Wiring and Battery Addition

[HangOutdoors]

The other thing I wanted to mention, is that if I ever need to change the charger, upgrade, repair, etc., I figured if I was running the charger directly to the battery terminals that would make it easy. The switch in the cramped space and getting it secured and then having to remove the nuts and turn it around to get the charging terminal wires off seemed like a PITA. So I opted for a clean easier future thought approach.

 

[Wrecked Rooster]

I used 4ga. I was at west marine and their guy schooled me up a bit. Using a chart and a run that small with max load of 100A, you see my breakers, 4AWG is what it is rated for. Anything more doesn't do anything. I had some 1/0 in my hand and he took it from me and told me what to get looking at my diagram. Really you should size your wire according to your draw and length and breakers.

Yes you would make sure you run it to the house battery.

With your charger, wire it directly to each battery. I have a 4 bank and each bank goes directly to a battery. I have 4 batteries, Starter-Wet, House AGM TPPL, and Two LiFePo4's for the trolling motor. Technically you could wire them to pole on the switch, where each battery connects on either side. One each side.

If you are growing your electrical in engine compartment, I would suggest the buses. You can see I put two in. One for the positive House and one for all negatives, Makes it cleaner but not necessary. Also it helps with additions down the road, I hate to take away and reconfigure stuff. I like to build on top and move forward.

If there is anything I can answer for you don't hesitate to ask. This forum was instrumental in me learning about everything.

Thanks a ton! And thank you for the chart as well. One of my favorites for reference. I'm starting a thread with what I'm looking at doing with my setup (didn't want to hijack yours). Asking questions in there about amps, wiring, dual battery, etc. Trying to knock this out before May which should give me plenty of time. I'll tag you in that thread once I get it up. Thanks again!

 

[HangOutdoors]

No worries about hijacking my threads, I tend to do that quite a bit. Nature of forum boards

 

[RobbieO]

The other thing I wanted to mention, is that if I ever need to change the charger, upgrade, repair, etc., I figured if I was running the charger directly to the battery terminals that would make it easy. The switch in the cramped space and getting it secured and then having to remove the nuts and turn it around to get the charging terminal wires off seemed like a PITA. So I opted for a clean easier future thought approach.

Agree about the battery switch terminals. I needed to move it to make room, and also add a connection. Somewhat a PITA, but doable.

 

[Wrecked Rooster]

Yes you would make sure you run it to the house battery.

With your charger, wire it directly to each battery.

If you are growing your electrical in engine compartment, I would suggest the buses. You can see I put two in. One for the positive House and one for all negatives, Makes it cleaner but not necessary. Also it helps with additions down the road, I hate to take away and reconfigure stuff. I like to build on top and move forward.

If there is anything I can answer for you don't hesitate to ask. This forum was instrumental in me learning about everything.

My thread isn't getting any love yet, so I'll ask you on here. Just a few questions looking at your setup.

1. With the bussbar setup for my grounds, I could just run both battery negatives to the buss bar and all factory (plus my amp) negatives to that same bar and be done, correct?
2. All positives I would run to the switch to either the main or house battery side. All factory positives would go to main and the only thing going to the house would be the amp(s), correct? Would I need to track down the head unit positive and run it to the house as well?
3. How necessary is it to have the head unit positive on the secondary battery with the amp?
4. Few things on blue sea's diagram versus your install I wanted to ask:
   1. Is the 1 amp fuse for the ground for the ACR not necessary?
   2. It looks like you flipped the load to the bottom post on the switch and the ACR/Batteries to the top post. Is there a reason for that?
5. Using a dual bank charger connected directly to the batteries, if I'm back home and the switch is set to off and I plug in the charger, will that cause any issues with the ACR or anything else?

That's all I have for now. Really wanting to do this myself and understand how it all works. I just don't want to screw anything up.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I am sure others will chime in as well.

1) Yes run both batteries negatives and all other negatives to the negative buss bar.
2) It is cleaner if you put in a Positive Buss Bar as I did and then run your starter battery to Post 1 of the switch and then run the House battery and all other positives you want on the house side to Positive Buss Bar. Then run the Positive Buss Bar to Post 2 on your switch. Of course this isn't mandatory and you YOU CAN run all the other positives and the house to Switch 2. Of course you can put what you want on either the house or starter battery. Like you could put the bilge to the main starter battery if you like. There is no one right way really, everyone does it a bit different. I only have starters to the starter battery, everything else goes to the house.
3) That is your call.
4) Yes you need the 1 amp fuse to the ground make sure you do it. Also you can wire it two different ways. How I set my wiring was convenient for the layout.
5) You can wire the battery and ACR 1 of two ways, per Blue Seas, I spoke with them at length. If you wire the ACR and the Batteries two the same two posts that is fine. You can also wire the ACR to the top posts and the batteries to the bottom posts, which takes the ACR out of play when you have the switch to off. Either way is fine and won't hurt anything.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I recommend you do what I did and get a piece of Starboard. I mounted everything to the starboard and then mounted the starboard to stock panel. That is why you see the phillips screws in the picture. Plus it allows you to build most of it outside the compartment and then secure it. Just a thought.

