Wiring and Battery Addition

[jcb1977]

You would want to create a common ground by connecting House and Start Battery negatives along with all other equipment grounds. The positives of course would be wired to separately to the battery switch.

Easiest way is to use a bus bar and connect all your negative/ground wires to it. could put one bus bar back by the batteries and one at the helm if your going to be adding alot of electronics.

 

[Clacava]

Easiest way is to use a bus bar and connect all your negative/ground wires to it. could put one bus bar back by the batteries and one at the helm if your going to be adding alot of electronics.

My blue sea add a battery is for 65 amp, will that matter that it is not a 120 amp

 

[jcb1977]

My blue sea add a battery is for 65 amp, will that matter that it is not a 120 amp

I believe the 65-amp version would be sufficient but can't say for certain. if it's not too late, I would switch to the 120-amp version for peace of mind.

 

[Clacava]

I wanted to post what I ended up doing using your install as a guide but did a few things differently.....before this I had installed a second battery with a single circuit layout (1/2/off/combine switch). I fried two connext displays for some reason, still not exactly sure why, but before I get the third screen installed I figured I should try changing something to try and avoid it. Figured I would try a dual circuit with on/off switch this time. I mounted the negative busbar on a piece of wood blocking using the bolts for the table holder (I do have a cover for the ground busbar but didn't have it on when I took the picture).

View attachment 186037View attachment 186038View attachment 186039View attachment 186041

. When I am at rest and playing the radio etc, will the acr know where to get the power from?also do I need a start isolator attached to ignition switch?

 

[jcb1977]

. When I am at rest and playing the radio etc, will the acr know where to get the power from?also do I need a start isolator attached to ignition switch?

The ACR is only active when it senses a charge and then combines the two batteries into one so both get charged. when engines are off, ACR is not active and batteries are independent. House battery is powering electronics. Start Battery should have no draw since engines are off (unless you would have a bilge pump or something wired to the Start Battery).

From what I can tell, most here have not used the start isolator feature.

 

[Clacava]

Finished my add a battery

 

[HangOutdoors]

Honestly, having trouble following what you did there. Not seeing the start battery to the switch. Would have recommended you put the load sides to the switch and the ACR on the other side so you can isoloate. Also would recommend you get bus bar covers. Wouldn't leave those exposed especially in a boat with potentially things flying around in there.

Batteries to Switch, ACR to switch gives you isoloation when needed. It is really that simple. Put the breakers between the batteries and the switch.

 

[jcb1977]

Honestly, having trouble following what you did there. Not seeing the start battery to the switch. Would have recommended you put the load sides to the switch and the ACR on the other side so you can isoloate. Also would recommend you get bus bar covers. Wouldn't leave those exposed especially in a boat with potentially things flying around in there.

Batteries to Switch, ACR to switch gives you isoloation when needed. It is really that simple. Put the breakers between the batteries and the switch.

yeah, I'm having trouble following as well. It looks like you went battery to ACR which you don't want to do. You might want to sketch this out and make sure you understand it before installing.

 

[Clacava]

Honestly, having trouble following what you did there. Not seeing the start battery to the switch. Would have recommended you put the load sides to the switch and the ACR on the other side so you can isoloate. Also would recommend you get bus bar covers. Wouldn't leave those exposed especially in a boat with potentially things flying around in there.

Batteries to Switch, ACR to switch gives you isoloation when needed. It is really that simple. Put the breakers between the batteries and the switch.

covers went on after pic, both batteries of on switch as directions say. there are fuses from the acr to batteries.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Each to their own. I wouldn't of wired it that way.

 

[Clacava]

yeah, I'm having trouble following as well. It looks like you went battery to ACR which you don't want to do. You might want to sketch this out and make sure you understand it before installing.

Each to their own. I wouldn't of wired it that way.

So don't follow the manufacturer directions? I do not charge in boat, nor am I installing a charger.

 

[jcb1977]

So don't follow the manufacturer directions? I do not charge in boat, nor am I installing a charger.

that's interesting, I've never seen it wired that way but should work. The downside though is the ACR is always active and will have a small power draw even when the battery switches are off. if you ever charge the batteries, the ACR will combine them so it's not ideal.

you could also add a switch per the instructions to the ACR ground to turn it off when not being used to eliminate the power draw and when charging to deactivate ACR. for me, it's make more sense to wire the ACR on the load side so you don't have to worry about any of that.

 

[Clacava]

that's interesting, I've never seen it wired that way but should work. The downside though is the ACR is always active and will have a small power draw even when the battery switches are off. if you ever charge the batteries, the ACR will combine them so it's not ideal.

you could also add a switch per the instructions to the ACR ground to turn it off when not being used to eliminate the power draw and when charging to deactivate ACR. for me, it's make more sense to wire the ACR on the load side so you don't have to worry about any of that.

Thank you I will look into that. I don't mind them combining to charge but seems more efficient to put the switch in. With the battery switch off, the positive is essentially off, so the acr should not be able to draw any power? is that correct?

 

[HangOutdoors]

In your setup it doesn't look like that is the case. If the ACR, which it looks like, is between the battery and the switch, then the ACR is never out of the loop. Unless I am interpreting your wiring incorrectly. Battery -> Inline 100 amp fuses -> Switch then ACR on other side of switch.

