Installing up my 2nd battery for stereo

Disclaimer... Ok I know this is all over the forum when I search, but I want to see if you all thing I am doing everything right.

So I just finished installing my new exile harpoon amp with sxt65's. Along with my mtx 600.4 and 400.4 and thought no better time to finally put in my 2nd battery...

What I have done....
Disconnected my head unit from my key. Ran blk/red/yellow to stereo battery location with a 30 amp fuse on both red and yellow. Connected red to my rocker switch and back to head unit. yellow/blk direct from head to batt. Capped boat harness red and yellow wires

Ran 4 awg power and ground from distributors, about 3', to battery location

Connected power wire to #2 on blue sea switch. And trimmed out a ground to connect to starter battery.
WHAT AWG SHOULD I USE HERE?

My goal is to keep my battery switch on 1 but run my stereo on battery 2.

Look go so far?

Still need to buy my stereo battery... So the age old question...

What would the best deep cell battery be for my system?
I am no battery guru so any help would be great!!
Thanx

My goal is to keep my battery switch on 1 but run my stereo on battery 2

You will need to install an ACR/VSR in order to achieve this. Other wise, Batt-2 will not receive any charge from the alternator and go dead in a couple hours. Wont lat long doing this a few times.

I would suggest terminating the stereo B+ to the "C" post of the switch, with the boats main cable. Then the stereo will draw off which ever battery you turn the switch to and the alternator will charge like wise.

Originally Posted by chpthril

I would suggest terminating the stereo B+ to the "C" post of the switch, with the boats main cable. Then the stereo will draw off which ever battery you turn the switch to and the alternator will charge like wise.

I thought about that but I been reading a lot of stuff of running everything to one battery for your stereo. This has a huge help with noise reduction especially with EQ's. I have exile's ZLR.

also I don't want to switch between batterie 1&2 unless emergent. I do agree I need to look into a ACR. Suggestions?

I have always been told to connect all audio equipment to the same battery also and running power wires straight to the batter and not through a switch. What I did is use a perko switch, have the starting battery on 1 and the stereo battery on 2. The stereo will only drain number 2 battery regardless of what the switch is set to. When Im running the boat and doing short break, I will just keep the perko on BOTH batteries, when I beach it, i turn it to 2.

Originally Posted by kx250frider617

, I will just keep the perko on BOTH batteries, when I beach it, i turn it to 2.

Be careful with running both. It's a life killer for your batteries. It will equalize them and over work your altinator

Originally Posted by huddy

I thought about that but I been reading a lot of stuff of running everything to one battery for your stereo. This has a huge help with noise reduction especially with EQ's. I have exile's ZLR.

also I don't want to switch between battery 1&2 unless emergent. I do agree I need to look into a ACR. Suggestions?

You are correct, ALL the stereo components need to share the same battery source. So if ALL the stereo components; amps, head-unit, EQ, Ipod charger, etc, all terminate to the "C" post of the switch, then they will all be on the same battery source.

So, take the B+ thats feeding the amps' distribution block, to the "C" post. Run the head-unit's Yellow MEM/B+ and the EQ's B+ and terminate them to one of the amp's B+ lug or to the B+ block. Now your entire system will be sharing the same battery source. Bank-1 and bank-2 battery GND's should be connected to each other, so all electronics are on the same ground plane, but I like to run a ground for the head-unit and EQ to the amps GND or GND distribution block same as I did for their B+.

Since you are seeking a more automatic setup and do not want to fiddle with the switch during your time on the water, you will need an ACR/VSR, and the above wiring scheme will change.