Perko Batt Switch, easy DIY?

[takirb]

I just purchased a used pontoon boat, and i plan to fish at night for several hours. I'll only have a few accessories that i'll be powering at night (anchor light, radio, maybe a few small LED interior lights, and probably a cell phone on a charger), but i don't want to be stranded in case i stay out for 10hrs with accessories powered on. I've read about the Perko battery switches and will be ordering one this week. Is the install very easy??

I have the standard cranking battery already that came with the boat. I'll be purchasing a deep cycle for running my accessories at night. I'd like to place the deep cycle in a battery box and store it under the rear seat for easy access, along with the battery switch (pro's or cons on this location?)

Am i correct in thinking that all i need to do is -

1) take the cables that are currently on the positive terminal of the battery and connect them to the COM terminal of the switch
2) run some 8GA wire from the positive terminal on battery 1 to #1 on the switch (same for batt #2 and position #2 on switch)
3) run some 8GA ground wire to same grounding point as current battery

I'm hoping to test out the panel switches soon (boat's still at the boat dealer) and make sure everything's wired correctly, and i'll need to install a 12v cig lighter port to the dash as well (which i'm thinking is just going to pos and neg terminals behind the switch panel).

Is any of this correct? I'd like to save myself some money as the dealer charges $85/hr for labor

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Perko Batt Switch, easy DIY?

Almost. First of all 8 gauge wire is not heavy enough if you are going to use the battery for starting. Use regular battery cables. The pos cable from the motor goes to common on the switch. Then pos from bat 1 to one connection and pos from bat 2 to the other. Neg from the motor goes to neg on both batteries. I think Silvertip has a diagram of this posted somewhere. You might try searching for it if need be.

 

[dan t.]

Re: Perko Batt Switch, easy DIY?

more like 2 ga minimum,I prefer 0 ga,there is no such thing as over capacity when it comes to dc wiring

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Perko Batt Switch, easy DIY?

In my view you don't need the switch at all. what you do need is an on-board charger (two bank) and a little rewiring so that you high current draw items are on the deep cycle battery. The reason I suggest this is that the engine on your pontoon does not likely have a large enough alternator to keep the batteries charged anyway. You would need to run wide open for hours to make that happen. So a pair of jumper cables or a jump start box is the "emergency start" kit. Plug the on-board charger into shore power at the dock.

 

[takirb]

Re: Perko Batt Switch, easy DIY?

Silvertip, i'm going with your suggestion of getting rid of the switch. Bad experience this passed weekend - after i put the boat in the water and my friend no longer had the rope, i turned the ignition and the cranking battery was dead. i switched to the deep cycle, it wouldn't work either. Turned out i blew a fuse in the deep cycle battery box (30A fuse, Attwood box), and theres a problem w/an accessory switch thats staying on (notices this later during the trip). Anywho, after i rowed the 22ft pontoon boat 150yds back to shore, i ripped the switch and all the wiring out that i had installed cause i thought it was to blame.

I charged the cranking battery, replaced the fuse, and had a great weekend on the boat with basically the original wiring on the cranking battery. I did end up wiring just the radio to the deep cycle which worked great. So now i'd like to wire my lights/accessories to it as well, and leave just the motor on the cranking battery, not using the switch at all.

i have 1 set of thick cables from the motor (+ and -), and 1 set of smaller cables that are attached to the battery as well (+ and - of course). I believe these smaller wires are coming from the console (lights, accessories switches) and possibly the ignition itself. Will it hurt to leave just the cables from the motor to the cranking battery and all others on the deep cycle or do i have to have the ignition wires and motor wires on the cranking battery together? If i can seperate it this easily, i'll just need to add 2ft of 12ga cable to the existing wires and be done. i can take pics if needed...

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Perko Batt Switch, easy DIY?

The smaller pair of wires are the "boat harness" and have nothing to do with the engine. The "engine harness" is the large cable that runs between the engine and throttle/shift control box. Power to the engine and this harness comes from the start battery through the large battery cables. Only the gauges would be powered through the engine harness. All of your other accessories would be powered fromthe smaller pair of wires. But all of this is out the window if someone has mucked up the wiring from stock. If the boat has a fuse panel, the small pair of wires is what feeds that fuse panel.

While this may sound a bit cynical, but too many people design themselves into an electrical nightmare. In this case a good size dual purpose or even deep cycle battery in place of the start battery would be all you need. For emergency purposes a simple jump start box is all that you would need to start the engine if you did run down the battery. For those who cannot remember to turn things off -- add a simple ON-OFF toggle switch in the positive lead going to the fuse panel. One switch then turns everything off when you leave the boat.