Again, you can wire things different ways and things will still work. In my boat, when the switch is off, the batteries are totally isolated, from each other, the postive buss bars and the ACR.

You indicate you may never charge, but sooner or later your house battery may be so low or whatever and you need to put on a charger, so always keep that in mind.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Only if you wired in

Thank you I will look into that. I don't mind them combining to charge but seems more efficient to put the switch in. With the battery switch off, the positive is essentially off, so the acr should not be able to draw any power? is that correct?

Only if you wired it up with either the storage isolation switch or the ignition hot switch.


Did you land both the engine hots (outboard) on terminal 1 of the switch?

It’s just a matter of time before you realize that you need to have an on board charger. These engines only put out 13-14 amps of alternator each, there is not enough power there for long enough to properly charge any chemistry type of lead acid batteries, the absorption phase alone takes hours and that is after the batteries reach 80% under a bulk charge. The best part of having an on board charger is that you start each boating day with fully charged batteries, the second best thing is that your batteries will last much much longer as you will not b leaving them in a state of partial discharge which dramatically shortens the life of any lead acid battery.

I read through the instructions and they do indeed say to wire both fused battery leads to the ACR but for voltage drop concerns, E.G. long runs of cable. So yes you wired it correctly if you wired it this way but I can’t tell from the picture you posted. Having said that, I do think @HangOutdoors is correct in that the fused battery leads should go to the switch to provide isolation to the batteries as well as being able to cut off all power from the batteries to the entire electrical system, for storage and in the event of problem. That looks like a pretty simple re routing of wires. A lot of people who’s boats came with two batteries and the BEP Marine switch / DVSR have elected to, per BEP instructions, configure the DVSR in storage mode to keep the DVSR in active when the battery switches are off or some have wired the DVSR so that it is only active when the ignition is on or they have used a run hot so that the DVSR is only active when the engines are running. Mostly this is for proper charging with on board (or not on board) chargers so that the deep cycle house battery is properly charged.

 

[Clacava]

Only if you wired in


Only if you wired it up with either the storage isolation switch or the ignition hot switch.

View attachment 218849
Did you land both the engine hots (outboard) on terminal 1 of the switch?

It’s just a matter of time before you realize that you need to have an on board charger. These engines only put out 13-14 amps of alternator each, there is not enough power there for long enough to properly charge any chemistry type of lead acid batteries, the absorption phase alone takes hours and that is after the batteries reach 80% under a bulk charge. The best part of having an on board charger is that you start each boating day with fully charged batteries, the second best thing is that your batteries will last much much longer as you will not b leaving them in a state of partial discharge which dramatically shortens the life of any lead acid battery.

I read through the instructions and they do indeed say to wire both fused battery leads to the ACR but for voltage drop concerns, E.G. long runs of cable. So yes you wired it correctly if you wired it this way but I can’t tell from the picture you posted. Having said that, I do think @HangOutdoors is correct in that the fused battery leads should go to the switch to provide isolation to the batteries as well as being able to cut off all power from the batteries to the entire electrical system, for storage and in the event of problem. That looks like a pretty simple re routing of wires. A lot of people who’s boats came with two batteries and the BEP Marine switch / DVSR have elected to, per BEP instructions, configure the DVSR in storage mode to keep the DVSR in active when the battery switches are off or some have wired the DVSR so that it is only active when the ignition is on or they have used a run hot so that the DVSR is only active when the engines are running. Mostly this is for proper charging with on board (or not on board) chargers so that the deep cycle house battery is properly charged.

Wired exactly as picture shows, Yes both battery hot(positive) went to position 1 through the buss bar. If I'm reading correctly, I should switch the pos leads with the breaker to the switch and put the non breaker leads on the acr? or put a switch on the ground of the acr for the same effect? also what type of switch do you recommend?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Wired exactly as picture shows, Yes both battery hot(positive) went to position 1 through the buss bar. If I'm reading correctly, I should switch the pos leads with the breaker to the switch and put the non breaker leads on the acr? or put a switch on the ground of the acr for the same effect?

Did I read that correctly? You put both batteries 1 & 2 positives on the bus bar?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Looks like you just need to remove the conductors that connect the acr from the batteries and land them on position #2 located at 9 O clock, and position #1 at 12 O clock if I have that correct. @HangOutdoors do I have that correct?

 

[Clacava]

Wired exactly as picture shows, Yes both battery hot(positive) went to position 1 through the buss bar. If I'm reading correctly, I should switch the pos leads with the breaker to the switch and put the non breaker leads on the acr? or put a switch on the ground of the acr for the same effect?

Did I read that correctly? You put both batteries 1 & 2 positives on the bus bar?

NO! sorry I meant Engine positives to buss bar and a jumper to the #1 of switch to have less leads on the same switch post.

 

[jcb1977]

The easiest way is to just run a wire from ACR post #1 to Battery Switch Load post #1 (accessories) and another from ACR post #2 to Load Post #2 (Outboard).....no power draw when switch is off and you can independently charge each battery.

I would put the fuses between battery and battery switch. If you used the 65 amp mini , I would put a 60amp fuse on each positive to protect that switch.

Alternatively, you can leave it the way you have it and just add a switch to the ACR ground but will have to make sure to turn that switch off everytime after using it so it doesn't draw in storage and/or when you charge the batteries. But I would still get 60-amp fuses in to protect that switch.