sly_karma
Crew Member
The best two-battery setup is to have one Starting battery and one House battery. Starting batteries are built to deliver short bursts of high power and then be recharged immediately afterward. The house battery delivers power to all other non-engine loads like radio, sounder, GPS, stereo, downriggers, lights, bait circ pumps, fridge, phone chargers, washdown pump, etc. Best to use a deep cycle for this application as they are designed to deliver steady power over longer periods of time and can handle being drawn down to low capacity before needing charging.
So you wire main engine and kicker to the Starting battery (1) and all other loads to the House (2). The battery switch would then operate as follows:
Really need to isolate that starting battery so all it does is start engines. Even if you don't go the ACR route you should wire the engines so they both start from the same starting battery and all house loads come from a deep cycle.
So you wire main engine and kicker to the Starting battery (1) and all other loads to the House (2). The battery switch would then operate as follows:
- starting main: position 1
- running to fishing location: 1+2 (so both batteries are charging)
- starting kicker: 1
- trolling on kicker, using downriggers etc: 2
- starting main: 1
- returning to port: 1+2
- end of boating day: OFF
Really need to isolate that starting battery so all it does is start engines. Even if you don't go the ACR route you should wire the engines so they both start from the same starting battery and all house loads come from a deep cycle.