need battery help quick!
 

I bought another battery for my amps to run off of as a standalone battery...not connected to the alternator...is it ok if I ground the stand alone battery to the other boat battery?

I know this is not the ideal solution, but was just looking for something to get me by for now...specifically today

Yes it is OK, but not advised. You should really not have a stereo battery that is not hooked up to the alternator.

If you had say 12 batteries I could see not being too worried about charging, but only one... No bueno amigo.

but it's only for the amps. When the boat is off and the engine is off listening to the stereo isn't it like having a battery that's not connected to the alternator anyway?

yes it's just the same. Except that when you are running around in the boat the battery is getting charged if it's hooked to the alt. If it's standing alone it's not. How long are you expecting to play the stereo?

No, it is not ideal to have the battery unattached to the alternator....but is is not going to hurt anything by an means.

Just make sure that you have a 12 volt charger on land to bring the battery back up to a fully charged state.

Yes, you can ground battery 2 to battery 1. Battery 1 is already grounded to the engine block.

Ben,
With boat charging systems and stereos you will eventually run into a contradiction in your scheme no matter what you do. When the stereo bank gets too large in capacity and is well depleted then this can be dangerous to your alternator especially with other simultanious loads on line. On the other hand, by running a battery totally independent you are encouraging deeper cycles without the ocassional charge on an all-day outting. For battery longevity (of this type), fewer deeper cycles are far worse the more quantity shallow cycles. So until you've built something extremely large, hook the additional battery to the alternator and manage it with a switch.

David
Earmark Marine

As usual Dave put it best!

The boat isn't a wakeboard boat...it's more like a baja boat(Advantage 21 SR BR). I had a motocross injury in January and haven't been able to wakeboard since, and don't know if I ever will, may need spinal fusion. Anyway, I got this boat because I couldn't afford a good wakeboard boat, can't ride, and all I wanted it for is to party in the cove. So I don't have the motor on the boat running that much. I'll probably get with David this winter to find a good solution for what I want, until now I just wanted the stereo to run for a while without dying