adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

[arod2012]

So I am going to add a radio to my pontoon and a Depth/fish finder. Do I need to add a 2nd battery? There are no electonics on the pontoon now at all. Just running lights. If I do need to add a 2nd battery do I hook them together or run them seperate?

Thanks for the info.

 

[MinUph]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

I always run 2 batteries. It's just cheap insurance. Adding a radio and depth finder really doesn't draw all that much power but having the second one is sure a good feeling. I would use a battery switch.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Absolutely unnecessary. You have very little current draw with either the radio or the locator. To determine if you need a second battery, when you go to bed tonight, turn the radio on in your car and let it run all night. If you have a decent battery the car will still start in the morning. You weren't apparently worried about a dead starting battery before so why now just because you added a radio. Carry a jump start box if you are concerned. No rewiring necessary. Add a high power amp and the situation now changes.

 

[Old Screwball]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Definitely don't need a second battery for what you are adding....BUT We added 2 high volume air pumps for tubes and floats, and a water pump for a major league squirt gun. I bought a Lawn Tractor battery for about 25 bucks and a standard household light switch. Tied the hots from each battery together, and ran the grounds through the switch. While running, the switch is turned on, charging both batteries. When anchored and not running, turn the switch off. Radio, depth finder, air pumps and water pump are run from the second battery.

 

[Boss Hawg]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

No need for it for that little bit - But i did add a second under my steering console for "stuff"- Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know i have it plus i had a good 2 bank on board charger that needed useing anyway

 

[RustyShackleford]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Absolutely unnecessary. You have very little current draw with either the radio or the locator. To determine if you needI a second battery, when you go to bed tonight, turn the radio on in your car and let it run all night. If Iyou have a decent battery the car will still start in the morning. You weren't apparently worried about a dead starting battery before so why now just because you added a radio. Carry a jump start box if you are concerned. No rewiring necessary. Add a high power amp and the situation now changes.

Have you ever actually done this? A Stereo will almost assuredly kill a battery overnight. Ever been to a drive-in and seen how many cars have dead batteries after the end of the pair of movies since they never started their car? I ran my battery down too low to start in my boat with about 2 hours of music while I was installing my fishfinder yesterday. I was checking to see if my stereo warning alarm would actually sound in time to protect the battery. If you plan to run the stereo for more than an hour without running the motor, I would recommend a second battery or carry a jumper. That's my plan.

FWIW, the voltage alarm on my cheap Humminbird fishfinder seems to be dependable. I set it to warn me at 11.5 volts, and that seemed to be a good mark to still get the motor to fire right up. If you havent decided on a finder, might check them out. (For other reasons too, of course). You can also get standalone voltage drop sensors.

 

[arod2012]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Thanks for all the advice. I think I will go with a 2nd battery more for the piece of mind if anything. For the $40/$50 they cost it is cheap ins for me.

Rusty, I agree with you. I have seem many dead batterys after 2 movies at the outdoor. Leaving the car radio on all night while I sleep will for sure result in a dead battery.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Thanks for all the advice. I think I will go with a 2nd battery more for the piece of mind if anything. For the $40/$50 they cost it is cheap ins for me.

Rusty, I agree with you. I have seem many dead batterys after 2 movies at the outdoor. Leaving the car radio on all night while I sleep will for sure result in a dead battery.

Just make sure you dont wire them in series

 

[Silvertip]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Thanks for all the advice. I think I will go with a 2nd battery more for the piece of mind if anything. For the $40/$50 they cost it is cheap ins for me.

Rusty, I agree with you. I have seem many dead batterys after 2 movies at the outdoor. Leaving the car radio on all night while I sleep will for sure result in a dead battery.

Then you need a new battery!

 

[RustyShackleford]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Then you need a new battery!

A car battery will give you about 1KWh. That's 100 watts (a mild stereo) for 10 hours. But that is DEAD. Flat dead. No Amps to turn a motor, not even enough voltage to trigger a solenoid. Also likely permanent damage to your battery if it's not a deep discharge battery.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

You don't need a second battery unless you're running a trolling motor for a long, long time. And even then, you really need to link the batteries correctly--more complicated than just hooking up a switch. You might check WestMarine.com to see what they say about linking batteries.

