Stereo install questions....

[Chevysolid]

Ok I already have a head unit and two speakers, and I am wanting to add some sound... (I don't plan on annoying everyone I come in contact with so bear with me if you hate those guys who let the whole lake hear their music, we have a cove area where alot of people sit and listen to music, much like a sand bar....and I am on a river some too... ;-) N E way...

I am setting up two skm10 Kicker subs, and four other 5-6" speakers to run off of a 2000w six channel amp. I currently have one marine battery in the boat and figure on adding another for the amp to run off of.

First question: On the battery there are four lines, two red, two black, as there are two posts for each.. .different that in a car.... are the smaller posts the "charging" posts or what?

Ideally I want to set it up so that both batteries are being charged by the alternator and only one is being used to power the amp... if it is drained then the other will still have power to start the boat.....

Without a toggle switch if possible....

second question: Has anyone done a similar set up and if so, what kind of play time should I expect of a decent size marine battery at moderate levels of volume

If it matters... engine is a 5.7LX, so I am thinking that the alternator should be enough to charge both batteries when needed.

Thanks

 

[salty87]

Re: Stereo install questions....

alot of people use stinger relay's to keep the batteries separate. the alt charges them both but the stereo can't drain the starting battery. i also use this, stinger sr 200 relay. car stereo places sell them.

play time totally depends on volume and how well your battery was charged to start out with. i'd say 6 hours on a fully charged battery at a reasonable volume.

you can get bigger batteries than the standard group 27 too. some people use golf cart batteries...how much do you want to spend??

 

[Chevysolid]

Re: Stereo install questions....

I checked on the stinger and ran across this too... which looks to be marine specific,

http://bluesea.com/products/7600

It looks fairly straight forward, just mount between batteries and it senses draw or charge, and only allowes one to be drawn at a time???

 

[Chevysolid]

Re: Stereo install questions....

As for how much to spend, my budget is already busted for the system but I was looking at NAPA and they have a large marine battery for 75 bucks, plus a battery case for like 8 bucks.... seemed like a good deal....

A heavy duty golf cart battery would be interesting, probably last a bit longer too....

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Stereo install questions....

Just because it says Marine on the side does not make it the right battery for your system. It must say "DEEP CYCLE" or "DUAL PURPOSE". As for the two types of terminals, it makes no difference which one you connect anything to. They are common. One simple is for use with standard auto type battery cable clamps and the other is for use with standard cables with ring terminals on them. You can generally find deep cycle batteries cheaper at a farm store than at an auto store or marine dealer.