Separating House and Starting batteries

[Uncivil]

I am sure this topic has been covered before but I just havn't been able to find it. My Partner and I have 16 foot Hewescraft Sea runner with a 2011 75 Merc fourstroke. When we replaced the engine we added a Perko 8501 Switch to the dual batteries. It worked fine but we struggled with charging at times. Recently we did major upgrades to the flooring and seats and in the process we moved the batteries forward. During this time we decided we wanted to separate the House circuit from the starting circuit and install an Automatic charging relay. What I have not been able to determine with any certainty is can we do this with our Perko switch or do we need to install a different switch such as the Blue Sea Dual Circuit plus? The Blue Sea seems to meet the bill as it appears to completely separate the circuits except for when you switch to both for emergency starting. I have not been able to figure out if I can do this our Perko switch. I would rather not buy anothe switch if the one we have can be made to work. Do any of you experts have any knowledge about this? Thanks all.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Separating House and Starting batteries

install the acr relay and leave the perko switch on the starting battery only. The perko will break the positive connections between the battery and the acr will take over connecting and un-connecting them when the starting battery reads full.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Separating House and Starting batteries

If you are having charging issues, then fix the issue. Adding an ACR does not solve the problem if low alternator output is the issue. Many times expensive tactics are used to try to solve what is perceived as a charging problem when the issue is really a battery problem. Weak or dying batteries cannot hold a charge so they go flat quickly regardless whether they are charged from the engine or an external charger. So the question is: "What is your specific charging issue".

 

[Uncivil]

Re: Separating House and Starting batteries

There is no problem with the charger. I should have explained the situation a bit more. We anchor for long periods (sturgeon Fishing) and run our stereo sounder and other accessories. Right now we don't have the house circuit separated from the starter circuit. So we tend to run the batteries down at times and that 75 needs a lot of juice to turn over. So we are looking at making sure that we always have enough juice to start even if we run the house battery down.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Separating House and Starting batteries

ok - but if you separate the two, the single battery will die twice as fast so you solve nothing by separating the batteries.