perko switch

ok here's the deal before my boat left the dealer who is about 5 hours away i had them add a second battery and perko switch cause i knew i'd be adding tower speakers sub and amp.

he must have things wired up completely wrong or else i don't understand the concept of this thing

it has bat 1 , bat 2, all , and off and lock

now the radio, horn, lights and everything work no matter what place i select on the perko switch. should everything be dead on off or am i wrong?
what i intended is have battery 1 be the main battery for starting and battery 2 be for the stereo when i'm anchored out relaxing so if i kill bat 2 i can switch it to 1 and i'll still be able to start it then when i'm running switch it to all and let it recharge both batteries then when i get home and am done for the day turn it to off so i know there is no drain on the either battery.

if i'm wrong in my thinking i apoligize but if i'm right can someone please tell me how to wire it up correctly so i don't kill both batteries and leave myself stranded someday.

also i've been reading post about the blue ray and pro mariner chargers...can i get any insight as to if should add this to my system and why.

sorry to sound like such an idiot but all this is kinda new to me.
thanks in advance

Gus,

With a Perko switch, everything including the starter/alternator, helm buss and all stereo electronics are connected to the Perko common post. So, everything shuts down when in the 'off' position. The only exceptions might be a bilge pump/float switch and stereo memory if those are important issues for your storage scenario. There is no other way. This avoids multiple problems.

The reasons for a dual-bank multi-stage charger include but are not limited to:

• To keep battery(s) maintained during long storage periods where lead-acid batteries may self-discharge 3 to 4 percent a month.
• Totally recharge/condition/desulphate battery(s) after long periods at rest while playing your stereo since the alternator is unlikely to accomplish this in a reasonable time frame and particularly if you have a large audio system.
• Extend your playtime each following weekend and prolong your battery's lifespan over multiple seasons.

David
Earmark Marine

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Originally Posted by EarmarkMarine

Gus,

With a Perko switch, everything including the starter/alternator, helm buss and all stereo electronics are connected to the Perko common post. So, everything shuts down when in the 'off' position. The only exceptions might be a bilge pump/float switch and stereo memory if those are important issues for your storage scenario. There is no other way. This avoids multiple problems.

The reasons for a dual-bank multi-stage charger include but are not limited to:

• To keep battery(s) maintained during long storage periods where lead-acid batteries may self-discharge 3 to 4 percent a month.
• Totally recharge/condition/desulphate battery(s) after long periods at rest while playing your stereo since the alternator is unlikely to accomplish this in a reasonable time frame and particularly if you have a large audio system.
• Extend your playtime each following weekend and prolong your battery's lifespan over multiple seasons.

David
Earmark Marine

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hey thanks david for the quick response. i shot ya an email i'd like to talk with you personally about one of these units to add to my audio system

I think its wired wrong. Sounds to me like they ran your main power directly off the battery.

Im running a perko and have everything wired to my possitive like David mentioned. When I turn the switch to off theres no power to anything on the boat. Oh except my Sub amp witch is wired directly off my 2nd battery bank. Also you want to make sure on the amp rating for the switch, think mines 250 amps. Thats why im running my sub amp directly off the battery and my other two amps off the switch, I was affraid all three amps maybe too much for the switch.

Oh also you'll want to make sure you have two alike or same batteries before you combine them on that switch in the all possition. Could cause you some problems if not. You also need to realize that if your stereo battery is drained down and you combine them they will equal out. You'll basically be drawing your starting battery down to the other battery.

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Originally Posted by byronkoz

I think its wired wrong. Sounds to me like they ran your main power directly off the battery.

Im running a perko and have everything wired to my possitive like David mentioned. When I turn the switch to off theres no power to anything on the boat. Oh except my Sub amp witch is wired directly off my 2nd battery bank. Also you want to make sure on the amp rating for the switch, think mines 250 amps. Thats why im running my sub amp directly off the battery and my other two amps off the switch, I was affraid all three amps maybe too much for the switch.

Oh also you'll want to make sure you have two alike or same batteries before you combine them on that switch in the all possition. Could cause you some problems if not. You also need to realize that if your stereo battery is drained down and you combine them they will equal out. You'll basically be drawing your starting battery down to the other battery.

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thanks byron thats what i thought as well

i'm only running two amps 700 and 450 watt will i be ok there?

what do ya mean two alike batteries what do i check to make sure they are alike. the second one was installed by that dealer but he f'ed up the perko swtich so all i know he got some cheap ass battery and said so long! i'm 5 hours away so thats why i'm not dealing with him on this and unlike some of you guys who are close to good people like earmark marine... i don't know of anyone around me in ohio to go to for this stuff

Byron,

You should move your sub amplifier over to the Perko also. By the way, Perko has a black switch with higher capacity and 3/8-inch studs. But I think the red one should be fine.

