General stereo ?'s
 

Alright so I am ordering a new stereo in the next week. I decided to get all the amp kits instead of trying to piece it all together. The only thing I need now is to add a battery. The boat came with one starting battery and a perko switch. Question is how to mount both battery's in the observation area. Do I need 0/1 gauge for both battery's?. Or is it ok to leave the existing cables on the starting one(which might not work any ways because right now it is located in the locker.What group of battery should I get (budget minded) for the stereo? We never really party cove, but I still want to add the second battery because the new systems a lot larger then the stock one. Thanks in advance. Mike

Mike,

Theres not enough info to answer all of your questions, but I will try to answer what I can.

There really isn't an amp kit for marine installs like you would buy for a car amp install. They typically come with a long run of B+ and a 2 ft section of GND. The reason being is that cars are one big ground plane and boats need to have all the amp grounds run back to the battery, same as the B+. I recommend purchasing your length of cables in bulk.

What kind of switch is currently installed in the boat? "Perko" is only but one manufacturer of marine battery switches and they have a few different styles for different purposes. If the boat only came with a single battery, its a good bet that the switch is only an ON/OFF. What you need is a dual-battery switch.

If you go with a dual battery setup and a traditional dual-battery switch, all but the auto-bilge B+, if the boat has an auto bilge, will, be relocated from the original battery's B+ to the common post of the new switch. providing you do not need to lengthen or replace the original cables, then that would leave you to build/buy a new cable from the cranking B+ to the switch, new house battery B+ to the switch, and one from original battery GND post to the new house battery GND post. 1/0ga would be a safe cable gauge for those battery cables since one and maybe both will be used as a cranking battery.

Relocating the original cranking will most likely require upgrading the cable size as well as running longer cables. I would also look at leaving the battery where it is, placing the new battery and switch close by and then running the proprietorial gauge cable for the amps.

Cant beat the price per battery Ah of a group-24 marine deep-cycle.

More info please? This will determine the gauge size for the run and load. We need all equipment ( stereo, ballast, any additional draws). To relocate you'll need a new perko prolly as Mike pointed out, long power (alternator) and ground (from block) runs (20-30 feet depending on boat) as short as you can make them.. Relocate ( not extend) helm bus wiring and any additional under helm wiring from helm directly to observers compartment. Also last but not least, your starter wire needs ran with the ground and alternator feed... Battery depends on your draw and play time wanted with key off.. So some more insight might get this ball rolling faster and you can see the pennies add up :)

Thanks, lots of good info. Not sure what model perko switch it is but it is a dual set up. The amps kits are all from exile, all marine oriented lengths. Tower,cabin, and sub kit. Then the main run to the battery kit which includes a distribution block.

Exile everything except sub and amp which is a solo baric and a 600 watt mtx class d amp. 2pairs sx65-m, 2xm-9's, harpoon, exile 800.4. Stock ballast.

And a zld!

No answers on how to mount the battery's in the observation area? So they don't slide around.

I just used battery boxes available at most marine or automotive places and strapped them down to the floor.. seem to be holding very well..

I was planning on getting boxes like those pictured. How do your straps attach to the floor?can you just screw some sort of mount right into the floor or do you need to adhere a block like most do for the amp rack? Killer set up by the way!

In my case, the boxes come with the straps and little plastic mounts that hold the straps down. I just screwed them into the floor. Probably several different ways you could do it though. You could block the boxes up off the floor with wood or plastic spacers screwed down to the floor and then strap boxes to those to get a little ventilation under the batteries.
just be careful before your drill into the floor that you are not drilling through ballast tanks, or fuel tanks, or even the hull.. :cool:

Like Russ said most will come with a strap and 2 hold downs to screw to the floor.