Quote:
Originally Posted by luke22885
Just purchased a 2005 Supra 21V that only has 1 battery. I am only running 1 amp in the boat but would like to add second battery just so I dont have to worry about being stranded if battery goes dead listening to radio with boat not running. I have a perko switch that the guy I bought boat from gave me, I just dont know how to wire it. A friends boat has this set up and it doesnt matter if he has the switch on 1,2, or both he can always have radio playing or start boat from either battery. Im sure its something simple but just confusing to me.
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Are you planning on having 2 of the same battery or one starting battery and one deep cycle(stereo) battery? Since you only have one amp I would consider either buying a second battery that is identical to you current one(if the current one is pretty new nad in good working order) or better yet ditch the battery you have and buy 2 group 24 or 27, Dual purpose batteries batteries like the Deka DP24, DP 27 or the Interstate SRM29. With a setup like this, move the positive starter cable to the common terminal on the switch, then run a positive from the 2 other terminals on the switch to the 2 different batteries. Leave the negative from the engine block goign to one of the batteries and then attach the the negatives of the 2 batteries in parallel. For you stereo run a cable off the common terminal of the perko to a busbar/distribution block. Move all stereo equipment hookups to the distribution block. In this setup you can completely disengage power to the amps as well as the starter so the boat can't be started. If you do this while leaving your boat in the water make sure to wire your auto bilge straight to one of the batteries. This also gives you the ability to use either battery as the battery. Just try to use them similar so they last about the same length of time(life of battery).
The other way would be to run everything the same except move the distribution block to the battery you want to designate the Stereo battery. In this way you could probably get away with a starting battering and a deep cycle battery as long as their charging specs are similar. You would use it slightly different and could never disconnect power to the stereo/amps unless you add some sort of circuit breaker or disconnect switch between the battery and distribution block. I guess you could just disconnect the battery positive to he distribution block but that is kind of ghetto.
Either way the make sure you know how your system is setup and works so you can manipulate it properly.