My Own Battery Setup ?s

[Silvertip]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

Overly complicated for me? I understand it perfectly which is why I don't recommend exotic schemes for the average boater. With three switches, a combiner, and an ACR you have introduced a great deal of comlexity and potential points of failure. If it works for you that's fine and I certainly don't have a problem with that. But the average person on the this board asking for advice is not about to carry things to that level. With all due respect, this poster apparently doesn't fully understand the function of one switch yet you expect him to understand the use of three of them in an emergency, and then be able to troubleshoot the cause of failure of the automatic system. This poster would likely have to run the boat to a shop for repair and I suspect he would faint when he got the bill as troubleshooting would likely account for 90% of the cost. I simply don't believe in developing complicated solutions to simple problems.

 

[drewpster]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

Overly complicated for me?

Please except my apology of my comment seemed condescending. That was not my intent. I meant to reiterate what you had written in your earlier post. It was poorly written and did not express my view on your advice or your competence. I have read and followed much of your advice and I have respect for your opinion. (or it could have been a light jab among friends?):redface:
The reason I posted details on my superduper battery switch setup was to present options to Jeff (rost495). In my earlier post I also stated that a simple battery switch is a viable option. I realize I tend to obsess over this particular subject due to past experience. You were correct in advising Jeff the way you did. I also believe I was correct in presenting pros and cons Jeff or other readers may consider.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

Apology not needed as no offense was taken. Besides -- I have pretty thick skin. If I gave you, and the poster, the impression I was against any sort of automatic system that simply was not the case. I would certainly endorse an exotic backup system provided the user knew and understood what they had and there was a legitimate need for it. However, a person that does not understand this stuff puts a potential troubleshooting nightmare into the picture in that he/she can't troubleshoot it and to have a service agency take the time to figure it out is very costly. Vessels with more comlicated electrical systems can certainly use some backup systems some of which, like yours, would probably be deemed necessary. The average in-land boater however simply does not have a complicated electrical system and in my view should keep things as simple and trouble-free as possible.

With that, I think we have confused the poster sufficiently so I'm outa here.

 

[dingbat]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

Nothing is completely perfect and idiot proof. Most marinas and boat places I know of that sell a lot of boats use the battery switch package I posted about above. The majority of boaters around me are just dummies. They don't have any common sense or street smarts. But they are book smart and able to afford a three figure job to support a boat. They don't know how to work on their own boats and motors, they don't pay attention to switches, radios, all that stuff. They forget stupid things like plug in the kill switch lanyard before you try to start the motor.

The switch and link I mentioned above works in such a way that all you need to remember is, turn switch on when you want to use the boat and turn it off when you are done with your boat. Should you forget to turn it off, the batteries are isolated so one can't short out the other. The link monitors both batteries and isolates them. If a battery is shorting out and won't take a charge, the link can alert you to this. There are options for accessory lights and horns that connect to the link so you can monitor it from the helm.

I guess I'm dense. Do you have a schematic for this? How do you select which battery is in use with only an on/off switch?

 

[rob711]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

iam picking up my new boat thursday and i really want 2 batts...mostly for piece of mind....big keepers solution seems to be the eaisest and most foolproof way to go...turn the switch to on...it goes for 150 on the west marine website, i guess i'd have to make up some cables as well...but still not having to switch to starting batt etc seems worth it to me

 

[Sorrento 25]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

I believe the dual-circuit system is a simplification. The 1-2-Both-Off switches cause way more confusion.

The basic principle is that the house and start circuits are always isolated, but the combiner allows both to charge properly at all times.

The switch is either on or off. If its on both batteries are on, and if its off both batteries are off.

You never need to worry about which battery you are using or charging etc. Just turn the batteries on when you go and off when you're done.

Just make sure that you put all your power hungry accessory loads that will be used when the engine is not running on the house battery.

 

[Big Keepers]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

There is nothing exotic about the add a battery from Blue Sea. All you need to know is on and off.

 

[drewpster]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

Insert obvious DITTO from drewp.

