In a digital-switching installation, each DCM is wired to the boat's existing NMEA 2000 backbone and to the loads/sensors it's assigned to control -- lighting circuits, pumps, fans, hatches, tank-level senders and more -- and communicates with other EmpirBus DCMs and with Garmin MFDs at the helm, so any circuit on the boat can be switched, monitored, or automated from a chartplotter touchscreen instead of a physical breaker panel. The high-accuracy current feedback on the outputs gives a real-time read of exactly how much current each circuit is drawing, useful for spotting a failing pump or an overloaded circuit before it becomes a problem. Like the rest of the EmpirBus NXT range, these modules are built to marine-grade IP65 environmental standards to withstand a damp, salt-air engine room or lazarette installation, and multiple DCMs can be combined on one vessel to scale the system up from a small day boat to a large yacht with dozens of switched circuits.