Adding another battery

"how do you install another ba

"how do you install another battery so that I have two instead of just one,I want to put another one so I don't have to worry about the one I have going dead this summer when I'm playing the radio with the boat not running."

"You will need a heavy duty ba

"You will need a heavy duty battery switch ($110) and battery cable. Perco is a popular brand of switch but there are also others for same price. The switch will allow you to turn off all battery supply, run one or both battries. Mount the swith in a easy to get to location.
Usual battery hookup is positive of each battery going to the switch. One positive going from switch to engine supply. One short negative connects battery to battery and one long negitave going from battery to engine ground but follow the directions that come with the switch.
I currently use deep cycle batterys only because they will crank hard all the way to dead however, they tend not to last over one season of hard use.
You are most certainly correct about leaving something turned on and just as the sun sets, ya go to start the old girl and all you hear is CLICK!"

"yea that's what I don&#39

"yea that's what I don't want is "click" I have a deep cycle battery now and going to buy another one.MY friend has two one hooked up and the another one is not hooked up, but is there if the main one goes dead he can just put the cable's on the another one to crank the boat.I just know I heard that you have to have a big alt. to charge two battery's."

"You dont need a big alt to ch

"You dont need a big alt to charge 2 batteries. Regardless of the size of alternator, the regulator will only allow a certain amount of charge to the battery/s. 50-110 amp alt will only max charge at about 20 amps. Any more than that, it will cook your batteries or even blow them up. Big herky alternators are only good for running major accesories. Best stay with your OEM alternator."

".."You dont need a big al

".."You dont need a big alt to charge 2 batteries. "

You are absolutely correct! It makes no difference--to the batteries, that is--how long an alternator works to recharge them. With additional batteries it simply takes longer.

Jeff

PS: Not recommended to mix battery types. Either use all deep cylcle (as I do) or all starting-type. If not, one type will over-charge on you."

My brother works on big rigs a

My brother works on big rigs and said that they have 4 batt. but they just have a breaker in the middle of the batt. is it ok to hook them up the same way as a big rig. Thanks

"NO
First, big rigs use a sta

"NO
First, big rigs use a starter almost as big as your boat motor. They need 4 batteries to start the rig and those batteries are at least 2X the phisical size as your boat battery. Oh, some of thoes rigs are using 24 volts to start.
Keep it simple"

"Jeremy:

Bill is right. Bu

"Jeremy:

Bill is right. Buy the battery switch for the sake of safety. W/o a switch, a spark at the spare battery could ignite fuel vapors or battery gases in the bilge when changing from one battery to the other especially if some elec. item was left in the on position."

"ok,thanks"

"ok,thanks"

"Guy is absolutly correct abou

"Guy is absolutly correct about the chance of explosion. You must use marine approved or USCG approved equipment or risk serious injury or.....

If by chance you ever do anything to attract the attention of law inforcement or get boarded with a random safety inspection, they WILL go over the boat with a fine tooh comb. Very few casual boaters ever pass that inspection!
Bill"