 

[dingbat]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

I believe the dual-circuit system is a simplification. The 1-2-Both-Off switches cause way more confusion.

The basic principle is that the house and start circuits are always isolated, but the combiner allows both to charge properly at all times.

The switch is either on or off. If its on both batteries are on, and if its off both batteries are off.

You never need to worry about which battery you are using or charging etc. Just turn the batteries on when you go and off when you're done.

Just make sure that you put all your power hungry accessory loads that will be used when the engine is not running on the house battery.

Ok, it sounds like this thing is designed to accommodate two circuits (engine and house) supported by two batteries. In my case I?m only running one circuit and the second battery is used only for redundancy.

Assuming that I?m correct in my assumption and the motor is wired to the motor battery and the house is wired to the other, how do you manage a low voltage situation or an all out failure of one battery?

Do you have to swap cables around?

 

[drewpster]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

No you do not have to swap cables around. If you are using the add-a-battery set up we have been discussing, the manual switch has a "combine" position. The manual switch has three positions, Off, On, and Combine.
When the manual switch is in the On position the batteries run independent of each other. Meaning the start battery is only used to start the engine and the house battery is only used to power the other stuff. When the engine starts and is running the engine produces voltage that is higher than the battery's voltage. Then the automatic switch in the setup senses this higher voltage and turns on. This connects the batteries together allowing the engine to charge both batteries. When the engine is shut off the voltage it produced is no longer present. The batteries, after a few minutes, will settle to a lower voltage. The automatic switch senses this and turns off disconnecting the batteries from each other. This allows you to run all your electrics while drawing current only from the house battery. The start battery is isolated and no current is drawn from it. You always have a fresh start battery. If your house battery gets low and you want to recharge it simply restart the engine.
If in the unlikely event you should somehow drain the start battery you would use the manual switch. Before starting the engine would turn the switch to "combine". This will connect both batteries together again and allow you to start the engine. Under normal conditions you would only use the manual switch to turn the batteries on at the beginning of your trip and turn it off at the end of the day. The rest of the time the automatic switch does all the work.

To install the system to work as I have described you will need to do some rewiring. You will need to be able wire it so that the starter circuitry is connected to one battery and the fuse panel for everything else is connected to the other. You will also need to add cables to connect the automatic switch between the two batteries with some fuses. It may sound difficult but it is only slightly more complicated than wiring a 1-2-both switch in my opinion.

 

[dingbat]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

Thanks for the explanation. I guess I?ll have to think it through and see if it will work for how I use my batteries.

 

[Big Keepers]

Re: My Own Battery Setup ?s

I guess I'm dense. Do you have a schematic for this? How do you select which battery is in use with only an on/off switch?

It is very confusing to describe in words, I have a hard time remembering how it works myself. If you look at the picture above that I posted, the schematic is right there. This switch has two sides if you will. There are four posts on the back and the right side is independent of the left side. So you have your starting battery and your house battery. Well let's say we put the pos. lead from the starting battery to the upper right lug on the switch. The pos. lead to the engine goes on the lower right lug of the switch. The same goes for the house side, pos. lead from house battery goes to upper left lug and pos. lead to your fuse panel, switch panel, bus, etc, goes on the lower left.

Next step is linking them. You can use 8 AWG wire for this. The link has two lugs on it. Right and left. You connect the 8 AWG wire between the positive on the house and one of the two lugs on the link. Repeat for the starting battery.

To complete the setup you need some 2 AWG wire to connect the two NEGATIVE terminals on each battery. Go from the house negative to the starting negative. The link needs to be grounded as well. 14 AWG wire and a quick disconnect and a ring terminal. Go from one of the negatives on a battery, doesn't matter which, to the negative on the link, a small tab like a regular switch has.

That's it. Now if you encounter a starting problem, you can switch the battery switch to combine both. This will link both batteries' positive leads at the switch giving you enough cranking amps to get started. Once you're up and running the batteries will start to charge.

Now obviously if you have a bad battery that is old and shorting out and needs to be replaced, no system will help with that. But healthy batteries get the most life use with this system. They are constantly being monitored as to their charge level and only get what they need.