I've gone and confused myself about adding a 2nd battery...

[beedish]

So here's what I'm planning on doing:

I've added an amp for my in-boat speakers that is currently being powered by my #1, and only, battery.

I am adding tower speakers and an additional amp and will be installing a #2 battery. I intend to power the new amp and move the amp for the in-boat's to this new battery.

I have purchased a Perko 2 battery switch. I plan on following their installation setup for the 'Single Engine, 2 Batteries."

Now my question/confusion. My H/U is still being powered from battery #1; and my in-boats and tower's will be powered from battery #2. Will I run into any problems leaving this setup how it is, or is it worth the time to get the power to the H/U coming from battery #2 as well?

I intend to leave the Perko in the "ALL" position while at rest listening to music.

I hate being blonde...

-Blake

[mmandley]

Blake

Lets assume you leave everything the way it is.

Problem you might see is Noise in your stereo when the boat runs.

After you listen for a few hours at the party cove the boat wont crank and you have defeated the purpose of a second battery.

This is what i would change if my thinking if i was you.

1 No problem with Deck staying on battery 1 as its wired threw the main boat harness to the fuse panel and thats a good thing. What you need to change is just the ground line off the deck. Find the black ground wire and extend it and connect it directly to the Negative terminal of battery 2.

2 Never run both battery in the All position if you are going to have the engine off for any extended time. In effect what you have is a huge 12v single battery when its in the ALL position. This is when you switch the selector to 2. 2 is where all the stereo Amps are plugged into. This is the stereo or Aux battery. This way when you are party coving and listening to music you are only draining the Aux battery. Now if you kill the battery then you switch the selector to 1 and crank the boat up. Once the boat is running for a minute or two or you are driving it then set the selector to All to charge both batteries.

Never Never put the selector to All if you think 1 battey is dead as this Equalized both batteries and you may have 2 dead batteries now. Also try to refrain from the temptation to start the boat and then switch to 2 and send all your alternator charging to your dead battery as this can over load the alternator and in time burn it out as well. The dead battery will be like a starving child screaming for voltage and the alternator will act like a man just rolling out of bed before coffee.

I run a 3 battery setup currently and when the boat is cruising we always have it in All.

When we stop we change it to 2

When we start going again we change it to 1 to start it, then All while driving.

When i get home i check all the batteries with a charger.

This also brings up the question how do you home charge it? Put the selector in All or Both and connect the charger to any battery you like as it will see it as 1 big 12v battery and charge them both at the same time.

[Razzman]

Ditto what Mike said, never ever park and listen to tunes in the "all" position or you may end up stranded one day! I had a Perko on mine when I bought it and for the record I hate Perkos! I switched over to an ACR so I don't have to make switch changes, it's all automatic.

[beedish]

So if the positive of the H/U is on batt #1 an it is grounded through batt #2 then I'll still have radio functionality when perko is on batt #2 only?

[mmandley]

Yes you will. The deck Positive should be looped threw the boats accessory cable. Its generally a 8 gauge line that goes to the drivers side and plugs into the Fuse box over there.

Having the Stereo Negative cable on battery 2 wont batter at all. It will help stop any noise from getting into your stereo. The noise comes from all the accessories on the boat and it travels threw the ground buss bar the boat uses. This is why when you ground just the stereo to the Battery 2 you help eliminate boat noise in the stereo.

[beedish]

Excellent! Thanks for the help! I'm a little more clear now. We'll see how I do this weekend!