Battery for stereo

[Bayou Dave]

I want to run my stereo off of a seperate battery instead of the cranking battery. Should I not be concerned with cranking amps and look at reserve capacity only?
What about using a power cell? I know nothing about power cells except they are a lot cheaper than a standard marine battery. Any info or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.. Dave

 

[Scott Danforth]

I would set your boat up with a battery switch, keep the cranking battery separate than the house loads (stereo, depth finder, courtesy lights, blender, etc.)

 

[Bayou Dave]

I would set your boat up with a battery switch, keep the cranking battery separate than the house loads (stereo, depth finder, courtesy lights, blender, etc.)

I was pretty much thinking of only having a battery for the stereo. Not really concerned with charging it off of the engine. Just manually charge it when it gets low. Was hoping somone had some experience with a power cell or a recommendation of type of battery that will last with only manual charging.

 

[bruceb58]

Put in an ACR and it will charge back up when the engine is running.

 

[Bayou Dave]

Put in an ACR and it will charge back up when the engine is running.

A battery swirch is good for certain applications. I am really only interested in a 2nd battery or power cell that I can charge manually when necessary. Just not sure which type of battery to look for and I know zero about power cells.

 

[bruceb58]

A battery swirch is good for certain applications. I am really only interested in a 2nd battery or power cell that I can charge manually when necessary. Just not sure which type of battery to look for and I know zero about power cells.

An ACR is not a switch.

If you charge your battery manually, you better do it daily or it won't last very long.

 

[Bonus Check]

I want to run my stereo off of a seperate battery instead of the cranking battery. Should I not be concerned with cranking amps and look at reserve capacity only?
What about using a power cell? I know nothing about power cells except they are a lot cheaper than a standard marine battery. Any info or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.. Dave

I did exactly what you want to do last winter. The cranking battery in my boat was a 7 year old Interstate Marine battery. I was installing a new 400 watt amplifier with new speakers to my existing stereo. I was afraid of using the stereo at the sandbar for long periods of time as I didn't want to get stranded up the proverbial river and have to use the paddle.

I relocated the 7 year old battery to the port side of the engine and ran new #4 power and ground wires to a power distribution block under the passenger dash which is where the amp is mounted. I hook the charger up each time that I come in and charge the ole Interstate battery up. So far it has only gone down to 88% when used all day. I purchased a new Advance Auto starting battery which was a group 27 battery for $65 with discount codes.

No I don't have to worry about the stereo and amp using up my starting battery. If you are going to purchase a new battery for the stereo, I would get the same size battery as your starting battery as you will always have a backup battery with you. Carry Jumper cables as you can jump yourself with it as well.

 

[Bayou Dave]

I did exactly what you want to do last winter. The cranking battery in my boat was a 7 year old Interstate Marine battery. I was installing a new 400 watt amplifier with new speakers to my existing stereo. I was afraid of using the stereo at the sandbar for long periods of time as I didn't want to get stranded up the proverbial river and have to use the paddle.

I relocated the 7 year old battery to the port side of the engine and ran new #4 power and ground wires to a power distribution block under the passenger dash which is where the amp is mounted. I hook the charger up each time that I come in and charge the ole Interstate battery up. So far it has only gone down to 88% when used all day. I purchased a new Advance Auto starting battery which was a group 27 battery for $65 with discount codes.

No I don't have to worry about the stereo and amp using up my starting battery. If you are going to purchase a new battery for the stereo, I would get the same size battery as your starting battery as you will always have a backup battery with you. Carry Jumper cables as you can jump yourself with it as well.

I won't need another starting battery as I always carry a fully charged 5 in 1 power pack with me. Luckily, I have only had to use it once to jump start the motor.
How much reserve capacity does the Interstate have? Or does reserve capacity even come into play?. Did you investigate power cells? I am planning on putting a battery in the storage area beneath one of the seats. Then just run the stero pos and neg wires to it. I don't have an amp so just the stereo with 4 speakers shouldn't drain the battery much for the 4 or 5 hours I will have it on.

 

[Bonus Check]

I won't need another starting battery as I always carry a fully charged 5 in 1 power pack with me. Luckily, I have only had to use it once to jump start the motor.
How much reserve capacity does the Interstate have? Or does reserve capacity even come into play?. Did you investigate power cells? I am planning on putting a battery in the storage area beneath one of the seats. Then just run the stero pos and neg wires to it. I don't have an amp so just the stereo with 4 speakers shouldn't drain the battery much for the 4 or 5 hours I will have it on.

We are generally on the river for about 6-7 hours but not all that time is spent with the stereo playing. I have 2 speakers in the boat and 2 bazooka Tubes on the wake tower with the 400 W amp. Like I said previously we have only used about 12% of the Interstate HOUSE battery when we go out. I just put it on charge this morning and it has been about a month since we last carried the boat to the river. It was showing 88% on the charge that was in the battery. It is a 27M battery with about 180 RCA and is 7 years old.