Presently, if the source electronics were connected to the starting battery by accident and one amplifier is wired to an alternate battery, the different battery voltages could attempt to level and circumvent the isolation through the RCA ground shields (even though these may be 1000 ohms above ground). The first issue is the potential for noise. The larger issue is I wouldn't want DC voltage flowing on a circuit that's connected to a fragile OP amp, particularly on the source unit preouts.

This is just one of several reasons why there is only one good way to wire a Perko swtich.

David
Earmark Marine

Thanks for the advice David. I'll definately do that.

Gus, by two alike batteries I ment 2 Gel or 2 lead-acid batteries. There maybe other things to consider but far as I know, these are the most important if your going to combine two batteries or hook them together.

Oh and I feel ya on the dealer thing. My dealer is only 10 miles from me and they may as well be 1000. Not happy with them at all and I actaully go through a dealer 700 miles south of me for parts and have them shipped directly to my door. Works out much better.

Gus,

My dealer as well screwed up installing the second battery, Perko, and towers I negociated in with the sale. Not in the Perko, but rather they had it wired so that there was so much noise that I could not even idle the boat with the radio on. They had my boat for 5 days and made it worse. I took it to Earmark Marine 3 hrs away for a custom system (see my post). David is very big on not over engineering a system when it's not needed. Even with my system, David pretty much insisted that the Perko is all pretty much everyone needs in simple to highend systems. Plus, whether in person or over the phone, I like the way David can "dumb it down" for us mortals to understand.

Ok, I am in the same boat at the OP. When I turn my perko to off, everything will still function. This includes stereo, ballast, you name it. What exactly should I move around to hook it up correctly? Presently, could this cause me to drain both batts even if the switch is set to only one batt? Mine was also dealer installed.

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Originally Posted by dusty2221

Ok, I am in the same boat at the OP. When I turn my perko to off, everything will still function. This includes stereo, ballast, you name it. What exactly should I move around to hook it up correctly? Presently, could this cause me to drain both batts even if the switch is set to only one batt? Mine was also dealer installed.

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The possitive from your wiring harness (the one with the 50 amp breaker) should be hooked to your "both" or "all" terminal on the switch. If its hooked dirrectly to a one of the batteries then it will be hot all the time unless you dissconnect the battery its hooked to.

I'll check this out tonight. Thanks for the wisdom!

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Originally Posted by you da man

Gus,

My dealer as well screwed up installing the second battery, Perko, and towers I negociated in with the sale. Not in the Perko, but rather they had it wired so that there was so much noise that I could not even idle the boat with the radio on. They had my boat for 5 days and made it worse. I took it to Earmark Marine 3 hrs away for a custom system (see my post). David is very big on not over engineering a system when it's not needed. Even with my system, David pretty much insisted that the Perko is all pretty much everyone needs in simple to highend systems. Plus, whether in person or over the phone, I like the way David can "dumb it down" for us mortals to understand.

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if i had someone even 3 hours away i'd be there in a heart beat but i can't locate an audio person with great knowledge of boats! it sucks you pay a dealer to do it once and its wrong. i called and asked about it but he claims thats how its suppose to be. i'm like thats b.s. off should be off meaning nothing comes on. i'm not into the audio and wiring of stuff but i'm gonna take the perko down and see how its wired exactly just need to know what wires go where any help david?

btw you da man your system looks sick they did a great job for ya thats for sure

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Originally Posted by gus 08 mobius lsv

if i had someone even 3 hours away i'd be there in a heart beat but i can't locate an audio person with great knowledge of boats! it sucks you pay a dealer to do it once and its wrong. i called and asked about it but he claims thats how its suppose to be. i'm like thats b.s. off should be off meaning nothing comes on. i'm not into the audio and wiring of stuff but i'm gonna take the perko down and see how its wired exactly just need to know what wires go where any help david?

btw you da man your system looks sick they did a great job for ya thats for sure

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Thanks Gus, by the way, I think that's the only thing the dealer got right on my system.. the perko switch. When I switched it to "off" everything was off.

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Originally Posted by byronkoz

The possitive from your wiring harness (the one with the 50 amp breaker) should be hooked to your "both" or "all" terminal on the switch. If its hooked dirrectly to a one of the batteries then it will be hot all the time unless you dissconnect the battery its hooked to.

