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Installation

Install on a boat

Three wires, about ten minutes, on outboards and inboards alike.

6 min read
Disconnect the battery first

Marine electrical faults start fires in places with fuel in them. Pull the negative terminal before you strip anything, and put a fuse in the power lead.

The three wires of a standard installRed goes to constant 12 volt power through an inline fuse, black goes to ground, and yellow goes to a switched ignition circuit so the system can tell running from parked. A fourth white wire is optional and drives the cut-off relay.Vectra trackerlabel side upRed— constant 12VFUSEBlack— groundchassis groundYellow— switched / ignitionWhite— optional, to the cut-off relayAsset electricalBattery +Key switch
The same three wires on every asset type: constant power through a fuse, ground, and a switched feed that tells us the engine is running.
  1. 1
    Find switched and constant power at the console

    Behind the switch panel there is a constant 12V feed from the battery and a switched feed that only comes alive with the key. A test light or a multimeter identifies both in under a minute.

  2. 2
    Red to constant 12V, through a fuse

    A 1A or 2A inline fuse as close to the source as practical. The tracker draws very little, so the fuse exists to protect the boat, not the tracker.

  3. 3
    Black to ground

    The negative bus bar, or any clean bonded ground point. Scrape paint or gelcoat back to bare metal if you are grounding to a fitting.

  4. 4
    Yellow to the switched (ignition) feed

    This is what lets the dashboard tell "running" from "drifting at anchor", and it is what makes engine-hour reporting real rather than guessed.

  5. 5
    Tuck, secure, and seal

    Zip-tie the harness to an existing loom, keep the unit label-up, and heat-shrink or seal every joint. Marine damp finds crimps.

  6. 6
    Reconnect and confirm

    Battery back on, key on, and watch the asset go online in the dashboard. Take the boat 50 metres and confirm the trail draws.

If there is no switched feed

Plenty of small boats have nothing usable to tap. Leave the yellow lead unconnected — we configure those installs to detect ignition from voltage instead: charging voltage rising above the resting level means the engine is running. It is slightly less precise than a real ignition wire and completely serviceable.

Wave slap is handled

Boats are configured with reduced vibration sensitivity, because a hull on a mooring moves all night and you do not want an alert for every swell.

NextNext: wire the cut-off relay
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