I did not investigate power cells as I was going to get a new Starting battery since my Interstate battery was 7 years old. I just thought I might as well use the interstate battery since I already have it. I have now gotten another year out of it and it is still going strong. I feel better with a new battery for my starting battery. I have a MotorCraft Battery in my Ferguson tractor that is 11 years old and still cranks that Perkins engine on the first try. I try to top all my lower use batteries in my boat, tractor, Harley with a low 3A charge ever so often and I keep my Boat batteries inside during the winter.

If you put a new battery under the seat and run the + & - wires to the Stereo, I would recommend that you strap the battery down, use an inline fuse as well as a power distribution block, You can always add other electrical items to the block without possibly getting interference over the radio.

Here is a link to the Interstate Batteries

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/content/product_info/marine_f.asp

 

[bruceb58]

Did you investigate power cells?

I am curious what you mean by power cell.

Aa far as the jump packs go, if you really want to see if they would work jumping a completely dead battery, disconnect your battery and try to start the motor only off the jump pack. If you can't, don't count on it to always start your motor. That's why you want a REAL second battery.

 

[Bayou Dave]

Sounds like a real new marine starting battery is my best bet. Not much difference in price versus a power cell. I did intend on using a battery case and strapping it down. From the little I have read about them it seems like a power cell is used by auto enthusiastics to run a stereo seperated from the starting battery.
Would an inline fuse be necessary whaeras the stero has a 10 amp fuse already installed?

 

[bruceb58]

In my pontoon, I have a starting battery, that is devoted to the motor only, and a marine combo battery that is hooked to everything else. That combo battery does have a 30A breaker directly off of it. You need that close to the battery as you need protection for the wire that eventually goes to your stereo. The size of that breaker/fuse depends on your wire size.

You don't want to run the stereo off a starting battery if you plan on discharging it much. Just buy a combo battery.

My bet is that stereo people call separate batteries power cells.

 

[Bayou Dave]

In my pontoon, I have a starting battery, that is devoted to the motor only, and a marine combo battery that is hooked to everything else. That combo battery does have a 30A breaker directly off of it. You need that close to the battery as you need protection for the wire that eventually goes to your stereo. The size of that breaker/fuse depends on your wire size.

You don't want to run the stereo off a starting battery if you plan on discharging it much. Just buy a combo battery.

My bet is that stereo people call separate batteries power cells.

When you say "combo battery" are you talking about a dual purpose one? Would a deep cycle one be better or worse? The wire size will be probably 14 or 16-18.
I need to actually check the wire size on the stereo. Where the stereo has a 10 amp fuse built in should I use a seperatre in-line fuse the same size?

You are probably right about a power cell just being different terminology for a seperate battery.

 

[Bonus Check]

I am curious what you mean by power cell.

Power Cell: Marketing Hype for an Energy Source AKA Battery; Marketing terminology for newer more modern batteries from AGMs to Lithium Ions. ​

I would go with a Deep Cycle battery of some sorts whether a pure deep Cycle or a Combo DC/Starting battery as you will discharge the battery deeper than you normally would when running the stereo and charging it at home.

Don't overthink this. Get a combo battery in the size of the battery that you have to start your boat. You never know when you might need it to start your boat even if you have a 5n1 jumper. Like I said, I paid $65 at Advance Auto for a Group 27 battery and put my 7 year old battery in as my house battery.

I would not use a # 14 wire as my power source wire. I would go with a #4 wire to a power block from the battery and then you can use #14 from the power block.

 

[bruceb58]

When you say "combo battery" are you talking about a dual purpose one?

For example, the deep discharge battery at Costco is more of a combo battery,

A fuse needs to be at the battery and the size will depend on your wire size.

#4 wire is kinda overdoing it. A 10 gauge wire will supply 30A which is more than enough to power anything on a pontoon except a trolling motor.

 

[Bayou Dave]

I am a little confused about wire size. The wire at the stereo is either 14 or 16-18. Pretty sure it is 14. It has to be spliced in with longer wire to make it to the battery. Would splicing a 10 or lower gauge wire to the existing stereo wires accomplish the task?

 

[bruceb58]

On my boat, I run a 10 gauge wire to a fuse box and then the stereo has a 16 gauge wire that goes to it.

I would put a fuse box or a bus bar up a your helm where your stereo is. That way, you don't have splices and can add more items later. If you do a bus bar, you will ave an inline fuse from it to the stereo.

 

[Bonus Check]

I'm sorry I didn't use #4, I used #8 wire as I ran about 17 feet by the time I routed it from the engine compartment to the power distribution block. I ordered it online but no sure if iBoats sells any or not. I prefer to run a heavier wire so that a lose in voltage is not the problem but then again you're not running to an amplifier either. I would run the power to a power block, bus bar with a heavier wire and then hook the stereo up to the distribution block. You may for some reason or another need to hook something else up to the power block one day. Maybe an amplifier or maybe some lights.

 

[bruceb58]

For wire and cables, this place has the best prices:
https://www.genuinedealz.com/

 

[Bayou Dave]

Thanks Bruce and Bonus. Now I totally understand the process. It's just like running receptacle or light switch wire in a house to the breaker panel. I will probably go the bus bar route.