based on the size of the breakers perhaps the AC could be tab to the icemaker plug and the 12 volts to the blender.

Vimar brand offers nice combos like AC/DC and TV antenna plugs so you don't have to make different holes on your fiberglass. 

Watching Netflix? Does your marina offer wifi?  If so, you are a lucky man. 

Liberty44140

Yes, tv is bought. Thought long and hard about our options and how we use it and the smart ac is what is best for us. Likely many will be better off with 12v. I can't tell you much about the 12v options as once we decided against 12v I didn't look much further. Yes we have free wifi, it's nice that they offer it but we pay a premium for the docks in our area. I am looking for a public wifi booster for this summer so that I can over take all of the folks also watching Netflix at night yea we also put a lot of thought in to one movable tv or two tvs and decided that one tv that moves was best for us, we don't have a hard top so the cockpit tv would have to be put away when we are gone and we watch most tv down below, just want it to be easily usable in the cockpit for when we do want it out there. Once I get going I'll post pics. With regard to where this thread started it turns out I don't need more elect line. There is a lot of extra loose marine romex  running behind the ice maker up to the cockpit outlet so I am going to cut in to that and install an outlet before the cockpit outlet under the counter, not after the cockpit outlet as I had planned. Will be easy to put these in line.