Added a second battery and a few other goodies

[pchansen]

I got around to installing a second battery this week. I installed a group 29 house battery. I also installed a Blue Sea Add-A-Battery ACR (automatic charging relay). I wanted to separate out essential items from house loads-completely. On the Start battery, I have the the original 12+ primary lead and a new 12 gauge wire that runs up to the helm and now supplies power to the ignition system that was originally connected to spot #2 on the main fuse block. The reason I did this was because of the way the boat was wired originally. The main lead goes to the to the starter motor and then via an 8 gauge wire (red/violet) up to the fuse panel. Because of this, you can't separate out the start circuit from the rest of the boat. Just aft of the engine, I cut that main wire (red/violet) as it leads away from the engine on it's way to the helm. I then spliced it and ran it to the switched side of the house battery. If you look closely, you can see that I've added a 30 amp fuse to the switched side of the house battery. It's located right on the switch and has a little red cap on the terminal. This means the fuse block, with the exception of the ignition circuit is now powered by the house battery. The stereo is wired to the hot side of the house battery so I won't lose the presets. I can disconnect the house battery, have the entire boat dark, and start the engine.
Other items wired directly to the start battery (hot), which I consider essential are the bilge pump, Mercathode, and the trim motor.
The house battery has a 12v accessory (cigarette) receptacle wired directly to the battery (hot). The plug is located on top of the aft bench seat and is now used not only as a power point from which I can power my air pump for toys, but it is also my trickle charger receptacle. I also installed a remote trim switch by the walkway. Because of the tight access parking this boat in my garage, I wanted to be able to move the lower unit while standing on the ground. This is also why the trim wire is wired directly to the battery. The switch can be off and I can still operate the trim. I've added a few more photos to my MobileMe gallery and can be accessed here:http://gallery.me.com/pchansen#100041&view=null&bgcolor=black&sel=13

A note about the ACR install: The wiring diagram calls for the positive leads going to the ACR to be fused. Upon consulting with Blue Sea's tech folks, they admitted that the fuses are not necessary if your wire runs are short. As you can see, mine are very short. Also, running 4 gauge wire to the ACR if a little over-kill but it's what I had on hand.

 

[surfinjoe]

Nice work indeed! It looks like you have some sort of plug for the ACR. Is that part of the system? I have an onboard dual battary charger and I am tired of the 'extension chord' hanging out of the battery area. It would be nice to have a clean hook-up for charging.

Another question I have is how does your boat trailer with the shorter tongue on the trailer?

 

[pchansen]

I believe you're referring to the cigarette adapter I wired onto the Battery tender. Check here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NHZV72/ref=oss_product
It's a tight fit to get the battery tender wires to fit into the receptacle but it does fit. The charger is wired (via the adapter) to the house battery directly. Once the house battery voltage is above about 12.5, the ACR automatically connects the two batteries. This way my starter battery will also get charged. Also, you might be looking at the ground wire for the ACR. It's a fused link to the grounding lug. The guys at Blue Sea wanted that wire fused though I've never fused a ground wire before. Oh well.
As far as how the boat trailer handles, my only experience so far is towing home from the dealership. It seemed to work just fine. I did find out that my surge brakes are non functional. I've been working on that today. The master cylinder was all gummed up so I took it apart and cleaned it up. I'm in the process of bleeding the brakes and that's going very slowly. My brake bleeder is leaking. Should be fine by the end of the weekend. I hope to have the boat out sometime in the next month or so. Still pretty wintery though.

 

[2000SEARAY280SS]

Nice install. The ACR from Blue sea is an excellent choice for adding a battery or replacing a battery isolator. Adding the ignition lock out wire works great for electronics sensitive to low voltage surges.

 

[skibum]

Also, you might be looking at the ground wire for the ACR. It's a fused link to the grounding lug. The guys at Blue Sea wanted that wire fused though I've never fused a ground wire before.

It sounds like the ACR has the possibility of failing in such a manner that one or both of the batteries positive lead(s) could end up getting shorted to ground inside of the ACR.

They probably insisted that you fuse the ground wire because you indicated to them that you were considering not putting fuses on the positive leads.

