Day 1 - use battery 1, Day 2 - use battery 2. Most people with two batteries and the OFF-1-2-BOTH switches have a pattern they follow, whereby every other time they go out, they use the other batter. This is assuming you just want dual batts for redundancy and safety - which is not exactly what the OP wants. It just requires human involvement - but so does driving the boat. The simplest and easiest is Option 1 that hughes presented. My guess would be that the OP does not have an onboard charger. If you do not have an onboard charger, or you do not run your boat often enough, then yes - the batteries discharge against each other - but this takes time. Putting both batteries together in parallel can cause you issues if you dont use them properly. I only mention an Isolator because most older boats have that installed already. A lot of smaller boats tie the batteries together, but one your size should have each battery to a switch and an isolator or ACR used for charging through the alternator.Ī good article stating what I am trying to convey, but there are many articles explaining why switches and isolators/ACR's are needed:ĮDIT: I agree with in that an ACR is the way to go. Now understand I am not saying this will happen instantly and you won't be fine for a few years assuming everything goes right and the boat is wired correctly. That is also why you need an ACR or Isolator for charging. The lesser battery will demand the charge and the alternator will not fully charge that battery because it sees the voltage is fine, as the batteries are in parallel, and the better of the two will be doing that and your batteries will loose voltage faster and have to be replaced sooner. In addition the alternator will now have to charge what looks to be a single battery but in fact is two. That is not the right way to do this and why there are systems like the one mentioned from Blue Sea and others. I get they do this all of the time, new boats are even shipped that way at times, two group 27's tied together and one cable back to the switch. This will always happen to some degree and ultimately lessen the battery life of both batteries and one will die long before the other and you won't know it until the boat won't start when your out for the day on the anchor or such. Every battery is slightly different even when they are identical. What happens when you strap two batteries together without a switch, assume they are identical type and age, is the lesser charged battery will be charged by stronger one, even if it is a few tenths of a volt difference. The alternator voltage regulator will self limit as the alternator gets hotter. The alternator is not a concern with lead acid batteries they will self limit maximum charge rate. This guarantees whenever the engine is running both batteries charge. Then add a VSR with 100amp fuse, between the 1 and the 2 batteries. Hard Part - You have to track down the Main Circuit Breaker panel feed and shift house loads to the new House switch. On this switch the new battery is "1" and "2" is a start cable sized jumper to the original switch battery terminal. Most difficult but overall best in my opinion Option 2: "House Battery - "Off-1-both-2" switch It never failed, run on left, flip to right, "Oh I already used that tank and it's empty, chug, chug, stall. I ran out of gas more times with this truck then any other I have owned in 45 years. True Story: I had a truck with dual fuel tanks and a left/right selector switch. If you leave the switch in the wrong position, at the wrong time, you will end up with one or both batteries dead.ĭoes your AC battery charger have dual outputs to charge at dock? Or will you need to upgrade that also? YOU have to remember to change to "both" to go back home. YOU have to remember to change to "2" on the hook. YOU have to remember to run in "both" in order for the second battery to charge. The batteries are isolated by the switch positon, but YOU manually do all the controlling. Option 1: "Off-1-both-2" switch, and a second battery. As points out.Īnd never use a "Diode Isolator", old tech with issues, use a VSR/ACR - Voltage Sensitive Relay or Automatic Charge Relay And there is always more than one way to accomplish anything.įirst off an isolator is NOT required in the simplest of installations. Well as you see electrical is never simple.
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