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From: H. Russ Hughes (no email)
Date: Mon Dec 01 2003 - 16:15:43 EST
Reference: Battery charging options among other things.
There are many possible ways to wire a boat electrical system. My engine room
is a little distance from the pilot house. I wanted to be able to switch the
house loads from one bank of batteries to the other bank, or maybe to both
banks of batteries, when anchored, or where shore power was not available. At
the same time I did not want to run the large sized leads that normally run
from the battery to the starter motor, all the way from the batteries in the
engine room to the pilot house, where I wanted the battery selector switch to
be located, and then all the way back to the engine room and to the
engine.This would require 15 to 20 feet of battery cable for the starter
motor.
What I did was to install two starter solenoid switches in the 12 volt
distribution box in the engine room close to the batteries and starter motor.
I can select either one, or both of these solenoid switches from a control
switch on the boats steering consol to start the engine from. The output sides
of these solenoid switches are connected together and then go to the starter
motor. With this configuration, it doesn't make any difference which position
the battery selector switch is in, to determine which battery bank the engine
will start from. With the house supply battery bank switch in both banks, the
engine will still start from both banks regardless of where the solenoid
selector starting switch is positioned. It all depends on how you decide to
position the switches.
Additional leads from the two battery banks also go through circuit breakers
and on to the pilot house battery selector switch. These battery leads via the
battery selector switch in the pilot house power only the rest of the boats
house electrical system, and normally carry none of the starting current.
These leads, by the way, are way oversized for the current they have to carry
to reduce voltage drop. With everything possible turned on, the house load is
70 amperes, far less than the engines starting current. Except when over
nighting, or week ending away from shore power, both the battery selector
switch and the engine starting selector switch are left in the "both" position
most of the time. This is primarily so the single battery charger, and the
single engines alternator can charge both battery banks at the same time.
As an added precaution, both battery banks have their negative ground
connection return to a common ground. This common ground lead also has a high
current switch installed so that by being able to turn but one switch, all
battery power can be disconnected in an emergency such as an electrical fire,
or for testing purposes.
Does all this manual control imply that a fully automatic electrical control
system, combiners, isolators, etc, should not be used? No it doesn't. It was
just the way I chose to wire the boat to meet my particular needs. Some people
just do not want to have to mess around with turning switches, or having to
remember to do so. Others, possibly like me, like to feel that we have some
personal control over the boat's electrical system and do not want to
delegate it to an automatic device, the workings of which we might know
little, or nothing about it, should it decide to go belly up.
Russ Hughes
Slo-N-Easy
Richland, Wa.
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