How to size marine circuit breakers

Here at New Wire Marine we love circuit breakers.  They are usually easier to access, are much easier to re-set and troubleshoot your problem, and are less likely to leave you stranded without a fuse.  That's why we put them on many of our Custom Marine Switch Panels.

To correctly size a breaker all you should consider is the wiring... that's what breakers protect.  They are not there to protect the device, that's what they have an internal fuse for.  If your device has a current draw of only 1A, but is fed by 16AWG wire, you should size the breaker for the max rating of the 16AWG conductor.

This is why we supply our custom boat panels with 10A breakers standard.  This will be fine for typical 18, 16, or 14 AWG loads, and protect your cable well.