Single battery stereo upgrade

[jEt_jAk]

Getting ready to upgrade my stereo but the more I read the more worried I get

Next weekend I am adding to my 195:
2 JL Tower Speakers
JL Sub
JL Amp
Swapping deck to Kenwood

I was hoping to stay on a single battery (Odyssey), but here is where I get worried as I heard the engine only charges 14A, that doesn't sound like much. Please keep in mind I almost never run the stereo when beached, only while driving.

Does anyone forsee any issues here?

 

[DavisAR195]

I have two exile 9” tower speakers on a exile amp and I will run for 2-3 hours on the stock battery while anchored. I have never had an issue.

 

[jEt_jAk]

Interesting. That is at least reassuring!

 

[swatski]

Getting ready to upgrade my stereo but the more I read the more worried I get

Next weekend I am adding to my 195:
2 JL Tower Speakers
JL Sub
JL Amp
Swapping deck to Kenwood

I was hoping to stay on a single battery (Odyssey), but here is where I get worried as I heard the engine only charges 14A, that doesn't sound like much. Please keep in mind I almost never run the stereo when beached, only while driving.

Does anyone forsee any issues here?

Can you keep your battery on a charger when in storage/on a lift? An on-board charger is great for that if you have shore power. And then just watch the voltmeter when anchored.

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[jEt_jAk]

Yup, when in storage it is always on the charger.

 

[swatski]

Yup, when in storage it is always on the charger.

Many here make a habit of carrying one of those little lithium ion jump start packs, they are small and very handy, as an extra backup if you feel it is necessary. I have one that I try to keep always charged up, never had to use it, yet. Got mine for $15 at Walmart - it was some crazy sale @jcyamaharider found and broadcasted here a couple of years ago, lol. Still makes me smile when I look at it, lol.

I'm not 100% sure about the E-series as those may need battery power for operating the reverse buckets and some such but I'm pretty sure all the non-E Yamaha boats (including yours and mine) will run fine with a dead battery as long as you can start the engine, I believe the stator generates enough power for basic operations and ECU function.

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[Mainah]

Many here make a habit of carrying one of those little lithium ion jump start packs, they are small and very handy, as an extra backup if you feel it is necessary. I have one that I try to keep always charged up, never had to use it, yet. Got mine for $15 at Walmart - it was some crazy sale @jcyamaharider found and broadcasted here a couple of years ago, lol. Still makes me smile when I look at it, lol.

I'm not 100% sure about the E-series as those may need battery power for operating the reverse buckets and some such but I'm pretty sure all the non-E Yamaha boats (including yours and mine) will run fine with a dead battery as long as you can start the engine, I believe the stator generates enough power for basic operations and ECU function.

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A jump pack is cheap insurance. With non-Connext boats there should be no issues jumping amd running on a dead battery as long as not trying to still power amps. Batteries are a capcitor of sort. When they are dead they will be sucking down juice to top them back off which will cause volatge drop. Depending on type of battery, age, size, and DOD this cause significant voltage drop even once jumped and running. We know that connext boats don’t like volatge drop and will pop up all sorts of errors. Olently of folks here run amp on single standard marine batteries with no issue. In fact I don’t recall reading a post where someone had had a significant issie with dead batteries from a stereo system that forced a water rescue.

That said I am still a fan of properly typing/sizing the batteries to the load. Most battery ratings are performed at low draw rates and high draw rates will both impact immediate performance and degrade the battery faster. I don’t have any links handy on how to size and type but more amp hours with a higher rated C rating is a good thing until the weight and cost of the batteries don’t produce a worthwhile performance gain.

Another consideration is that a class D 400 watt audio amplifer pushed to the max will only draw about 40 amps momentarily and the true rms draw is more like half that depending on music type, ohm load, etc. Amps driving subs on bass heavy music will draw far more peak and rms amps/watts from the batteries than amps driving full ranges with a high pass filter.

Wire matters too. Was on the phone with my brother last night while watching the somewhat boring bowl game. He had just installed two subs and an amp in his car along with a new battery and he asked my why his lights were dimming when the bass hit with the engine running, and high output alternator. Answer was wire that is too small, scary small in fact, so I verbally slapped him upside the head then helped him order the right wire.

 

[Mainah]

A jump pack is cheap insurance. With non-Connext boats there should be no issues jumping amd running on a dead battery as long as not trying to still power amps. Batteries are a capcitor of sort. When they are dead they will be sucking down juice to top them back off which will cause volatge drop. Depending on type of battery, age, size, and DOD this cause significant voltage drop even once jumped and running. We know that connext boats don’t like volatge drop and will pop up all sorts of errors. Olently of folks here run amp on single standard marine batteries with no issue. In fact I don’t recall reading a post where someone had had a significant issie with dead batteries from a stereo system that forced a water rescue.

