Two Battery System

[Rubberhead*]

Okay, I admit, it's probably overkill on a small duck boat but it works great and certainly has much more important applications in larger fishing boat that have huge electronic loads on the battery system.

[JBK]

Would you quit teasing us. Post a picture of the new rig!


Nicely done! I need to do this to my console boat!

[Griffin]

Not overkill at all. Nothing is worse than a dead battery. I'd rather haul 3 and not use them then have one dead battery every 5 years

[fro]

Lost me at neverstart

[Steelin' Ducks]

So what’s the parts list?

[Rubberhead*]

Would you quit teasing us. Post a picture of the new rig!

I have to do that. Hopefully the second season will be better than the first so I can have to ducks in the photo too.

So what’s the parts list?

So, I really started out with Blue Seas 7720 (big fuse from the battery/$28) with a 5045 (for the individual electronics/$25) and a 2307 (ground bus about $20) planning only on one battery and just carrying a spare...



The 7720 was defective and they accidently sent two replacements so I started thinking that I'm only a 7649 (relay kit/$100) away from automatically managing the batteries so I asked Santa for the relay kit.

[Rubberhead*]

Lost me at neverstart

Ha ha - I've actually had very good luck with the Walmart batteries. The one failure I had inside the warranty period was quickly replaced.

[JBK]

What all do you run on your batteries? I'm assuming for cranking and running lights. Anything else?

[Rubberhead*]

What all do you run on your batteries? I'm assuming for cranking and running lights. Anything else?

Chartplotter/FF (1.0A), LED running lights (~0.1A), bow mounted spot/flood lights (~5.0A), side lights when I'm putting out decoys (1.5A), Auto Bilge Pump (2.0A), and plug in Q-beam (8A) but I seldom carry it anymore.

[beanhunter]

Looks good. Add some loom

[DRDUCK]

Sanitary as it comes. Can't have to much voltage when it is called for.

[Rubberhead*]

Sanitary as it comes. Can't have to much voltage when it is called for.

Ha ha - after seeing this thread a friend called me and said he finally realized how bad my OCD was...it looks cluttered to me...

[Jscrapmetal]

Yeah need some zip ties and some marine grade wire and connectors.

[jws]

Nothing wrong with redundancy

[ziggy]

you can say that again

[WoodieSC]

Chartplotter/FF (1.0A), LED running lights (~0.1A), bow mounted spot/flood lights (~5.0A), side lights when I'm putting out decoys (1.5A), Auto Bilge Pump (2.0A), and plug in Q-beam (8A) but I seldom carry it anymore.

Talk to me about what kind of side lights you've got, and the auto bilge pump.

I've got a manual bilge pump that may well be plenty, depending on the cost to upgrade.

I've got two batteries in back, but no switch between then... for now. Other than the other connections, which I'll be upgrading soon, my gas is up in the front left storage box. I wouldn't like to have the gas sitting next to a battery that isn't in a plastic storage box, which I'd recommend you consider for safety sake and to protect the electrical connections around the batteries.

Other than that, your OCD is looking good!

[Duck cutter]

RH, have you been Impressed with the quality of the Blue Sea products?

I was looking at them online a while back for my boat but ended up going a different route.

[Rubberhead*]

Talk to me about what kind of side lights you've got, and the auto bilge pump.

I've got a manual bilge pump that may well be plenty, depending on the cost to upgrade.

I've got two batteries in back, but no switch between then... for now. Other than the other connections, which I'll be upgrading soon, my gas is up in the front left storage box. I wouldn't like to have the gas sitting next to a battery that isn't in a plastic storage box, which I'd recommend you consider for safety sake and to protect that electrical connections around the batteries.

Other than that, your OCD is looking good!

The side lights are Kawell from amazon mounted under the gunnel on each side of the front of the boat. They'd be good "docking lights" but I really use them when putting out the decoys from the boat. If anything they're too bright. I might go with the four bulb model if I did it again. Make sure to get the flood version not the spot light version.



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The auto bilge pump is a Walmart, off the shelf, I think it is called a Seachoice - $38 if I remember correctly. I bought a second one and wire them to a terminal strip so I can replace it in just a few moments if I had to. I check the bilge pump every morning before I leave the house. It's a must-be-working item in my opinion.

I have all this controlled with three On-Off-On switches.

Switch 1: Up - Nav Lights; Down Nav and Flood light.
Switch 2: Up - Anchor Light; Down Anchor and Spot light.
Switch 3: Up - Bilge Pump manual on; Down - Docking lights. I use the lighted switches so Switch 3 will light up if the auto bilge pump kicks in. This, I would hope, would be useful at night when I really can't see if the back of the boat is taking water for some reason.

I thought about the gas thing but the fuse blocks are what Blue Sea calls "ignition protected" for use in enclosed gas and diesel environments. And, I'm in a wide-open boat.

The only connections that aren't made with Marine grade waterproof connectors are the terminal connectors on the small house battery connected through a trolling motor plug. Maybe I should get rid of the trolling motor plug and just wire directly like I did the other battery...

[Rubberhead*]

This crossed my mind many times during the building process...

[Rubberhead*]

RH, have you been Impressed with the quality of the Blue Sea products?

100% good luck with them for a lot of years. They don't use 304 stainless. I think it's something like tin-plated copper but I've never had any rust. I have had corrosion build-up on some terminals when I've left the power on for long periods.