2nd Battery Quote...tell me what you think...

[jawsf16]

Drive down to Texas and I'll do it for $200!

 

[RightStuff]

That's crazy... There is no way a qualified service professional would take 4 hrs to complete this job.

 

[txav8r]

That is A LOT OF BEER my friend. And what's more, you will gain an understanding of what you have, which you have already identified on your existing connections. So far, you know your dash accessories have a 20amp fuse and it is located beside the battery, in a blade housing, that connects said accessories from dash thru fuse, to the + on the battery. You also know you have an accessory ground now, as well as two engine (+)'s and two engine (-)'s, and that you don't have separate starter leads. And, you know that for all intents and purpose, all the leads ARE F'ING BLACK! Now how confusing is that! You can get red electrical tape to help yourself out in the future and tape the ends of all (+) cables, so you can identify them at a glance. And, you don't have to buy specialty cable for your battery upgrade either. You can use welding cable, all black, and tape the ends red on the (+) but I see your in SC, and I suspect you boat in salt water occasionally. Do yourself a favor, and only use tinned cables in your boat. That means don't order it online, unless it is tinned. You can get it at West Marine or order from some good quality audio shops. JL Audio is tinned and @Earmark Marine carries it. The biggest issue you have, is that you need to get a terminal lug crimper. This one pictured is from Grainger and $54, but check a welding supply. I didn't find it at my Harbor Freight.


so you can hammer those big lugs on with a "stake" and they won't budge. I bought one at a welding supply locally that could do up to 1 awg wire for about $24 if I remember correctly. And a good set of cable cutters. These 10" cutters from Harbor Freight work fine.

Also use tinned lugs and heat shrink the ends of them. Hint, marine grade heat shrink comes in red too So you can save yourself effort and order all black and just shrink red ends in red! Some guys will tell you that you don't have to use tinned wire. You don't. But corrosion is a bitch and salt will get you corrosion, even fresh. I am a fan of doing it right the first time, but everyone gets to make their own choice! When I sell my boat, I can claim and show, that I did everything right, and there is no corrosion.

Good luck on the project, it is a fun one!

 

[BMF JK]

Oooorrrr carry a fully charged back up battery , for the cost of only the 2nd battery ! Just my 2 cents , done it for years and has saved me a few times

 

[txav8r]

How's that battery pack do supporting your more powerful stereo system?

 

[robert843]

I still have a single battery in my SX240 plan to change that in the next month or so as I hate disconnecting it after every use. I do have the perko switch on my hurricane deck boat for almost 6-7 years now with no issues what so ever. I usually start with it switched on one and if all is I fine I switch it both once the boat is running to let both batteries top off. If battery one is a little weak for some reason I switch to both it fires right up and will switch it back to one to get the main battery charged I guess its a little more involved then the automatic system but the install is probably easier on the Perko unit.

 

[robert843]

The best reason I can tell you to do this yourself, is that when your out on the lake and it is acting wrong after a dealer install, you won't know why. Install it yourself, learn why you did what, and you will know how to use it. The reason the price gets larger and the job gets bigger is because your planning for the future, not because your adding a simple battery and switch. If it is just insurance you want, then just add a second battery and a simple 1/off/2 switch. If you want to install something to help with additional upgrades, then you spend a tad bit more but add time and effort to the install to make it simple. Plenty of threads with diagrams, I will give you the blue sea switch diagram and ACR you pictured as well as a simple switch diagram. They are easy to draw but a little harder to contort in a narrow gunwale interior to install. I can tell you too, that there are other considerations. Remember that you need to check the electrolyte level in your batteries frequently. Also remember that a battery that never gets exercise isn't going to last long, so using it is important. Ok, here are a couple diagrams for consideration...let's start small, here is what you have...
View attachment 33454
Here is the simple perko style 1/off/2 switch. Oh, the combine, or both setting is for emergencies and you shouldn't use that unless you have a dead bank. Some guys want to use that and it is defeating the purpose of having backup, running a risk of using a bad battery, and other issues.
View attachment 33455
Here is the blue sea and acr without any additional features. Note that all diagrams don't show needed or recommended fuses. Note that the ACR is on the battery side of the switch. You can also install the ACR on the load side. There is a difference and what you want it to do is something you have to decide. If the dealer does it, you won't know what he did or how it works. We can explain the difference and the details of this to you.
View attachment 33456
Here is the same setup with the ACR on the load side.
View attachment 33457
Here is an ACR explanation page I did that helps to understand how to get what you want out of it.
View attachment 33458
I wanted the most out of my system. I added ground and load buses at the battery compartment, as well as a switch and ground bus at the helm. That way adding or removing any equipment was easy in the future. Here is my electrical system. Note that chargers aren't shown in all diagrams and that leads to another discussion for another thread.
View attachment 33459

