Best wiring layout for a 2520 w/ twins

[panga]

I am looking at adding a battery and possibly reconfiguring the wiring layout of my parker and looking for advice on the best wiring method, for safety as main concern. Boat is a 2520 with twin yami150 four strokes, I currently have two batteries at the transom, with a battery selector switch wired in two the leads to each battery, acting as a shut off switch for each battery. All electronics are running off one battery, with another battery selector switch mounted in the cabin shutting off power to the electronics, this switch only kills power to electronics, because their is only power coming from one rear battery. The rear batteries are wired to each engine separately, one battery for each motor, with the electronics drawing from one battery.

This doesn't seem like the best setup to me, mainly because if I lost charging capability from one motor off shore, I would then lose complete starting power to that motor, and I could lose electronics. I would like to add a third battery for safety, it would be nice when off shore to have the electronics not draining the starting batteries, but all charging all the time. i am no expert, and am looking for advice here as far as the best, most reliable safe wiring layout.

Thanks

 

[DaleH]

IMHO you may not need another battery at all, but sure sounds like you could get benefit from a battery management cluster, see:

http://www.bepmarine.com/home-mainmenu- ... ers-manual

They make special clusters for single or dual OBs, with 2 or more batteries. Most I know take this route as the charging intelligence is built-in to the cluster. And all have 'emergency configs' to put the power where needed.

 

[wyrtyr2]

For my 2530, I have 2 start batts and 2 house batts(group 30's). Each bank is charge controlled with a Blue Seas automatic charge controller(ACR). These ACR's manage charging from either engine or dockside and prevent discharge to opposite batt bank. Very slick, redundant, and foolproof.

 

[wyrtyr2]

Sorry for my clumsy image posting--still figuring this out. Here is the photo of the engine batt. layout

 

[panga]

Cool, thanks for the pics, does anyone have a wiring diagram for three batteries with twin outboards, two starting bats, one house bat, where shut off and selector switches should go etc?

Thanks

 

[DaleH]

Cool, thanks for the pics, does anyone have a wiring diagram for three batteries with twin outboards, two starting bats, one house bat, where shut off and selector switches should go etc?

That BEP product I linked is just one example ... they can make a cluster specific to YOUR config ! You can buy separate Blue Seas products, like posted, that will accomplish the same thing, but the intent of the cluster integrates all of them and make using them soooooooooo much simpler, i.e., when switching between various needs.

 

[TopShot25]

You ask “What is the best wiring layout for a 2520 w/twins”, well first you should figure out what your needs are. Since everybody has different boats and priorities I’m not sure there is a best. Take a little time and figure it out before you start.

If you do only day trips one house battery is fine. I boat on the west coast and we run our bait pumps and electronics all night and if you do overnight trips here you would probably do much better with a two battery house bank. Deep discharging (past 50% of battery capacity) will take its toll on any battery. If you want batteries to last for years and I mean more then 5 or 6, you need to take care of them and set your system up right. You’re on the right track and I've heard some good things about those clusters to simplify an electrical system.

As to your set-up now, I have twin F-150’s also and I have two, 1-both-2 battery switches. Each is wired to both batteries. If I turn one (Starboard) to battery 1 and the other (Port) to battery 2 they both start and charge on that battery. I could at any time use it the opposite (Starboard) battery 2 and (Port) on battery 1, or both to connect them in parallel.