 

[Wrecked Rooster]

I recommend you do what I did and get a piece of Starboard. I mounted everything to the starboard and then mounted the starboard to stock panel. That is why you see the phillips screws in the picture. Plus it allows you to build most of it outside the compartment and then secure it. Just a thought.

Thanks for the wealth of info! That's great stuff and definitely has me lined out on the battery stuff. Going to delete those questions from my thread and just focus on the amp/speaker recommendations. Thanks again!

 

[kgower]

I am sure others will chime in as well.

1) Yes run both batteries negatives and all other negatives to the negative buss bar.
2) It is cleaner if you put in a Positive Buss Bar as I did and then run your starter battery to Post 1 of the switch and then run the House battery and all other positives you want on the house side to Positive Buss Bar. Then run the Positive Buss Bar to Post 2 on your switch. Of course this isn't mandatory and you YOU CAN run all the other positives and the house to Switch 2. Of course you can put what you want on either the house or starter battery. Like you could put the bilge to the main starter battery if you like. There is no one right way really, everyone does it a bit different. I only have starters to the starter battery, everything else goes to the house.
3) That is your call.
4) Yes you need the 1 amp fuse to the ground make sure you do it. Also you can wire it two different ways. How I set my wiring was convenient for the layout.
5) You can wire the battery and ACR 1 of two ways, per Blue Seas, I spoke with them at length. If you wire the ACR and the Batteries two the same two posts that is fine. You can also wire the ACR to the top posts and the batteries to the bottom posts, which takes the ACR out of play when you have the switch to off. Either way is fine and won't hurt anything.

Do you have a link to the 1amp fuse for the ACR Negative?

 

[HangOutdoors]

Not sure what you mean "Link" I just wired it with an inline fuse to my negative buss bar from the ACR. Is that what you are asking?

 

[HangOutdoors]

Amazon.com: 140 Pieces Fuses Automotive - Standard Blade Car Fuse Kit, Auto Fuse Assorted for Marine, RV, Camper, Boat, Truck (1A 2A 3A 5A 7.5A 10A 15A 20A 25A 30A 40AMP/ATC) : Automotive

10 Pack 14 AWG Inline Fuse Holder - 12V-DC ATC/ATO 14 Gauge Fuse Holder for 15A Blade Fuse: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement

 

[kgower]

Not sure what you mean "Link" I just wired it with an inline fuse to my negative buss bar from the ACR. Is that what you are asking?

On page one of the thread I that you ran the negative wire from the ACR to the bus, going to do the same. I don't see the fuse. I have plenty of blade fuses, will check for 1amp.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Yes I put the fuse in. When I initially put it in I did not since I didn't have one and it was coming in, in a couple days, so I cut it and spliced the fuse in when they showed up from Amazon...

 

[kgower]

Thanks for clarifying. Didn't have the holder or 1amp fuse. Just ordered.

 

[Farny]

Thanks for clarifying. Didn't have the holder or 1amp fuse. Just ordered.

You can pick up at local marine or automotive supply store if time is a necessity

 

[kgower]

Making progress.

 

[Farny]

Making progress.

Interesting- so you are building a separate mounting board for the switch, ACR, and breakers?

love to see a pic of how / where your going to mount it

 

[Rockit69]

I stumbled upon my setup by total accident and it works great. Many use the ACR and bus bars and they are really unecessary IMHO. I left the starter battery intact for just the cranking and fusion radio. I added a second battery and a 2 battery switch, the second battery powers my 4 cabin speaker amp and can be switched to charge when the engine is running very easy. I added a third battery on the opposite side of the boat to even out the weight and between the 3 batteries "ballast bags" I have a perfect wake. Battery 3 powers the wake tower speakers and a 4 switch rocker panel with a volt meter and 2 USB ports. Battery three is on its own system and is the only battery I cant charge from the boat running, which is fine, it has never came close to running down to 50% SOC even after a day of cranked 8" wetsounds and phones charging.

As for the rocker switches, I rewired it so switch one powers the rockers and the usb's and volt meter, all part of the rocker panel, so they are not on when switched off. Switch 2 is the remote on for the tower amp. The system works perfect and I have a 3 battery NOCO 15 amp onboard charger. I plug in every time we return home. I have 2 more switches on the rocker available for whatever. leds etc..... If battery 3 ever runs down and I can monitor it via the volt meter, worse case scenario, I can shut down the tower speakers. No big battery cables had to be ran across the engine compartment to tie everything together.

Dont over think your electrical system, buy more gas..

 

[kgower]

Interesting- so you are building a separate mounting board for the switch, ACR, and breakers?

love to see a pic of how / where your going to mount it

Aft port side storage. Eats up all the room., but it is usually just the two of us on the. Boat. Even with 6 adults and gear we do alright., little tight but it ok.
Will add photo when done.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Making progress.

Nice setup, I like it!