@txav8r I noticed in a few of the drawings you literally took the ground from battery 2 and hooked it to the negative on battery 1 can the be done this way or do I need to connect to the physical ground location?

 

[txav8r]

There is no ground to frame in a boat. The battery is the only source of ground. All battery bank grounds are hooked to each other, either directly or indirectly through a bus bar, as with my own electrical wiring on my boat. It is whatever is shortest and easiest. Two batteries sitting side by side can easily have their grounds connected directly. But since I am connecting both to the ground bus so they are indirectly connected that way, so no need for a separate cable. I hope I answered your question @robert843 If not, rephrase if you would so I get what your asking!

 

[robert843]

@txav8r sorry can I dirrectly connect the negative terminal of battery 2 to the negative terminal of battery one?

 

[txav8r]

No worries, yes you can. And every ground on your boat has to be connected to one of the negative posts as well. As I said, you don't have an engine or frame ground in a boat.

 

[txav8r]

Lets go back with with a simple setup. Reading your post thoroughly, you may not intend to use an ACR, so with just a simple perko switch, and the two batteries, it looks like this...

 

[jawsf16]

@txav8r sorry can I dirrectly connect the negative terminal of battery 2 to the negative terminal of battery one?

That is how mine is setup. I don't have any extra terminals anywhere so all of the grounds go to one of the batteries and a single cable attaches to the other batteries ground.

 

[robert843]

Thanks @txav8r less then an hour start to finish.

 

[tdonoughue]

Good job!

One thing, though: you need a cover on the positive terminal of your second battery. If you don't have one yet (I think you can get them at any auto parts store), at least throw a few lengths of electrical tape over it. Last thing you want is to drop something metal on your battery and accidentally short it out. Ask me how I know...

 

[robert843]

The battery box I bought comes with plastic cover that put on that covers the whole thing. Ugh now onto removing stickers 3/4 came off supper easy now the last bit is fighting me but I think it's because it's starting to cool off

 

[txav8r]

Excellent! I guess that last pic made more sense!

 

[robert843]

I do not know if anyone has used this yet but the switch I installed is a Marinco 771SEZ the cool part of this switch is the cables are front installed instead of rear installed like most other switches. The mounting bracket mounts two the wall you then install your cables on the front and place the control box over it. This makes for very a easy install and if I ever need to get at those wires instead of having to remove the switch I just pop the cover off.

 

[David Analog]

No worries, yes you can. And every ground on your boat has to be connected to one of the negative posts as well. As I said, you don't have an engine or frame ground in a boat.

An engine ground is crucial in limiting noise.
No frame in a boat, just cables, but if there is no engine ground connected to the battery, how does the boat start and charge?

 

[txav8r]

Of course the engines have positive and negative cables. What I was saying @David Analog , is that other equipment doesn't ground to the frame or engine, just to the battery bank(s). And you don't run additional battery grounds to the engine, other than stock cables.

 

[David Analog]

Of course the engines have positive and negative cables. What I was saying @David Analog , is that other equipment doesn't ground to the frame or engine, just to the battery bank(s). And you don't run additional battery grounds to the engine, other than stock cables.

And that is an interesting point. The factory only invests in supply and ground cables that are just large enough to service the existing electronics. But when the charging system is taken to task with particularly large audio systems, there comes a threshold where upgrading the factory cables can actually make a difference.