Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

OK, seems fairly straight forward. Thanks again. I will crank up the amp, start the trolling motor, and crack a beer with the boat in the garage until I drain the house battery like I would on the water, then test after plugging in the charger.

What I would do is do an experiment where you run down your deep discharge to 12.0V which is the 50% point and then plug in the charger. Monitor the voltage at the starter battery when the ACR clicks in and if the voltage on the start battery never dips below 12.6V, you are fine. If it goes below that, you may want to have a way to keep them isolated when you know the one battery is very discharged.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

Don't run the trolling motor very long out of the water. Motors make heat. With no water to cool it you may in fact fry the electrics in the motor.

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

Good point. Just the stereo, lights, etc then.

Don't run the trolling motor very long out of the water. Motors make heat. With no water to cool it you may in fact fry the electrics in the motor.

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

Update,

Finally decided to get moving on this project? I moved the battery and duct taped the components in place to make sure I have this right. I also still have a few wires to extend from where the house battery was. See below for some notes, a picture, and a few questions I have.
- Current actual wires on batteries are from the smart charger. It is a 3 bank and I put the extra set on the house battery.
- 4ga positive from the starter goes into the switch top position #2.
- Trim pump positive is direct to the switch top position #2 and negative to the common bus bar.
- 4ga negative from the engine goes to the common bus bar.
- The trolling motor, amp and some other accessory wires are not shown, but assume they will be hooked up to the buss bars only.
Questions:
1) Does the picture with my sketches look correct?
2) Can I use 4ga for all since I have a spool of it? All charts point to this being ok as I have a 70amp alternator and very short runs. I will still use 16ga for the ACR ground and 10amp fuse.
3) Are the wires short enough to not use the 100amp breakers?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

What gauge wire is coming from your starter? I would use that gauge minimum between the batteries and the switch. 4 gauge is fine between the ACR and the batteries.

The shortness of the wires isn't the reason you skip the 100 amp breakers. The breakers are there to protect the ACR. As I said before, highly doubtful that would happen as the ACR would not connect if one battery is below a threshold.

Get rid of wing nuts!

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

Thanks! I have a bunch of nyloc nuts for the install. So does it all look good to go? Boat is winterized so dont really know how I will test it until spring, but I would like it done. Let me know.

Mike

What gauge wire is coming from your starter. I would use that gauge minimum.

The shortness of the wires isn't the reason you skip the 100 amp breakers. The breakers are there to protect the ACR. As I said before, highly doubtful that would happen as the ACR would not connect if one battery is below a threshold.

Get rid of the wingnuts!

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

I forgot to mention it is 4 gauge coming to and from engine. Should be good to go. Looks ok?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

That should be ok. I would probably run the engine block ground straight to the start battery.

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

Thanks... this contradicts what Don S. said but it is really the same thing just shortening that run. Since I have the positive trim cable direct to the starting battery, I assume I should be hooking the negative up direct as well?

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

For $10 shipped I should probably just pick up two of these > http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-AMP-FUSE-LINE-CIRCUIT-BREAKER-12V-CIRCUIT-/200497096590?pt=Car_Audio_Video&vxp=mtr&hash=item2eae8ee78e

What about the fuse Don S. sketched in going to the positive bus bar? Is this needed? What amperage?

I just want to do this right, sorry for all the questions.

 

[Don S]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

The main ground cable from the engine should go to the starting battery, then the jumper to the buss bar. You would need a much larger buss bar to go the other way.
The fuse going to the buss bar can be 50A.
Wire size larger than necessary hurts nothing.

Since I have the positive trim cable direct to the starting battery, I assume I should be hooking the negative up direct as well?

You shouldn't have the positive trim direct to the battery, look at the wiring diagram. The ground can go to the buss bar, not the battery. It does not pull near the amperage the starter does.


Up dated wiring diagram:

.

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

Don S,

Glad you were still subscribed!

- My mistake on stating the positive trim was hooked direct to the battery. See my picture it is actually to the switch top position #2. Good to go.
- I will do this > "The main ground cable from the engine should go to the starting battery, then the jumper to the buss bar." I did not do this as the previous sketch did not show this.
Questions:
1) Do I really need 2ga for house battery connections?
2) Why does your sketch show negative (black) cables going to the ACR and battery positives? Also, you said I do not need fuses here yet they are still shown?

Mike

 

[Don S]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

1) Do I really need 2ga for house battery connections?

No, the 2 ga. was used when you were planning on putting the second battery on the other side of the boat.

2) Why does your sketch show negative (black) cables going to the ACR and battery positives?

Because that was the color in the original instructions, I just didn't change them. Just use your imagination and pretend they are red.

Also, you said I do not need fuses here yet they are still shown?

Where do I say that? I did when I first posted it, but edited it out within a few minutes when I realize I was referring to something else.

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

Where do I say that? I did when I first posted it, but edited it out within a few minutes when I realize I was referring to something else.

I was reading your reply in the email I got. Must have had your un-edited version. Thus, I will add two 100amp fuses to be safe.

Thanks again for all your help everyone!

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

OK, hooked everything up tonight. See cell phone picture below. Sorry for most of the wires being black, it is all I had...

Since the boat is winterized don't know what I can really test? I did plug in the smart charger and as it was starting to charge the "combine" light popped on and the ACR clicked. Though, when I unplugged the charger, the "combine" light stayed on??? Shouldn't they have become isolated at this point? Any ideas?



Mike

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

It will stay on for a little while. Once the battery voltages both drop below 12.75V, it will isolate within 30 sec.

 

[mschmidt33]

Re: Do I want a VSR, Isolator, ACR, or Switch... Help Please.

It will stay on for a little while. Once the battery voltages both drop below 12.75V, it will isolate within 30 sec.

Thanks! I checked this morning and the "combine" light was off. Thanks again for all your help.

Mike