Dual Battery Help..........

[diving_guy]

Hello all,

I have a 97 Mercury Force and I am trying to wire it up for a dual battery setup to allow me to run some small accessories without worry of draining the battery to fire off the engine. I have wired in a 2 position switch along with one deep cycle (for the acc) and one starting (for the obvious) and now the radio and other accessories will not work with out the switch set to the deep cycle battery.......I am guessing I may need to change some wiring at the engine but I am not sure. Please help.

Thanks,

Justin

 

[bruceb58]

draw a diagram of how you wired it and post it.

Post some pictures too.

What switch are you using?

 

[NYBo]

Welcome to iboats!:welcome:

A battery switch is wired so you can choose which battery powers the boat, except for devices wired directly to one battery or the other. For example, many people connect the bilge pump directly to one battery to prevent accidentally turning off the power to it with the battery switch. Otherwise, all loads from the boat are attached to the common terminal on the switch. If you simply want two separate systems, no battery switch is required at all. You could use an ACR (automatic charging relay) to keep both batteries charged. However, I don't think your outboard puts out a lot of juice.