Dedicated battery bank for stereo?

Hi. I'm looking to add a dedicated battery bank to power my amps (approx 2000W RMS) to get some decent run time (hoping at least 10 hrs). All of my amps are in a locked compartment with plenty of room for me to add a battery bank. I plan on charging the battery bank after use at home/dock so I don't need it to be connected to the alternator.

My question is...

Does the battery bank need to be grounded? (ie. via running a ground wire to engine block)... ..
Is it just a matter of buying a few deep cycles and connecting them in parallel and hook one of those batteries to the amp power distribution block (fused of course)???

Thank you!

I am no expert, but I believe you could do it either way with the ground. It would be better I believe to run a ground to the block. I am currently running this setup. I have 3 batteries not connected to the altenator and 2 other batteries connected to the engine with a perko switch. I have 1320W going to my amps max. I sat at the beach with the stereo going for about 6 hours with no issues. I have 3 Optima D31M batteries that are 155 hour reserve capacity each. Not sure if that is addative, or how that is supposed to tell you how much time they will last before cutting the stereo.

I have been thinking about adding subs to my system and then adding a larger altenator or adding a second altenator for the stereo. I have also been thinking about how to add a few battery isolators or if there is such a thing, a three bank battery isolator. I have a 2 bank charger now, but it is only connected to one bank for just the stereo batteries - should have bought a 3 bank charger but didn't know better at the time. I am going to add a second 2 bank charger for the boat batteries very soon even though I have never needed it - just a precaution. I just connect the battery charger at the end of the day when I put the boat back in storage and have not had an issue yet.

ground the bank to the block.

THe battery tender chargers work great for these systems. leave them on board, add a charger or two if you need. I think they're about $50 each.

wrasse, 2000 RMS is nto that big of a system, why nto just use a perko and hook it up that way. Unless you haev soem unorthodox moutnign needs, buy a pair of GC batt's and call it a day. You'll be able to run for 4-8 hours depending on volume/bass, ect.

I agree with Adam. I've got 4 optima's on a battery bank, and one optima as a reserve. I have the 4 optima's on #1 on the perko, and the reserve on #2 on the perko. I also run a Blue Sea ACR inbetween the two banks for charging. The only time I ever need to touch the perko (it stays on #1 all the time) is if the #1 bank won't start the boat, I switch to #2. If you hook it up this way you're alternator will suppliment some of the charge depletion. My alternator has been doing a great job of keeping up. I do charge the batteries when I get home.

I know it's not really a huge system but I want to have the ability to run a solid 10+ hrs for those long weekends as I sometimes keep the boat in the lake for a couple of days. Hence the battery bank.

So I do need to ground the battery bank??? I thought there was really no true ground in a boat.... Oh well, if it's safer to do I certainly will... So.... I already have a 0 gauge pos and neg wire that is running from the #1 batttery in the engine bay that is going to the compartment where the amps are. So if I put my battery bank in the same compartment, would connecting the neg 0 gauge to the neg terminal of the battery bank accomplish grounding? (then the neg of battery bank will be connected to neg terminal of #1 battery which I assume is ground to the motor already).... That would make it much easier than running an another 0 gauge..

Should do just that on your ground for the battery 1.