That said I am still a fan of properly typing/sizing the batteries to the load. Most battery ratings are performed at low draw rates and high draw rates will both impact immediate performance and degrade the battery faster. I don’t have any links handy on how to size and type but more amp hours with a higher rated C rating is a good thing until the weight and cost of the batteries don’t produce a worthwhile performance gain.

Another consideration is that a class D 400 watt audio amplifer pushed to the max will only draw about 40 amps momentarily and the true rms draw is more like half that depending on music type, ohm load, etc. Amps driving subs on bass heavy music will draw far more peak and rms amps/watts from the batteries than amps driving full ranges with a high pass filter.

Wire matters too. Was on the phone with my brother last night while watching the somewhat boring bowl game. He had just installed two subs and an amp in his car along with a new battery and he asked my why his lights were dimming when the bass hit with the engine running, and high output alternator. Answer was wire that is too small, scary small in fact, so I verbally slapped him upside the head then helped him order the right wire.

Here is the photo my youngest brother sent me last night. Look at the top right of the amp. 8awg +12v is fine for the 3ft run to the trunk mounted battery. See the two 16 awg wires above that? One is for the remote but guess what he used the other one for. He was concerned with his headlights dimming when the bass hit. I was concerned with him setting his car on fire. 2ft 16 awg run to chassis ground is less than good.

 

[jEt_jAk]

So it sounds like I should be ok. Is it true that the single engine boats only charge around 14A when running? See a lot of conflicting info on this and the specs do not say.

 

[swatski]

So it sounds like I should be ok. Is it true that the single engine boats only charge around 14A when running? See a lot of conflicting info on this and the specs do not say.

Sounds about right as these boats have stators only, not alternators.

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[Mainah]

So it sounds like I should be ok. Is it true that the single engine boats only charge around 14A when running? See a lot of conflicting info on this and the specs do not say.

Rule of thumb is to calculate at 10 amps rms per each yamaha 1.8l ho enigine. True output will vary on rpms. Bottom line is that stators don’t output that much juice compared to their alternator brethren and are more for running the spark plugs, engine electronics and charging the battery for another start than running accesories. Alternators found on others styles of boat engines such as i/o are far better for running accessories.

With twin engines and stereo system drawing about 30 amps rms (two JL m400/4) while cruising at 5800 rpms my voltage stays topped up after leaving my slip with shore power. If I cranked the stereo to max (about 55 amps rms) while cruising the stators don’t quite keep up but would be good for quite a few days of cruising without topping up from shore power with my two large batteries.

 

[jEt_jAk]

Thanks for the info guys, it has been really helpful!

 

[jEt_jAk]

Test time

 

[BlkGS]

Out of curiosity, whats the reason for staying single battery? An extra battery and maybe an acr is a cheap way to avoid being stranded on the lake or worse...

 

[jEt_jAk]

Weight, these battery's are $400+ and my onboard charger is single battery version.

 

[BlkGS]

Holy crap that's an expensive battery. My group 24s are like 50 to 70 bucks at Sam's club depending on starting, deep cycle, or hybrid. With a 3 year warranty!

I think you could still use an acr and a second battery. Have the charger hook to the house battery, and use the acr yo isolate the starting battery. The little juice it takes to start the engine would quickly be recharged by the stator, and youd always have a mostly fully charged starting battery.

I guess it would weigh a little more, but is 40 pounds of weight a big deal? I've never even though about the weight of my batteries lol.

 

[jEt_jAk]

These are over 70lbs. Haha. I still may consider the second battery at some point. Good to know I can keep my charger!

 

[Jaylex]

Out of curiosity how did you decide on a Oddesy battery...I've heard of them, but for 400 bucks wondering how many amp hours it has?

Saw some other fancy batteries at the boat show here in LA, but even their specs for deep cycle batteries dont seem to justify the price vs other group 27/29 deep cycle batteries.

Im only speaking about deep cycle since the starter doesnt require much and once u have multiple amps the draw can get heavy.

 

[jEt_jAk]

Here is the specs:

ODYSSEY Battery Model 34M-PC1500ST

 

[2kwik4u]

I ran my head unit and a single amp (integrated into soundbar) for somewhere around 7hrs straight at considerable volume last summer. Engine still started right up with no problem. I suspect I'm not pulling many amps with my setup though. Even if I add a small sub I won't be adding a second battery. These engines take very little to start, and a small jump pack will get me home. I can turn the stereo off for that long if I need to