Power steering on top of hydraulic steering warrants a second battery, as they're energy suckers. Some sound systems running huge power boosters and sub woofers may drain a battery if it was used all day without starting the engine.

It's just more complicated than I want to deal with. If you're worried that you're going to not be able to start your engine, consider getting one of the rechargeable booster boxes--that includes a air compressor. Keep it charged before you go out on the lake.

 

[BrianMc]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

What I use is two 24 series instead of a single 27 or bigger. Seperate the two with an isolator. One is for accessories,and the other strictly for starting the big motor. Both get charged by the big motor,but only the auxiliary battery can be drained by accessories. I have volt meters hooked to both. When the aux. battery runs low,fire up the motor to charge it up. That's the way my duramax is wired too.

 

[1986bassbuggy$@]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

don't mean to but in but does anyone have a diagram to show how the double batteries should be hooked up?

 

[MinUph]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Google dual batteries in boat for many diagrams.

 

[arod2012]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Google dual batteries in boat for many diagrams.

That is what I did. ;-)

Thanks for all the great info.

 

[bigdee]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

You don't need a second battery unless you're running a trolling motor for a long, long time. And even then, you really need to link the batteries correctly--more complicated than just hooking up a switch. You might check WestMarine.com to see what they say about linking batteries.

Power steering on top of hydraulic steering warrants a second battery, as they're energy suckers. Some sound systems running huge power boosters and sub woofers may drain a battery if it was used all day without starting the engine.

It's just more complicated than I want to deal with. If you're worried that you're going to not be able to start your engine, consider getting one of the rechargeable booster boxes--that includes a air compressor. Keep it charged before you go out on the lake.

Good advice. Two batteries is nonsense unless you have a lot of electrical stuff onboard or plan on sitting in one spot for a very long time! I keep a starter rope for insurance on my 85 hp but only used it once after leaving the anchor light on for a week.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

There are dozens of ways dual batteries can be wired. But the issue that pops up the most is the misconception that EVERYTHING except the motor needs to be connected to the second battery when using a dual battery switch. If you use an ACR only or an ACR and a switch then that changes things. Unless an ACR has a "combine" feature that allows starting the engine from the AUX (house) battery you are still stuck. A switch provides the ultimate in versatility. Here is a typical wiring diagram. It doesn't show it, but all accessories, including the engine are connected to the COM terminal on the switch. The one exception would be an automatic bilge pump which would typically be wired directly to the house battery so it can run if needed when the battery switch is set to OFF.

OFF is obviously OFF. Anything connected to the COM terminal is disabled hence no dead batteries if something is left ON>
BAT 1: STARTS the engine, RUNS accessories and CHARGES battery #1 when the engine is running.
BAT 2: Does the same as BAT 1 except for battery #2.
BOTH: Parallels the two batteries and STARTS the engine, RUNS accessories and CHARGES BOTH batteries when the engine is running.

Use the switch to your advantage. It doesn't get any cheaper, reliable, and simpler than this. The one and only CAUTION is to NEVER turn the switch to OFF with the engine running. There are multitude of diagrams on this forum posted by others that include ACRs and both ACRs and swtiches. Use the SEARCH feature.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Good advice. Two batteries is nonsense unless you have a lot of electrical stuff onboard or plan on sitting in one spot for a very long time! I keep a starter rope for insurance on my 85 hp but only used it once after leaving the anchor light on for a week.

I couldn't agree more. In my experience, multiple batteries and associated wiring causes more issues than it remedies.

carry a fully charged booster pack on board.

I have this one and it even has emergency nav lights, and a compressor that can inflate a trailer tire, inverter 400w and a USB power port. cost about the same as a good marine battery and it can start a tow vehicle if needed

 

[WaterDR]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

Car batteriesd are not deep cycle and if you are buying a battery for a boat for $40, it's pretty much a waste of money IMO. Get a decent Interstate, proper marine battery and should not ever need a second battery unless you have a trolling motor or are very paranoid.

 

[ROBBSRACING]

Re: adding Radio. Do I need a 2nd battery?

I have a single quality deep cycle battery on my toon with a solar battery maintainer connected to it. I play tunes on the sandbar for 6-7hours sometimes and never once have I had any trouble with a dead battery. No amp. Hi powered Kenwood HU with 4 Infinty marine 6.5's.