1973 Browning Marine
Regular Contributor
Tried to post several times on this site over the last day and had no success. Anyway, hooked up Perko battery selector switch on my boat. All seems well but had a few questions. The two batteries are located forward under a hatch and one is mounted on port side of center stringer,other is mounted on starboard side of center stringer. The port battery is the "cranking" and the starboard is the "house". Installed the Perko switch as according to the directions for (single engine-two batteries). Like I said all is well, but need some reassurance that things are right. As I stated in my previous post, both batteries are isolated from one another and after looking at the thing closely, I remembered that everthing such as (bilge pumps,exaust blower fans,power trim motor etc.) are powered by the house battery. The only thing powered by the cranking battery is of course the ignition switch,coil,gauges,and running lights. Great care has been taken with connections to cranking battery. It has been fished through electrical conduit under floor and secured to stringers in engine compartment for safety. It has heavy gauge battery cables from battery to starter and also heavy duty ground to block. After installing, I turned switch to #1 battery which is cranking battery and all was well. (yes I hooked drive up to a hose) Next, I switched battery to #2 which is the house battery. I attempted to crank engine and was not able to get enough amperage to start engine. It clicked and tried to turn but did not have enough juice to start. I immediately stopped doing that because I did not want to damage any wires or heat anything up. Now, question is this: Should the engine fire up with Perko switch in the #2 selection? Now wait, when I switch to the "all" selection on the Perko switch, the starter spins like a raped ape and she immediately starts right up. Question again, Is this the way it should operate? Don't mean to ask silly questions but wanted some assurance as to whether things are working correctly. Also, I figured I would mention that when the Perko switch was turned to the "Off position, everything on boat was dead. Thats good right? I figured I would start with the Perko switch and yes I decided to install switch under hatch in front of batteries because it states that the wiring should be kept as short as possible in the directions. I know at this point it is a primitive type of system but figured with a little effort on my part, will have to remember what selection I am using when on the water. Now, finally was wondering if when selector is on "all" position: Will the house battery get charged, because switch is bridging or linking power from both batteries? That is what I really need to know. I did not use a voltage tester yet on the house battery but alternator is putting out around 14.5 volts according to gauge. Note: The house battery never had any charging system hooked up to it at this point except a battery charger once or twice to keep it from going flat. The batteries are both less than 6 months old. Maybe I am ok at this point with the charging of my battery system? Or do I still need to install the isolator setup after the fact? I will have more information for you guys tomorrow for sure, getting late and have to get back home at this point. I think I got a good start at it and like I said I tried to post several times on the site and it was locking up.
said enough for now, any additional comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. This was what I was going to post previously to you guys so let me try again:
http://www.boatfix.com/how/Ele2.html * Look at figure (D). It is the first one on page.
As always, thanks guys for all the support! Tom
said enough for now, any additional comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. This was what I was going to post previously to you guys so let me try again:
http://www.boatfix.com/how/Ele2.html * Look at figure (D). It is the first one on page.
As always, thanks guys for all the support! Tom
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