Battery Switch

[zwseemm]

I purchased a battery switch for my (2) 12 volts. I have a 60 volt electric outboard so the batteries are only for the trolling motor and the other electronics. I am going to hook the 2 negatives together and run all the grounds from the electronics to one of the batteries ground. For the postive side should I hook all of them to the common on the switch or should I put some other sort of electrical block connected to the common of the switch and then connect the electronics to it. Any suggestions or pictures would be apprecitated.

 

[KRS62]

So, you plan on hooking your batteries up in parallel then? Once you do that, basically you have one 12v battery with double the capacity. Another words, you would wire up your boat then as if you had one battery. (Hook items up to the terminals of only one of batteries.) I think most would highly recommend some sort of distribution block (at least for your electronics.) It all depends on how many things you plan on hooking up.

Scan through this forum, there are quite a few wiring diagrams floating around here.

KRS

 

[russ010]

I know Poolie installed a battery selector on his boat.. you might look through his mod on the Boat Modification page and see if he showed how he did it.

I didn't use a selector switch when I ran my batteries in parallel (pos to pos, neg to net). I used both batteries for whatever electronics I had, and use it the same way - pos to pos, neg to neg.

 

[zwseemm]

Thanks for the info. I am going to put in a block to make it easier to remove wires if need be. I got the switch because I have been fishing in tournaments and I want to keep the batteries seperate so I know how much life I have left in them.

 

[bcbouy]

i am planning on paralleling my batteries also. my question is,when recharging them,do you attach the charger cables to just one battery at a time or to one batt. neg and the others pos ?

 

[screwballl]

60 Volt or 60 pound thrust? You will need 5 batteries @12V each for 60 Volt. You cannot run a 60V motor off 24V.
Now if you mean 24V 60lb, then yes 2 batteries, POS to NEG like the above diagram is needed.

Some systems have a different wiring setup with 3 wires instead of 2 or 4.

 

[zwseemm]

The 60 volt is a seperate system. It is 10 6 volt golf cart batteries and a Ray Electric Outboard. I was looking for suggestions on the 12 volt switch with 2 batteries. My biggest question was whether or not to use a block outside the switch to connect the positives from the 12 volt accessories to. I decided to get a block to make life easier.

 

[MrSimon]

i am planning on paralleling my batteries also. my question is,when recharging them,do you attach the charger cables to just one battery at a time or to one batt. neg and the others pos ?

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I was searching out an answer to this exact question. I will be using two batteries hooked up in parallel, and I have a small single battery charger. How do I hook it up?

 

[redbug]

i am planning on paralleling my batteries also. my question is,when recharging them,do you attach the charger cables to just one battery at a time or to one batt. neg and the others pos ?

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I was searching out an answer to this exact question. I will be using two batteries hooked up in parallel, and I have a small single battery charger. How do I hook it up?

You will need to charge each battery separately and disconnect them while doing it. you might want to get a 2 bank charger down the road

 

[zwseemm]

You can charge them both at once. If you use 2 chargers you will need to disconnect the batteries from each other every time.

https://www.gearseds.com/files/twobat_onechgr2.pdf

 

[SkagBass]

If you run your two 12v batteries in parallel (doubling capacity) you will not need to worry about monitoring them during a tournament. I use two of the small cabelas 12v this way and can run, livewell, sonar, Iphone charger for a full tournament day had have both batteries down to 60% at the end of the day. I have a 24v trolling motor on a separate system.

With this 12v system, I went from the batteries (in parallel) to a distribution block then out to a separate toggle switch with fuse for each device connected.

 

[redbug]

You can charge them both at once. If you use 2 chargers you will need to disconnect the batteries from each other every time.

https://www.gearseds.com/files/twobat_onechgr2.pdf

that will shorten battery life

 

[zwseemm]

Anytime you connect 2 batteries together in parallel you risk shortening the battery life. If one is weaker the other will attemp to charge it. Charging them together or seperate wont change that. If you charge tem with 2 chargers you will have to disconnet the batteries from each other.