Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

[natedog337]

ok my new speaker/amp setup is complete. Four new infinity 4ohm speakers (225watt max) being powered by a (60watt rms x 4) marine amp. I currently have a dual purpose marine battery (120 reserve) and a jump pack on board. Again, i'm usually sitting on sandbars for about 5 hours with the radio going. The amp manual states that the maximum current draw is 40amps. Now i'm wondering if my setup will be good enough without a second battery or in your opinion i'll end up with a dead battery often.

 

[brn77]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

I would say yes there is nutn better than a second battery been there the last thing u wanna do is be stranded from a dead battery with no one around ...

 

[natedog337]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

I would say yes there is nutn better than a second battery been there the last thing u wanna do is be stranded from a dead battery with no one around ...

I was hoping to hold off on the second battery but i get the feeling i may need it. Don't want to be using jump pack every-time out.

 

[am_dew]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

Check out solar battery maintainers...maybe hooking one of those up while you're beached would neutralize the drain from the stereo?

 

[mnypitboat]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

First thing I do to any boat I own, whether I plan on a big stereo or not, is install a second battery and a switch if it doesnt already have one. Trust me, the first time you are out on the water hanging out for a couple hours and you go to start your boat and its dead, you will be thankful. You can get a battery at one of the warehouse clubs for under $100 and a switch for about $25. Good insurance in my opinion.

A solar battery maintainer is not enough to keep a battery charged, it is only supposed to maintain an unused battery. If you rely on it to actually charge your battery, you will be dissapointed.

 

[Silverbullet555]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

I was hoping to hold off on the second battery but i get the feeling i may need it. Don't want to be using jump pack every-time out.

Do you need it? I wouldn't call it a necessity as it will work without it.

But, I can tell you that when I was only running one battery I worried about it because I didn't want to get stranded. Now I run two and don't worry at all. If by chance I kill my stereo battery, I still have the starting battery to get us going. That peace of mind is more than worth it so I can relax.

Kind of like having your anchor set well. When it is set well, you can relax better. When you are not sure, you are always checking.

I would go with a second battery and at least run all the amps through that battery. Best would be totally isolating the stereo, but if you used the factory wiring for the head unit, that could mean more wiring. I decided to leave my deck running through the main battery. All 3 amps, the fans, etc all run through the house battery.

 

[natedog337]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

Do you need it? I wouldn't call it a necessity as it will work without it.

But, I can tell you that when I was only running one battery I worried about it because I didn't want to get stranded. Now I run two and don't worry at all. If by chance I kill my stereo battery, I still have the starting battery to get us going. That peace of mind is more than worth it so I can relax.

Kind of like having your anchor set well. When it is set well, you can relax better. When you are not sure, you are always checking.

I would go with a second battery and at least run all the amps through that battery. Best would be totally isolating the stereo, but if you used the factory wiring for the head unit, that could mean more wiring. I decided to leave my deck running through the main battery. All 3 amps, the fans, etc all run through the house battery.

The only question left unanswered is will my yamaha f115 have enough charging ability to top off both batteries. I usually run 4500-5800 rpms 20 minutes to my location and then hang for roughly 5 hours. Same trip back and i wonder if i will need a battery charger at the dock if im draining both batteries low??

 

[mnypitboat]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

The only question left unanswered is will my yamaha f115 have enough charging ability to top off both batteries. I usually run 4500-5800 rpms 20 minutes to my location and then hang for roughly 5 hours. Same trip back and i wonder if i will need a battery charger at the dock if im draining both batteries low??

It never hurts to have a trickle charger on the batteries when the boat is sitting unused.

 

[badkins50]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

personally I will never go out on the lake with out 2 batterys. I even hooked up a on board battery charger and simply just plug it in when not in use and forget about it.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

Check out solar battery maintainers...maybe hooking one of those up while you're beached would neutralize the drain from the stereo?

A solar charger would not even sorta have the capacity to do this.

 

[Silverbullet555]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

The only question left unanswered is will my yamaha f115 have enough charging ability to top off both batteries. I usually run 4500-5800 rpms 20 minutes to my location and then hang for roughly 5 hours. Same trip back and i wonder if i will need a battery charger at the dock if im draining both batteries low??

Depending on the draw down and how long you run the boat after sitting on the hook it might charge it back up. Our normal boating day does not fully recharge the stereo battery. We launch, run for about 15 minutes of which 10 minutes is a no wake zone and then set the hook. Listen to the stereo, swim, sleep, relax, eat, etc for a couple hours.

Then start the boat and head back in. Between work schedules and kids we usually cannot get a full day of boating in. Usually an afternoon.

Anyway, when we get back I put it on a battery tender jr to charge up the stereo battery as keeping it fully charged should prolong it's life.

Usually takes 24-36 hours on the battery tender to charge it after an afternoon on the hook since it is just a trickle charger. After our week long trip it took about 5 days to recharge.

I will be installing a charger in the boat this fall so I can just plug it in when I get home and leave it until we go out.

My system is a little bigger so it may not be a fair comparison. I am running 3 amps totalling 1800 Watts RMS but I usually have just 2 of them turned on and we don't listen to the music too loud.

 

[brn77]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

Yeah i would get another batt for know and then put a charger in when u can get to it no hurries no worries ....

 

[ve3rpm]

Re: Stereo with amp .. Second battery or not????

Go for the extra battery. The price can't cost more than the anxiety.