Blue Sea Add a Battery Questions

[dereklschmidt]

Ok, I was in the process of preparing my boat for adding the Blue Sea Add a Battery System. More of a challenge than what I thought, I assumed I would have room in the back by the other battery, but I don't like it there and there is no where to mount the switch and acr. So after some thought, I decided to move both batteries to the front of the boat.

Hopefully you guys can help me out on these questions.

1. What gauge wire do I need to run from the Alternator to the ACR?
2. Where does the wire connect to the Alternator at? I see a small orange wire that goes to the starter, do I remove this? Also, it looks like the wires on the Alternator are in the form of a 2 or 3 wire plug?
3. What gauge wire do I need to run from the Starter to the Switch? Looks like 0 awg or 1 awg right now.
4. What size of wire do I need to run to the Ground post?
5. Is there anything I am missing? I have all amp/stereo cables ran to the front already...
6. For the battery, should I get something close to what I currently have or does it matter? I have a deep cycle now with only 650cca, is getting a more powerful starting battery better or worse?

All help is much appreciated!

[mmandley]

For the cables you want to keep the same size as the factory put in or go Bigger, never smaller.

For cables from the alternator to the switch system to change it you will always want to run 2 gauge or bigger.

Ground cables need to be the same size as power cables.

As for batteries the 650 is plenty big as a starting battery. If your going to a second battery it would be the bigger one for the stereo.

As i understand or have been told you want to stay with similar batteries in these setups, or maybe its same brands. You don't want to run a Wet cell Deep Cycle with a Gell Cell Deep Cycle.

Im no expert in batteries this is just how i understand from the other guys on here.

I do know that Power and Ground always need to be the same because those are your voltage pipelines and the return path needs to be the same as a supply path size.

[dereklschmidt]

Sounds good, I will use the same for Power & Ground, They are not the same now, they are definitely after market cables though. I'm not sure how I can tie in a 2 gauge wire into my alternator either, any suggestions? And what are the other wires coming from my alternator? Shouldn't I just need the positive at the switch?

As for the batteries, I have been told to stay the exact same, but I am thinking about just getting another Wet Cell Deep Cycle battery. That should be fine right?

thanks for your help

[mmandley]

Sounds good on your batteries.

As for the alternator generally there is a power line to the battery directly off the back will have a stud with a screw on it. It will have a Ground line also. Then a plug for the wires to the dash of the car, this would be ignition and a gauge for your charging.

Like i said i don't have the boat here at the moment its at Exile still i can look it over and send you some pics of how its wired if you like. PM me your email and when i get down there later today ill snap some shots and email you or just email me real fast at

[email protected]

[dereklschmidt]

I sent you an email quick.

Where are you getting all of your heavier guage wire at for your project?

[ausbill32]

When I did mine two weeks ago, I bout 2/0 from Home Depot, it was .79 a foot. Pretty cheap but this wire has 8 big strands, you have to be "HeMan" to bend that stuff...lol. and they only sell black.

Needless to say, I'm looking for some cheaper 2/0 more flexable wire so I can clean up my mess. I found some at a local boat store but they want $6 bucks a foot.

Someone mentioned using welding wire on another forum post but I wasn't able to find any.

Derek, don't forget you need to install fuses on the lines from the ASR to the batteries.

[dereklschmidt]

Yeah, I am installing ciruit breakers inline instead of fuses though.

You can get 1/0 at www.knukonceptz.com for $1.75 a foot, but I do need alot of it, and would like to find it somewhat cheaper. However, the skip from 1 to 4 gauge wire, no 2 gauge wire, but comes in 4 colors. That may be the cheapest route then, I like the .79 a foot, but I need to be able to make one sharp corner so that won't work to well.

[mmandley]

Ive been using Metra products.
I ran 4G to power and ground my amps.
0 Gauge to power and ground my distro blocks.
2 Gauge to run my battery power and grounds.

I will look at the spool names and such tomorrow to get you some brand names.

Most of what i use is Tsunami

You can expect to pay a pretty penny for it though.

I will do a build sheet on my system when i get some time, I want to post a parts list of some sorts. Ruff ball park is around 300 to 400 in cables, distribution blocks and accessories related to mounting everything. I go back to Exile Wens for some wrap up things before we o on vacation and ill see about getting you more info on the cables and such.

[dereklschmidt]

Ok, I am still confused on how this Add-a-Battery systems works. It looks like to me the alternator does not have a seperate wire going to the ACR or Switch, how does it charge both batteries?

Looks like, to me, from this diagram that I don't have to do anything with the wiring from the alternator. My alternator already has the ground to the post & the power to the starter. If I am reading this correctly I can simply take a Power from the starter and run to the ACR and be done? Is this right?

Please tell me what I am missing in this diagram, just doesn't seem like it would charge both batteries this way, but I may not know how exactly the ACR works. Thanks

[flex]

Ok, I am still confused on how this Add-a-Battery systems works. It looks like to me the alternator does not have a seperate wire going to the ACR or Switch, how does it charge both batteries?

Looks like, to me, from this diagram that I don't have to do anything with the wiring from the alternator. My alternator already has the ground to the post & the power to the starter. If I am reading this correctly I can simply take a Power from the starter and run to the ACR and be done? Is this right?

Please tell me what I am missing in this diagram, just doesn't seem like it would charge both batteries this way, but I may not know how exactly the ACR works. Thanks

Blue Sea has a tech support line and are excellect talk to. You can find their number on the their website. One ten minute phone call and you will have this hooked up.

Your not connecting anything directly to the ACR except for the batteries. You are connecting everything to the switch first. The switch connects to the ACR and to the batteries.

I wouldn't worry about running a seperate wire from the alternator to the switch. Most ski boats wire the alternator to the starter & the starter to the battery. You can ignore the wire in the diagram that shows a wire connecting the aleternator to the switch (this has already been done in most cases).

Take your starter wire (this is the wire that is connected to the battery now) and connect it to the proper lug on the switch. Then connect the switch to the battery from the other lug. You will have to cut & connect new terminals.

Now you can connect the ACR to the switch. This part of the diagram is correct. As long as you leave the switch in the "on" positon, the ACR will allow both batteries to charge at the same time while isolating the power output each battery controls.

The longer you stare at the diagram, the more confused you will become. Call Blue Sea to make sure you are wiring correctly.