We have a 22 ft seafox bay boat that has 2 bilge pumps, one configured to be run from the switch panel as well as controlled by a float switch, the other is controlled by an ultima SPX switch only. Until recently the boat had 2 battery banks controlled by a 1, 2, and both battery switch. Both batteries were cranking batteries. The float and ultima switch were wired directly to the battery on bank #2. The panel switch was connected to whichever battery was switched on.
Fast forward past a dead battery while fishing one day, we replaced both batteries with one cranking and one deep cycle, we separated the motor and house circuits and replaced the battery switch with an on, off, and combine switch that energizes both circuits separately and at the same time. We connected the float and ultima switches to the deep cycle house battery.
After thinking about where the auto switches are connected, is this the proper configuration? Should the switches be connected to different banks instead? The boat is normally on its trailer, but once a year we leave it in the water for a week. I’m thinking the worse case scenario with 2 pumps on one battery would kill the battery sooner than if they were on separate batteries.
We do not recommend a deep cycle battery as a house battery. I assume you will be using the engine charging system to charge the house battery. the charge rate of todays motors is much higher than a standard lead acid deep cycle battery needs for optimum longevity. also, instead of a long slow steady charge like overnight on a 10 amp charger, you will be dumping 30-40 amps everytime you crank the engine.
We install 2 identical cranking batteries.
we run everything except the automatic float switch from the common on the 1-2-all-off style of battery selector switch.
we run the float switch directly to the #1 battery.
in the case of 2 float switches, I would still run them both to the same battery.
2 pumps will kill 1 battery faster than 2 separate batteries, but you would be able to crank the motor from the other battery and charge faster than the pumps would draw.
The key to a 2 bank system… DONT RUN WITH YOUR SWITCH ON ALL… if you do that, you do not have a 2 bank system, you only have a larger single bank.
it sounds to me that it was wired properly from the factory, you may have just not been using the way it was designed to function
Our batteries were getting old (2012). We always charged them overnight prior to use and overnight after use before putting the boat away. We’d only use one battery every trip, never run on both. The time one of the batterydied was the first time that had happened, we weren’t doing anything different then we had the previous times. I always thought if you run a cranking battery down too much you’d shorten the life of it, which was probably the case here.
When our battery died it was unexpected and left me thinking of how to charge both while underway. Which lead to the circuit separation that took advantage of the yamaha auxiliary charging system per this thread from a while ago: http://old.charlestonfishing.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=106163 . We ran the isolator lead from the motor and attached it through a fuse to the house side battery. We’ll see how the deep cycle battery last in the configuration, if it is not as long as the original cranking battery, we’ll replace it with one then.
I’ll keep the 2 bilge pumps connected to the house side per the original set up and not split them between banks. Thanks for the input from now and from a while ago.
I must apologize for providing bad info.
after more research, the Yamaha charging system does NOT split the charge.
It WILL ALWAYS charge the primary battery first, and when it senses the primary is fully charged, it will then send the charge to the secondary.
I was mistaken in how that system was designed to function.