Dual Battery Setup ?

[wantanautique]

I recently purchased a 96 sport nautique. It only has a single battery andc urrently there is a amp/Sub wired up. I am not thrilled of the idea of having the same battery to run the stereo has to ignition to start the boat. Is there a write up or some information how to change from a single battery setup to a dual battery setup. I see the another compartment in the bow for another battery. Is it a matter of wiring another one or does the alternator needed to be upgraded etc?

Thanks

[74green]

My alternator handles the two optima blue tops & two amps just fine.

You have a couple of wiring options.
1. Paralleling the batteries.
2. A Perko Switch or equivalent. This is a manual "1, 2, ALL" switch
3. Voltage Sensitive Relay. This is like a automatic switch in a sense.

There may be some other options other PN member have done.

[xrichard]

My boat came with dual batteries but only a 1-2-both switch, which made combining/isolating a manual affair. I installed a Blue Sea Systems switch+ACR and would recommend that set up. If you go to their site, there is some good reading re: dual battery set ups. Another popular ACR is one by Hellroaring. FWIW, I have friends with both setups and neither have had problems.

http://bluesea.com/productdocs/7650

After talking with Blue Sea technical support, I ended up wiring mine a bit differently than shown in the manual: instead of wiring the ACR directly to the batteries, I wired it to the load-side of the switch--that way, turning the switch to "off" isolates the ACR from the batteries, which allows me to put a charger on each battery without combining the two via the ACR.

[ffmedic74]

I just had to do this on my boat. PM me and I will give you the details.