Can my stock distribution block run off my house battery?

[chushen]

As the title asks...

I am about to add another battery to my system by way of blue sea + acr, I was going to run my WS420 off my stock Stereo switch which is obviously connected to my stock dist. block under the dash.

I can't think why running ALL of my accessories off the house battery (an interstate group 29 DC) would be bad. As I've read it's better to have all of the audio running off the same battery anyway.

Can anyone offer any suggestions as to either way this should be handled?


Thanks in advance.

[zabooda]

Bilge pump off main battery. You want to make sure you have the pump available when needed so if the battery is good enough to start the engine it is good enough to run the pump. If you drain the house battery the pump will not start automatically.

[chushen]

Bilge pump off main battery. You want to make sure you have the pump available when needed so if the battery is good enough to start the engine it is good enough to run the pump. If you drain the house battery the pump will not start automatically.

I had not considered the bilge... Thank you.

[MLA]

I was going to run my WS420 off my stock Stereo switch which is obviously connected to my stock dist. block under the dash.


As I've read it's better to have all of the audio running off the same battery anyway.

Yes, and terminating the EQ's B+ to the head-units turn-on rocker would likely have the EQ "seeing" reference voltage from the main cranking battery. Reason being, typically the helm BUSS is tied to the main cranking battery as thats what supplied the engine and engine related loads. I would leave it this way and relocate any accessories that you want to run while the engine is off, to the new house bank.

[Beejwest]

I did the Blue Sea and am now having some noise out of my tower speakers. Both amps are grounded to the house battery, and the factory wiring also got connected to the house battery. My sub and tower speakers are on one amp, and all 6 in boat speakers are on the other. If I move the factory ground back to the start battery, could it potentially clean up this noise? I've also read that I may want to unhook the head unit ground from the harness and wire it straight to the battery for ground?

[MLA]

At the end of the day, all boat grounds are common anyway, but there are some advantages to taking the source unit's ground close to the amps. But, I would be willing to bet that the head-unit's yellow B+ is drawing from the original cranking battery, thus the noise.

[chushen]

At the end of the day, all boat grounds are common anyway, but there are some advantages to taking the source unit's ground close to the amps. But, I would be willing to bet that the head-unit's yellow B+ is drawing from the original cranking battery, thus the noise.

MLA,

He said that his stock dist. block was grounded on the HOUSE battery with his amps and was getting noise.

I was suggesting doing the same thing. Now I am leaning towards adding another distribution block from the cranking underneath the stock one for the bilge, nav/anc, blower, horn, and other vital operations - leaving the stereo, interior lights, etc to run off of the new house bank.

[Beejwest]

Hmmm. I have the boat's original non-start positive cable on the house battery. When I isolate the start battery by removing the negative cable from it, my head unit will still power up via the radio switch, so I'm pretty sure the head unit is on the house batt. I could remove the B+ wire from the harness and go straight to the house batt though to check.

[mmandley]

In the case of noise in the stereo.

I have found that putting my Stereo Ground Wire, Amps, and ZLD all on the Stereo Battery I get no noise.

I run all my power for Amps, and ZLD to my Stereo Battery.

The Head unit is the only Power source I leave on the factory boat distribution so it will work on the Dash Switch. I then run the Remote wire from the Head Unit to my Relay that all my Amps and ZLD are connected to.

This allows me to completely Isolate my Stereo Drain to the Stereo Battery and my house battery only Runs Boat items.

[Woody929]

In the case of noise in the stereo.

I have found that putting my Stereo Ground Wire, Amps, and ZLD all on the Stereo Battery I get no noise.

I run all my power for Amps, and ZLD to my Stereo Battery.

The Head unit is the only Power source I leave on the factory boat distribution so it will work on the Dash Switch. I then run the Remote wire from the Head Unit to my Relay that all my Amps and ZLD are connected to.

This allows me to completely Isolate my Stereo Drain to the Stereo Battery and my house battery only Runs Boat items.

When I wired mine up last weekend, I brought over new +/- lines from my stereo battery distribution blocks and just changed out the leads on the radio switch. Like Mike, the ZLD will also run off of these new leads at the helm.

I didn't want anything on the cranking side interfering with the audio. So the radio switch on the dash now turns on the HU which in turn feeds the remote for the amps. I also changed out the feeds (+/-) for the 12v plug in the glove box. That way when I use my air enabler, the power is all tied to the stereo bank.

[Beejwest]

What is the ZLD?

[mmandley]

What is the ZLD?

Zone Level Controler.
Several Companies make similar devices with an array of options from Blue Tooth, True Zone Control.

http://exileaudio.com/store/index.php/amplifiers/signal-processing/zone-controller-preamp.html

[MLA]

For those that are not familiar with or have not looked at a typical head-unit wiring diagram, the dash "stereo" switch is not "powering" the radio. There is a bit of misleading info in a couple of the recent posts here.

A typical head-unit has a yellow wire that is a constant battery positive. This is the wire that the head-unit draws its operating current through, or in other words, "powers" the head-unit. The dash "stereo" switch simply applies a 12 volt turn-on signal, same as the head-unit does doe the amp, to the head-unit to tell it to wake up. This is a red wired at the head-unit and doesnt matter which battery it comes from. As mentioned earlier, its the Yellow B+ that matters. If the amps and that yellow wire, and any peripherals like an EQ, are drawing from different batteries, you are almost certainly going to get noise.

I hope this clears it up for those installing your 2nd battery bank or those dealing with noise.

[MLA]

Strange double post

[Beejwest]

Thats the thing, unless that B+ wire is hooked in through the huge positive cable from the starter, they're on the same power source. I gotta crawl in there tomorrow and unhook it and run it over hard to the house batt to check.