Tower wiring dilemma

I have a skylon tower with 4 wetsounds pro 80s, 4 led speaker rings, and a skylon light bar with 6 55w halogen lights. I want to be able to turn either the led rings or the light bar on and off individually. I figure I will need some sort of multi conductor cable to power all of it. Any one out there have experience installing a large tower set up and where would be a good place to fing both the cable and quick detach connectors for fold down tower?

Ryan,
You are going to need four 12-gauge conductors for the audio, two 18-gauge conductors for the light rings and two 12-gauge conductors minimum for 30 amps of halogen lamps. You will need to break the holagens into three conductors if you want separate front and rear control. You could share the ground on the two DC lighting circuits (halogen and LED) but I would keep them independent. That is a lot of bulk in wire and a lot of poles on the disconnect. The disconnect has to be of very high quality for low resistance particularly in the case of the high current draw of the halogen lamps. For appearance sake you will want to stay away from bulky disconnects. For minimizing the bulk of the extra thick insulation on typical wire you should go with a multi-conductor harness with a thin slick outer jacket designed for easy pulling. You will need chassis grommets to keep the wire from chafing as it passes in and out of the tower tubes. Plus some flexloom to dress the exposed loops. A little heatshrink and solder and you are good.

David
Earmark Marine

I've never done as many runs as you are talking about, but I've used this stuff and been happy:



http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Here's some 8 conductor 13awg(?) wire... but man, it's expensive:



http://www.amazon.com/Gauge-Conducto.../dp/B004TLWYWI



http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=092-345



http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=092-346

Neutrik connectors can connect the tower harness to the boat.... but the most I can find in a single connector is 8 poles.

Thanks guys. I noticed on the connectors that came with my pro 80s there is a 1+ 1- and 2+ 2- can I daisy chain from one to the other or is that to much load?

Ryan,
Hopefully I understand you correctly. Since there are unused poles on the connectors you could parallel the speakers inside one of the pods per each side and run a jumper from one to the other. As long as you have a two-channel amplifier that will handle a 2-ohm stereo load which is common. That would allow you to parallel the connection inside the pod versus inside the tower. I would still make four tower penetrations and run the jumper inside the tower rather than externally from pod to pod.

The Speak-On or Neutrik connectors are massive to my eye when used as a disconnect at a tower hinge point, break point or at the deck cap junction. Not bad in the shadow of a large speaker pod. Elsewhere we prefer to use something more streamlined like the Deutsch connectors.

David
Earmark Marine

So I guess I am a little confused David you said I will need 4 wires for the audio but I would need 8 wouldn't I if I didn't go from one speaker to another? Or do you mean I need to intercept the incoming wire before it hits the first speaker to keep it in parallel, as opposed to in and out through the connector making a series connection?