Re: Type of battery to use
thanks again for all your help.. congrats on the 1500 posts.. i do have another question when wiring all of the accessories i will be running off the battery is there something i should be using to attach the wires to the battery?
I don't know your boat but any wires coming from your accessories need to go first to a fuse strip or circuit breaker strip. Some like the radio usually have an in-line plastic fuse holder built into the red (the hot or positive) wire. Everything needs a fuse if you don't use a fuse block.
West Marine or Napa if you are in a hurry or order one from iboats. Then you run two wires one red and one black back to the battery from the fuse block.
Post a pic of the inside your boat we could give you more specifics.
Both our boats are side console steering models so they both came with fuse blocks under the dash. It's just like hooking up a car stereo. You run the radio wires to the fuse block and the fuse block is wired to the cars battery.
If you have a tiller type boat you can run all the accessory wires to the battery (marine batteries have those wing nut screw posts) that you can crimp on a circle connector onto the end off the wire and then hook it to the battery post. But each accessory needs it's own inline fuse.
They make a circuit breaker that connects onto the positive battery terminal first then the red (hot) wires connect to that circuit breaker. That's how we hook up a trolling motor. We use a circuit breaker that comes with a new troller, but that won't protect accessories that use smaller fuses.
Best to run a separate black wire to the battery for the negative. Don't just ground it to the metal on the boat like you would a car. Grounding to an aluminum boat may cause a galvanic reaction with the aluminum especially in salt water. I've seen pics of peoples boats where their paint starts to bubble off.
iboats carry these items, but here is a link that shows what a circuit breaker that hooks up to the battery looks like. But they are 40 and 50 amps and designed only for trolling motors. They are too big on the amperage to protect accessories. Also to the right of the pic shows what a crimp on connector looks like. Napa has all sizes on a store rack.
I'm sure you can find a friend or a relative that can show you how to hook this stuff up.
Here is another link showing the heavier gauge wire #8 or 10 gauge that you run the the battery from a fuse block. And another pic of a crimp on connector. Home Depot has both these items. The black and Red wires are on big rolls and they cut how much you want.
Some boaters only use marine grade wires especially if you around salt water. But I just use the Home Depot stuff. I've had no issues with wires corroding.
