Add a battery Mod

[jbmarcott77]

Good Morning Jet Boaters,

I followed Scarab Mike's add a battery Mod. Have everything installed, and when the switch is on position 1, the new house battery, I'm not getting power to the system. Switch works perfect on battery 2 and both. I've double checked all connections, ground etc. I'm getting 13V at the cable lead ends from the new battery so know that i have power at the switch from the new battery. I'm a bit lost.. at this point I'm guessing that the wires that are grouped at the starting battery terminal on the switch have something to do with power getting to the ECU, or by a fluke I've got a bad switch. I've driven myself crazy with this last week. Think I'm ready to just put the old switch back in and a couple of dual starting / deep cycle batteries in parallel and call it good. Any suggestions?

 

[Dean P]

Hi and to the forum!!! I do not know; maybe @ScarabMike will comment.

 

[blthlt]

can you show us the equipment you're using or provide model numbers.

 

[Winerocks]

Likely a stupid question, but are you 100% sure you connected the + terminal from the new battery to the switch?

 

[Nexus]

The other thing to consider is if the new battery is grounded properly.

Problem with hooking them up in parallel is that, as you probably know, you lose the redundancy.

 

[jbmarcott77]

Good Morning Jet Boaters,

I followed Scarab Mike's add a battery Mod. Have everything installed, and when the switch is on position 1, the new house battery, I'm not getting power to the system. Switch works perfect on battery 2 and both. I've double checked all connections, ground etc. I'm getting 13V at the cable lead ends from the new battery so know that i have power at the switch from the new battery. I'm a bit lost.. at this point I'm guessing that the wires that are grouped at the starting battery terminal on the switch have something to do with power getting to the ECU, or by a fluke I've got a bad switch. I've driven myself crazy with this last week. Think I'm ready to just put the old switch back in and a couple of dual starting / deep cycle batteries in parallel and call it good. Any suggestions?

Guys,

Thanks for the responses. I did have some concern over the ground as well. The negative terminal on the new battery is routed back to the negative terminal on the original battery. The new switch is a Blue Sea 6007. I ran 6 gauge battery cable. There is a lot grounded to that negative terminal on the first battery. Ran a little experiment yesterday. Started with both batteries fully charged. Ran 45 minutes to a sand bar, switched the battery switch to both batteries and ran the stereo system for 7 hours. Checked the voltage before I left on each battery with the switch in the off position.
11.6 volts on the new house battery, 11.3 on the starting battery. Restarted the motor isolated to the starting battery, switched to both batteries and ran 45 minutes back to the dock. Checked the voltage when home last night. 12.9 and 13.1 respectively. Pretty sure the load is drawing from both batteries and charging both when when the engine is running when the switch is in the "both" position. Ran home today at lunch and took some pictures. I'm still thinking it has something to do with the auxiliary wiring that's connected to terminal 1, the way it was connected on the original switch? The entire objective is to get the stereo system, amps and auxiliary power on it's own battery when the motor is off. Did try switching the batteries and associated leads on the switch. Same problem, just reversed.

 

[blthlt]

You need 4 posts on the back to have the batteries and their loads completely isolated with just 1 click of the switch. The switch you have will connect house battery to the output, start battery to the output or combined to the output but no way to have the start battery and the house battery separate from the house and engine loads. I just rewired one of these on my 255 that the factory had hooked up incorrectly. m-Series Mini Dual Circuit Plus™ Battery Switch - Red - Blue Sea Systems Alternatively, add in the DVSR in your setup Digital Voltage Sensing Relay (DVSR) 12/24V | BEP and it will disconnect the batteries from each other when the motor isn't running (12.8vDC or less) and reconnect when it sees a charging voltage to recharge both batteries without having to change the selector switch to reengage the house battery.

 

[jbmarcott77]

You need 4 posts on the back to have the batteries and their loads completely isolated with just 1 click of the switch. The switch you have will connect house battery to the output, start battery to the output or combined to the output but no way to have the start battery and the house battery separate from the house and engine loads. I just rewired one of these on my 255 that the factory had hooked up incorrectly. m-Series Mini Dual Circuit Plus™ Battery Switch - Red - Blue Sea Systems Alternatively, add in the DVSR in your setup Digital Voltage Sensing Relay (DVSR) 12/24V | BEP and it will disconnect the batteries from each other when the motor isn't running (12.8vDC or less) and reconnect when it sees a charging voltage to recharge both batteries without having to change the selector switch to reengage the house battery.

Thanks for the reply! After reading your post i can see that that switch and the dvsr are the way to go! I ordered tonight. It still doesn't solve my problem, I have no power to the boat when on the new house battery. I'm thinking something hasn't been wired right from the factory. Thinking the "boat power" circuit breaker needs to be taken back to the output vs one of the battery terminals? Thanks for the help.

 

[blthlt]

With what you have now you can put the house circuits on the output of the switch. This should allow you to run the house off of either battery or both, depending on your switch selection; 1,2 or 1+2 and have everything off with it turned off with no current draw. You will likely want to have the radio memory and automatic bilge pump circuits on the house battery + terminal of the switch so they are "always on" even with the switch off. Once you have the new hardware this will all be a thing of the past!