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ok i took my perko switch down and this is what i found postive cable on battery 1 going to post 1 on perko
postive cable on battery 2 going to post 2 on perko
i assume its the starter cable or alternator cable and a cable going to a thermal waterproof reset and a cable going to my 30 amp fuse is on the other post.

any ideas or help?

so to bring back and old thread, my "switch" is wired the following:
starter is on battery one.
acc and amps are on battery two.
negatives are grounded as needed and there is a grounding jumper cable between the 2 batteries.
alt. wire is on the common side of the switch
posts marked 1-2 on the switch are routed to the positives of batteries 1 and 2 respectively.

the switch has a box above labeled as a vsr.
all the cables are pre-labeled from skiers choice as needing to be connected to battery one or two.


looking at this scenario, I assume that I have 2 independent batteries and the vsr just ensures that each battery is charged correctly and that I don't have a "real" perko switch. in this case, can I not run the stereo battery dead without doing anything to the switch and the starting battery will still fire the boat up?

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Originally Posted by sandm

looking at this scenario, I assume that I have 2 independent batteries and the vsr just ensures that each battery is charged correctly and that I don't have a "real" perko switch. in this case, can I not run the stereo battery dead without doing anything to the switch and the starting battery will still fire the boat up?

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Yep thats how they have it set up, doesnt make any sense to me at all.


This is how mine is and how im pretty sure it was meant to be hooked up to work properly.

Battery one + to post one on the switch
Battery two + to post two on the switch
Main + to the starter on common or “both” post
Accessories on common or “both” post
Stereo amps on common or “both” post

Basically everything that you are powering should run off the common or “both” post.
This allows you to run everything off battery one, battery two or off both batteries at the same time combined. When the switch is turned to off there shouldn’t be power to anything on the boat unless its wired directly off one of your batteries. Not sure if this answers the question or not but its how the switch should be wired.

After reading this thread and thinking about my setup I know my perko is wired differently than what is recommended by others in the thread but think my setup may be ok. I have two batteries one interstate marine for cranking and one deka for the alternate battery. If all accessories including wiring harness, amps, ext are wired directly to the deka and only the starter cable runs through the common post on the perko is this setup acceptable. In my mind the perko is still functioning correctly because you have ability to crank and charge either battery. I may be way off though so someone please set me straight.

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Originally Posted by guinsha54

After reading this thread and thinking about my setup I know my perko is wired differently than what is recommended by others in the thread but think my setup may be ok. I have two batteries one interstate marine for cranking and one deka for the alternate battery. If all accessories including wiring harness, amps, ext are wired directly to the deka and only the starter cable runs through the common post on the perko is this setup acceptable. In my mind the perko is still functioning correctly because you have ability to crank and charge either battery. I may be way off though so someone please set me straight.

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Yeah im thinking your asking for trouble having it wired that way. What happens if the Deka battery goes dead? Then you have no use of anything thats run off your wiring harness? And would the boat even start since all accessories would be dead? If you wired everything off the common post then youd be able to choose what battery to use and everything would work of either battery. I would at least run your wiring harness (the one with the 50 amp breaker) off your common post.

If the Deka goes dead and I switch the Perko to the all or both position wouldn’t the charge then run from battery one to the other and the accessories would work? Of course if the alt battery is dead and I switch to all the volts will attempt to balance and drain the cranking battery. Maybe I just answered my own question but would still like to hear others thoughts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guinsha54

If the Deka goes dead and I switch the Perko to the all or both position wouldn’t the charge then run from battery one to the other and the accessories would work? Of course if the alt battery is dead and I switch to all the volts will attempt to balance and drain the cranking battery. Maybe I just answered my own question but would still like to hear others thoughts.

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Yes on your threory. If Alt battery is dead and you switch it to both you will lose power from Batt 1.

The goal is if you kill batt 2 you switch to Batt 1 start the boat. Then click it back to All so it will charge.

The alternator see it the same as the boat sees it. 1 it only charges 1. 2 is only charges 2. All it charges all.

When i put the home charger on my boat i put it on battery 3 as its the easiest to open, then put the perko on All and it charges all 3 as 1 big battery.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guinsha54

If the Deka goes dead and I switch the Perko to the all or both position wouldn’t the charge then run from battery one to the other and the accessories would work? Of course if the alt battery is dead and I switch to all the volts will attempt to balance and drain the cranking battery. Maybe I just answered my own question but would still like to hear others thoughts.

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First thing, Id read up on the switch you have and make sure you can switch it while the motor is running, on some or them you cant without risk of damage. Since both batteries are the same type combining them would be fine but yes it would also bring the good battery down by combining with the dead one.

It just makes more sense to me running everything off of the both or common post and I believe this is the way the switch was meant to be used. One other thing. Your alternator isnt really meant to be used to charge your dead battery but really to just maintain your batteries.

Thanks for the reply’s guys. I guess this weekend I need to check it all out. I may just leave it as is since I leave the perko on all at all times and don’t sit around much just jammin usually if we are in the boat someone is on a board behind it, of course you never know when you will need it and my batteries are now about 4 years old I think so it’s probably time to get some new ones anyway.