DC Battery Rig

[mtompson]

Originally Posted by Salty Skipper

SIMPLE.... combine ALL batteries, one bank, one charging wire! keep one gp 24 aside for starting..(if your not lazy).if ever needed! Or, buy an expensive battery combiner, and endure the hook-up wiring involved! In my opinion, battery combiners were made for a market of insecure and paranoid boat owners! Overkill to say the least!

Lol you may well be right Salty Skipper! But I don't mind all the fuss, I'm trying to get it as simple as I can, or as simple as I understand! but I don't fancy keeping batteries to one side. I'm not lazy when it comes to working on the boat, but I like to relax when I'm out on it...

[mtompson]

Ok, BMV-602S hook up.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by Salty Skipper

SIMPLE.... combine ALL batteries, one bank, one charging wire! keep one gp 24 aside for starting..(if your not lazy).if ever needed! Or, buy an expensive battery combiner, and endure the hook-up wiring involved! In my opinion, battery combiners were made for a market of insecure and paranoid boat owners! Overkill to say the least!

That group 24 for starting needs charging. That is what the combiner or Echo Charge is for. It eliminates the manual switching for charging and the possible error of draining all batteries on the hook.

Endure? Combiners or Echo Chargers only use 3 wires for hookup so there isn't much to endure.

[mtompson]

Not sure about this one, I've made my pos bar smaller, and gone down to a 5191 on the start batt. Have I ended up with too many connections hanging off my pos posts? They are the smaller echo leads & battery monitor leads.

[RainDog]

Thanks for all the diagrams. I am about to rewire my whole system to almost the exact same design. Once you are done I will just use your diagram. Only difference I can see is I will not use the three on/off switches, but the rest seems to be exactly what I had planned.

[mtompson]

Thanks RainDog, its nice to know they may be of some use to other people. I'm in no way an expert, and have come here to tap into some of the years of experience. So far its been really helping me grasp some of the core basics ( I think its easy to skim over these ).

I kind of like the three switch method but I'm not decided yet, I need more time to think that one over.

[banjoship]

Originally Posted by mtompson

Not sure about this one, I've made my pos bar smaller, and gone down to a 5191 on the start batt. Have I ended up with too many connections hanging off my pos posts? They are the smaller echo leads & battery monitor leads.

Nice diagrams. What software are you using to create them?

Lee

[mtompson]

Unfortunately not some nice circuit diagram app, I'm just using photoshop.

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by mtompson

Thanks RainDog, its nice to know they may be of some use to other people. I'm in no way an expert, and have come here to tap into some of the years of experience. So far its been really helping me grasp some of the core basics ( I think its easy to skim over these ).

I kind of like the three switch method but I'm not decided yet, I need more time to think that one over.

Three switch method is a good one, I have just already bought all the hardware for this project, so have already bought another switch to use. I am replacing my factory 1-2-all switch with an on-off-combine switch, which basically does the same thing.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by RainDog

I am replacing my factory 1-2-all switch with an on-off-combine switch, which basically does the same thing.

WADR, it absolutely, definitely does not. You might want to reconsider after reading this:

AGM Battery Issues and the Blue Seas Dual Circuit Switch (from Maine Sail) "DARN AGM Batteries"
Darn AGM Batteries - SailboatOwners.com

[mitiempo]

I agree with Stu. The on/off combine switch leaves you no option except combining a bad battery with a good battery when the start battery is dead. It was designed for a small boat like a fishing boat with 2 equal size batteries.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by mtompson

Have I ended up with too many connections hanging off my pos posts? They are the smaller echo leads & battery monitor leads.

I think so. I try and keep the wires on the battery banks to a minimum, usually only the main leads and temp sensors. I would suggest a positive bus for each bank. You could use a powerpost like the one shown below for the start battery and there is no reason why the monitor shunt positive and Echo wire cannot be connected to the bus shown for the house bank.

[mtompson]

Great, thanks for that Mitiempo, I'll have a go later on.

[mtompson]

Latest version, using two pos bus bars.

[mitiempo]

Looks good to me.