I'm adding a quantum wifi radar unit to my system. Given the relatively low power draw of this unit (17w), would I run into any problems if the unit were wired to the navigational light circuit? In this case, the radar would be active whenever the nav lights were on.
Hello warrantyvoider,
We would always recommend one circuit per load.
This is
- partly so that you can use an appropriate fuse/circuit-breaker rating (if you put a heavy consumer and a light one on the same circuit, you end up inadequately protecting the light load with a fuse rated for the combined loads of both consumers)
- partly to make sure that the current drawn by each doesn't pull down the other's supply voltage, and
- partly so that each can be switched independently.
All of this applies all the more when one of the loads is something safety-related like nav lights, which should definitely be on their own circuit. Do you want the radar potentially dimming the lights when it does into Transmit, or taking out the lights' fuse if it has a problem?
Regards,
Tom