My wiring setup.. post 1 of 2 (Batteries) Trying to make sense of it.

[vxooxv]

Spent multiple hours today making sense of the wiring in the new to me boat. WOW... this is probably better than I thought and stock but needs some love. So i'm asking you the experts on advice as to what if anything can/should be done to improve/optimize the current setup. In particular i'm just looking for someone to tell me what exactly is really going on here and how to use it.

Specific questions:
-Is this a proper setup?
-I have the Blue Sea 9001E - is this just a selector? Does anything charge anything... ever?
-When to use 1, 2, both?
-How do I keep the batteries charged?
-How do I know if they are adequately charged?
-Anything i can/should do to make this more optimized?

My battery wiring diagram connecting both batteries to:
-Battery Selector
-Amps
-Motor
-Capacitor


At first glance...



Selector

 

[tdonoughue]

Looks like the only thing your switch is set up to do is switch which battery is hooked to the motor. Your amps are hard wired to battery 1 (selector position 2). Battery 2 it looks like is the one that is designed to be usually used for starting (selector position 1). BTW, I would renumber your batteries so that they match your selector--less confusing. So it looks like normally while floating you leave the switch on position 1. However, after you start, you may want to put it to 1+2 (which won't charge battery 1 very much, but otherwise, you won't charge it at all). If you switch the switch to position 2, you will be starting from/charging the amp battery. In case of emergency (won't start), you can put it to 1+2, also.

This is not how I would wire it (or did, when I had this type of switch). I had the switch switch everything--amps, motor, etc. That way the switch would allow you to cut everything off from all batteries. Handy to work on the system or in case of emergency, like smoking things... The way you are wired now, switching the switch to 0 still leaves your audio system charged.

Optimally, I would recommend an ACR, which will allow you to use one battery for the house and one for the engines. The ACR automatically puts the batteries together (like 1+2) when your engine is running so that charge can go to both, but then keeps them separated for when you are floating, so that you don't drain your engine battery.

 

[Bill D]

So, we can clarify a few things from your drawing...

The two + wires that go to "something in engine cpt" are the leads to the motors.

The negatives on both batteries need to be tied together and grounded to the motor frames, so those are likely the ones you show going "somewhere under the motor" and "to motor frame".

There will also need to be a ground to each electric device, so that is probably the "5 wire cluster".

The capcitor is connected in parallel with the amps, and really does nothing for you. (It is meant to prevent voltage drops from high current draws, but doesn't work great on boats)

The "terminal on the wall" is likely the fuse feeding your auxiliary electronics at the helm.

In my opinion, the best thing to do would be to separate the feeds for your amps and the house circuit onto the second battery, and the motors onto the first. Also, as @tdonoughue suggested, installing an acr relay would help ensure separating your stereo and electronics from starting your motors. It is fine to leave a few things on the starting circuit, you will just want the large draws on the house circuit. Also adding a shore power charger will be essential to keeping up with those 3 amps.

 

[vxooxv]

Thanks for all the advice! I'll be looking into installing an ARC. I believe my 9001E selector won't work anymore??I'll need to go with the 5511E with ARC kit here:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Systems-120A--Battery/dp/B000RZNP5K/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1459794653&sr=1-1&keywords=blue+sea+battery+switch

After I remove the capacitor and depending on if I keep all 3 amps etc... and/or want to install ACC/Ground BUS's to clean things up; does this look better?

Q: The house battery is currently grounded to some bracket on the motor frame. Is this still ok, or should i ground it to the Motor battery now that i'm putting in an ARC.

Q2: On board charging system.... or at home charging system??? My assumption is keeping both batteries charged is important - the ARC I think helps that thought not entire sure what it's doing?

 

[David Analog]

You do not need to replace the existing Blue Sea 9001e switch. If the 9001e conventional dual battery switch is wired in the conventional manner then you can maintain it and simple wire the relay across the two battery terminals. The functionality and usage is different than the Blue Sea 5511e dual circuit switch, but the 9001e will work fine.

 

[tdonoughue]

Yes, your diagram looks much better. By the way, it is an ACR, not an ARC. Stands for Automatic Charging Relay. Your link is to the same one I purchased when I added my ACR. Very easy to do. When you get the diagram with the ACR, though, you will find that you are missing one more wire from the ACR to the ground...

 

[madscientist]

why so many channels of amplification? are you running 1ch per speaker? if so you are missing out.

 

[Julian]

Ground BUS's

Yes, Installing one large ground bar definitely helps clean things up and makes installing batteries in the spring much easier. All the negatives lines go to the ground bar, then one line to each battery. My bus bar is dead center in the photo below for reference.

 

[vxooxv]

I have three 4 channel amps. All HT-4.
1. Powers 2 REV 10's bridged; mainly because I used to have four 650's on the tower. It'll power it, but will overheat if I'm going a few hours in the heat.
2. Powers two XS-12FA subs bridged
3. Powers four 650rgb's to each channel.

Probably a better way, but it's all I know.