I am having a heck of a time installing a sonar unit up front. Where is the best place to pull power? Should I run wire all the way back to the battery, or the panel at the dash with a fuse, or tap into power up front?

Oh, and if anyone around the North Dallas / Plano area has some time to kill, I will certainly provide the beer and stories in exchange for help!

I would tap the trolling motor battery. Just make sure that you are plugging into 12v.

I tried that twice and both times I had to move the power elsewhere. I always got too much interference from the trolling motor.

What I did with my last install is I ran a wire back to my console. I tapped into the power/ground of the unit on my console. That way if there is a problem I know where to go look. 1 power, 1 ground, 1 fuse.

Tap into your front light,be sure to put a fuse link in it

That way you must have your lights turned on to use it.

Run a line to the console . It's the best way to avoid interference and it's easy to find the right wires.

yes you do,but i keep my main power switch on to run my live wells also,so that set up works for me

But on a long day fishing a tournament all your dash lights will be on and could drain your battery.

just the front light is hooked up to the main switch(that eliminated my interference)every thing else has to have its on switch on to work,sounds odd but it worked for me

best bet is run it to the start battery, finders don't pull much amperage and it won't drain the battery. run a 12 ga. to the front and put a fuse at the battery.
run it seperate from any other electronics and if something happens you know where to look.

I just pulled power from my front tilt/trim switch. That way my main power switch controls it, and the connections are right there at the front console.

I ran mine straight back to the battery no interference works perfect,as said earlier they don't drain that much power.

It depends on the size and draw of your unit. What I did was to mount a small 12v battery (you can find smaller 12v batteries at Academy which are more than adequate amp wise)under the front deck and wired my unit to it. I didn't have to run any wires to any other battery, no interference on the finder. It does take a little extra effort to charge after a day of use but, it's not that big of a hassle.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!