Wiring Help-gaguges and all!!!

[drewmitch44]

Ok i need help!! i need to wire up all my gauges, bilge pump, am/fm cd radio, GPS, and maybee a couple other things. What i want to do is run 2 batteries. Tell me if im wrong but what seems correct to me is to have 1 marine deep cycle battery to run all my accessories and 1 marine duel purpose (deep cycle/starting) battery for the motor(115 yamaha). Im hooking this all up on a 18' sea ray closed bow boat that i plan on using on the Delaware bay. How do i want to wire everything up so that the batteries charge whyle im under way? I have one of those battery switches that select to use battery 1, 2, or both. I will charge both batteries seperately when the boat is not in the water and leave the "smart" chargers on all the time to keep them topped off at all times. Im just worried about dead batteries whyle im 3-4 miles into the bay! Any help would be greatly apreciated. A Scematic of wiring would be great! I Just redid my Dash in this boat and im rewiring everything. So pretty much im starting all over from scratch. Thanks in advance for any help!!!!!

 

[Have Fun Today]

Re: Wiring Help-gaguges and all!!!

The 1, 2, both switch isn't the way to go for what you're doing. I did my boat with a battery connected to the starter only, and the other battery is connected to the accessories only (radio, lights, fish finder, coffee maker, etc). These two batteries are normally completely separate from each other, and each has it's own on/off switch. This works great for me, I can stop the boat, listen to the radio, and never have to worry about draining the starter battery. No switching to remember while underway or after stopping.

The alternator is connected directly to the starter battery, so the starter battery is always getting a charge. A battery isolator connects the alternator to the second "house" battery when it senses a voltage above a certain theshold, thus keeping the house battery charged. When the alternator stops (ie, engine off), the batteries are isolated again. It's a no-brainer. A third on/off switch connects the two batteries together for backup emergency starting.

I don't have a schematic available, but if you have the 2007 West Marine catalog, look on page 444 for a good description and schematic.

 

[95yj]

Re: Wiring Help-gaguges and all!!!

The simplest setup using what you already have is to use your battery switch to make sure you always have a fully charged battery to start the boat with. While under way, have the battery switch turned to both batteries so they both receive charge. When you stop somewhere and have the radio cranked or using the blender or anything else, turn the switch to battery one or two. When ready to leave, turn the switch to the other battery, start the boat and then put the switch back to both batteries so they both recharge.

Unless you're doing a lot of trolling, I wouldn't recommend a deep cycle battery. Use two identical marine starting batteries. They cost a whole lot less and you have two batteries that can start your boat. Two even the wear on them, on odd days run the accessories on bat 1 and on even days run the accessories on bat 2.

With this setup, you don't need to buy isolators or anything else. If you don't want to remember to have to throw the switch, then you'll need a more automatic setup.

One last thing, if you're going to be throwing the switch with the boat running, you want to have a switch that is "make before break" meaning as the switch is moved from one position to the next, it makes the new connection before breaking the old one. Alternators don't like not having a battery attached to them.

 

[burroak]

Re: Wiring Help-gaguges and all!!!

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=212500

 

[burroak]

Re: Wiring Help-gaguges and all!!!

For the batteries; www.cmsquick.com Click on "technical" in the port menu.

 

[burroak]

Re: Wiring Help-gaguges and all!!!

If you need a more extensive diagram,

This is what it looks like.

A more useful size is at http://www.stingrayboats.com/products/pdf/wiring/240CS_dc_wiring_dual_battery.pdf