Egis 4711-20 20A Push-Button Circuit Breaker | Spade

The Egis Mobile Electric 4711-20 is a 20 amp push-to-reset circuit breaker built to mount right through your helm or electrical panel. It protects a single circuit, resets with a push of the button, and uses quick-connect spade terminals so you can wire it in without fighting ring lugs under a screw head. If you've been running a fuse block and you're tired of digging for spare fuses in a pitching boat, this is the upgrade.

Here's what we like about push-to-reset breakers. When a circuit faults, the button pops out and stays out. You can see at a glance which breaker tripped, and you reset it by pushing the button back in. No spare fuse, no fumbling, no guessing. That beats a blade fuse, where a blown fuse can look identical to a good one until you pull it and hold it up to the light. The popped button is its own trip indicator, which matters when you're troubleshooting a dead circuit at night.

The 4711-20 uses spade terminals, and that's the main thing that sets this line apart. You crimp a female quick-connect onto your wire and slide it onto the blade. It's fast, it's clean, and it makes swapping the breaker later a 30-second job. We like spade terminals for accessory circuits where you might add or move a load down the road. Just give the connector a tug after you seat it to confirm it's locked on.

It's rated to 50 volts DC, so it covers every common house voltage on a boat. 12 volt, 24 volt, 32 volt, even a 42 volt system all sit comfortably under that ceiling. The breaker is a thermal design, so it rides out the brief inrush of a motor or pump starting up and only trips on a real sustained overload. That keeps nuisance trips down on inductive loads like a livewell pump or a windlass.

This one is ignition protected, which is a bigger deal than it sounds. That rating means it won't throw a spark that could set off fuel vapors, so you can install it in an engine compartment or any closed space where gas fumes might collect. On a gas-powered boat that's not optional, it's an ABYC expectation. The protection is built into how the breaker switches internally, so you don't have to add anything to get it.

The front of the breaker carries an IP40 rating and the rear is IP00, so the exposed terminals behind the panel need protection from spray and accidental contact. Egis offers a sealing boot for that, and it's sold separately. If you're mounting in a dry, protected location behind the dash you may not need it. In a wet locker or an open console, add the boot.

For a 20 amp circuit, run 14 gauge wire as a practical minimum, and step up to 12 gauge on longer runs where voltage drop starts to add up. The 4711-20 handles the kind of mid-size loads you find all over a boat: cabin and cockpit lighting, a livewell pump, a stereo amp, a small windlass, electronics clusters. It ships with a knurled nut and a palnut plus stainless steel hardware, so the panel mount goes in clean and stays tight through vibration and salt. Operating range is 14 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which covers just about any climate you'll run in.

One note on sizing. Match the breaker to the wire and the load, not to the biggest number you can find. A breaker protects the wire from overheating, so a 20 amp breaker belongs on a circuit wired for 20 amps. If your load only pulls a few amps, size down to a smaller breaker in this same 4711 spade-terminal line rather than oversizing here. We'd rather sell you the right one than have you back for a melted harness.