Need to move some items from one battery to another

[zippy83]

Hi All,

I have a little upcoming project ahead of me, and would like to see if I can get some ideas.

Currently I have way too many items hooked up to my battery. I have the Depth finder, Radio, phone charger, aerator, bilge pump, horn, lights front and back as well as inside the boat. I would like to take a few things such as fish finder, radio, and phone charger and move it to the battery that runs my trolling motor. There is too much load on my starting battery. When I run a few things together such as the marine radio sometimes my fish finder looses electricity, of when I blow my horn it turns off and back on.

I wold like to run one set of cables positive/negative from the front battery back to the console. What gauge would I need? Also I would like to install some type of electric circuit of some sort where I can use fuses and plug the rest of the devices in. What is that called?

Any suggestions?
Thanks
Zipp

 

[airshot]

On my boat it is set up this way and I would highly recommend this to anyone. Your main engine starting battery should have nothing on it except to start and run your main engine. I then have a deep cycle battery for ALL accessories, they are designed for long slow electrical draws. I have lights, depth finder, GPS, bilge pump, radio, aerator for minnow bucket, music radio and everything on this deep cycle battery. I have the opportunity to charge it off my engines alternator thru a battery switch but choose not to, instead I use a deep cycle charger about once every 6-8 weeks to charge the battery. Deep cycles are designed to be run down to 40% then recharged without any problems while your starting battery is not. Now you mentioned a trolling motor, my boat is to big for an electric troller but in your case a third deep cycle should be added just for the trolling motor. By doing this you will get max life from your batteries and should not run out of power while on the water.

 

[zippy83]

There is really no room on my bat for a third battery without taking off the entire front deck up and carving out space for it. That is a lot of work.. I dont use my trolling motor a lot so the battery is always 75% full. By having two fish finders and a marine battery on I dont think it will drain it. As far as the cabling goes what gauge should I use? Also what type of fuse box do I need?

Thanks
Zipp

 

[wrench 3]

The 4 fuse block is a Sierra Marine FS40630-1. It also comes in a 6 fuse version, part #FS40640-1.
You would normally feed it with 10 gauge wire with a 30 amp fuse close to the battery. The top buss is for the grounds. The bottom one is the supply. The electrical devices plug into the center row.

 

[NYBo]

Run 10 gauge from the trolling motor battery to the fuse block and negative bus (fuse or circuit breaker within 1 foot of battery on the positive lead), and 16 gauge to the accessories.

 

[Grandad]

Hi zippy. I doubt very much that your battery is the weak point in your electrical system with too many items connected to it. What you describe is strongly indicative of voltage drop. Yes, there is voltage drop in a battery, but most often, the drop is due to too much connected to a single undersized feed wire. A healthy battery that can supply perhaps 100 amps will not be fazed by the appliances you suggest are ganging up on it. Perhaps your system needs rewiring as you plan, but I wouldn't be too worried about splitting those loads between more than one battery. Obviously a trolling motor is a very large draw for an extended period that should be on a separate battery, but all those other things draw very little and won't interfere with each other if your feeder is large enough (eg #10 AWG). - Grandad