If you dont' fuse the negative side of the ACR, an internal failure shorting one of those hot leads to ground would make an unfused loop from the battery through the already melted ACR to the main ground bus. Something will have to burn up or melt away to stop the current flow.

By adding a fuse to the negative lead, you prevent the fire that happens when the ACR melts down and turns your negative lead into an extension of your positive lead. :thumbsup:

Edit: Nice job. You do good looking work.

 

[pchansen]

Thanks for the kind words, all. Skibum, I never thought out the failure mode you describe, but you're absolutely right. I'm glad I fused the ground wire. Also, I added the starter lock-out function today. And.. I now have trailer brakes..and Spring is one day closer!

 

[surfinjoe]

I believe you're referring to the cigarette adapter I wired onto the Battery tender. Check here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NHZV72/ref=oss_product
It's a tight fit to get the battery tender wires to fit into the receptacle but it does fit. The charger is wired (via the adapter) to the house battery directly. Once the house battery voltage is above about 12.5, the ACR automatically connects the two batteries. This way my starter battery will also get charged. Also, you might be looking at the ground wire for the ACR. It's a fused link to the grounding lug. The guys at Blue Sea wanted that wire fused though I've never fused a ground wire before. Oh well.
As far as how the boat trailer handles, my only experience so far is towing home from the dealership. It seemed to work just fine. I did find out that my surge brakes are non functional. I've been working on that today. The master cylinder was all gummed up so I took it apart and cleaned it up. I'm in the process of bleeding the brakes and that's going very slowly. My brake bleeder is leaking. Should be fine by the end of the weekend. I hope to have the boat out sometime in the next month or so. Still pretty wintery though.

That sucks about your surge brakes. I am kind of surprised that they are already all gummed-up. Did that happen when they shortened the toungue?

 

[Bama Boater]

I believe you're referring to the cigarette adapter I wired onto the Battery tender. Check here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NHZV72/ref=oss_product
It's a tight fit to get the battery tender wires to fit into the receptacle but it does fit. The charger is wired (via the adapter) to the house battery directly. Once the house battery voltage is above about 12.5, the ACR automatically connects the two batteries. This way my starter battery will also get charged. Also, you might be looking at the ground wire for the ACR. It's a fused link to the grounding lug. The guys at Blue Sea wanted that wire fused though I've never fused a ground wire before. Oh well.
As far as how the boat trailer handles, my only experience so far is towing home from the dealership. It seemed to work just fine. I did find out that my surge brakes are non functional. I've been working on that today. The master cylinder was all gummed up so I took it apart and cleaned it up. I'm in the process of bleeding the brakes and that's going very slowly. My brake bleeder is leaking. Should be fine by the end of the weekend. I hope to have the boat out sometime in the next month or so. Still pretty wintery though.

Nice install.

To keep my surge brakes working as advertised, I intentionally stop a little quicker first cpl stops of the day just to keep em honest.

How does your poor little JD handle pulling the boat out of the garage?

 

[wish2fish]

What did you cut the opening for the switch with?

 

[pchansen]

What did you cut the opening for the switch with?

A RotoZip with a hole cutter attachment. It turns the RotoZip into a compass where you drill a 1/4" pilot hole in the center, then adjust for the radius of the hole and trace the RotoZip around in a circle.

Also, regarding the trailer. The more I look at the trailer the more questions I have. Again, this boat was a repo out of SoCal and is in perfect shape with what looks to be zero salt water use. The trailer however looks to have been in salt water. There are large amounts of corrosion that have been painted over and are now bubbling- mostly on the fenders. The trailer is constructed out of C-channel steel which means I've been able to inspect every square for corrosion. The frame is sound. I don't know why it was in such rough shape. As far as the brakes go, I'm not sure why there was so much gunk in the master cylinder. Maybe water? Anyway, it's now clean and working like it should now. BTW, the trailer has a manufacture date on it that corresponds to the boat so I don't know that gives.

Regarding the John Deere- I swear that thing would pull my house off it's foundation if I let it. It's one stout piece of machinery. I looks like the Home Depot version but it's far from it. Check it out http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductC....ProdCatProduct?pNbr=SKU21857&tM=HO&link=enav