I'm wiring my 430W and I'm a little confused with the power wiring for the P4002 connector. I have a 12V install and my interpretation of the diagram H-5 and related notes show 18 ga wires with oversized pins at position 11 & 12. It seems that with a maximum draw of 6.0 amps on that section of the radio (comm) that is oversized on the wires especially with the short 3 foot run I will have and the draw is somewhat intermittent. What I don't understand is with a comm load (intermittent) why I would need 18 ga. wires to each pin. As I understand it the pins themselves are only good for 5 amps each (and probably why Garmin uses two pins). Would it be prudent to run 20 ga. short pigtails from pins 11 & 12 and join them to a 18 ga. running to the 10A circuit breaker? Additionally the total max load of both the nav and comm sections together is listed as 8.5 amps. I read somewhere that the radio will not work unless both the comm and nav sections are receiving power. (I sure would like to know if that is really true.) It would seem that a 10 amp breaker could carry the load of both sections. If I increased the size of the wire from the pigtails of both the nav and comm sections from 18 ga. to 16 Ga. I could then use one circuit breaker for the entire radio which would be better in my install.
Anyway what I'm looking for here is some advice if I'm over thinking this and would end up with a problem or if this is a viable option. Of course any input as to how you did it would be helpful as well.
Anyway what I'm looking for here is some advice if I'm over thinking this and would end up with a problem or if this is a viable option. Of course any input as to how you did it would be helpful as well.