Re: Battery 1 or Battery 2 or Both
Is one battery just a back-up or is it also powering a trolling motor, a gigawatt stereo amp, etc.?
Think of the batteries as two buckets of water that you want to keep full. When starting the boat, it doesn't make any difference where you have the switch set. But think about it, if the engine doesn't start on the BOTH setting you may use up both batteries leaving you out of luck entirely. The problem with BOTH is that people think batteries are an inexhaustable soure of juice so they crank until it won't crank any more. Therefore, look at BAT 1 as your starting battery. Always start the boat on BAT 1. An engine that requires two batteries to start needs work so fix it. Once the engine is started, switch to BOTH. The engine charging system will then charge BOTH batteries. When you get to your destination, lets say you want fish or run your great big stereo, switch to BAT 2. This prevents you from discharging the start battery. When you are ready to go, switch back to BAT 1, then BOTH (or 2) after the engine starts. Switching to BAT 2 after starting sends all of the alternator capacity to BAT 2 so it will charge quicker. If you stop anywhere for just a short time, there is no need to switch batteries as neither battery will discharge much. All you need to do when using the switch is to think "where do I want the charging current to go" or "which battery do I want to run my stuff with". The answers should be obvious. When running = BOTH, when stopped = BAT 2, when starting = BAT1 (or BAT2 or BOTH in an emergency)
