to bi-pass battery switch or not ?

[KEVIN D TOBIN]

I am rewiring my bilge and I have a couple of electrical drawings, one showing wires going directly to the converter and the other showing the wires going to the battery switch first, so which one is correct ?

 

[Wylie_Tunes]

IMO, an auto bilge should be wired to the battery side of a switch, so its always got voltage.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Pump1 directly to battery1 , pump 2 direct to battery 2
Given your size boat anyway

 

[Chris-380]

Thinking outloud here, they can go to the "line" terminals on the battery switch and be electrically the same as going to the battery. bilge pumps (floats) should def be powered all the time.

 

[JimG]

The OP is talking about the converter/charger... Myself, I would want it tied directly to the battery so it would charge with the switches off.

 

[ColoSR]

It would be safer to wire through the main switch, otherwise you and the wife have to remember to isolate both 12V and 120V circuits when working on the fridge or in the event of emergency. You could put secondary switches downstream if you want to keep the chargers live but isolate the rest of the boat.

 

[KEVIN D TOBIN]

The OP is talking about the converter/charger... Myself, I would want it tied directly to the battery so it would charge with the switches off.

yes< that is exactly what I was talking about, but I seem to remember reading that you want to be able to turn everything off when switching over to shore power

 

[JimG]

yes< that is exactly what I was talking about, but I seem to remember reading that you want to be able to turn everything off when switching over to shore power

The converter won't run until you're on shore power and the batteries will not back feed into it.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Best practice... charger leads should go directly to the battery as mentioned above. You WANT the charger to be able to charge the batteries even if the battery switch is off. Second best is to hook the charger leads to the battery side (line) posts at the battery switch. Either one will work very well (assuming good battery cables), but if you're asking which is "best" then direct to the battery.