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Blue Sea Systems Add-A-Battery Setup Questions


Moondawg101

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We are trying to setup a dual battery with onboard charger in our '05 VLX.  I am the electrical person in our household.  I think I have it mostly figured out but just want to be sure of a couple things before I go cutting any wires.  I am using the Blue Sea Systems Add-a-Battery Kit with the ACR.  My question is: the positive and negative cables that come from the engine to the terminals on the starting battery, do I cut the ends off of those and attach round terminal ends that attach on the switch and negative terminal buss bar?  I have the Optima battery that has the big terminal connections and the screw type connections.

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Don't cut anything.  If the batteries have threaded posts, use those to connect the switch or ACR to the starter battery or drill out the lugs.

You'll love the ACR.  I use one without a switch in two boats.  Never had a problem.

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11 hours ago, minnmarker said:

Don't cut anything.  If the batteries have threaded posts, use those to connect the switch or ACR to the starter battery or drill out the lugs.

You'll love the ACR.  I use one without a switch in two boats.  Never had a problem.

So I just leave the cables from the engine connected as is to the battery top posts and connect the switch and ACR to the threaded posts???

Screenshot_20200516-191419_Gallery.jpg

Edited by Moondawg101
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Yep. Simple and works well. 

Remember to route ALL negatives in the sound system back to the same single point ground, not just to the buss bar or random ground.

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18 minutes ago, minnmarker said:

Yep. Simple and works well. 

Remember to route ALL negatives in the sound system back to the same single point ground, not just to the buss bar or random ground.

Not following on the ground.  Sorry, usually I am really good with electrical but this whole setup just isn't clicking with me for some reason.

So you are saying to eliminate the lines in yellow, go direct from engine to battery (red and black lines) and add the green line to the positive threaded post on battery, correct?

Screenshot_20200517-103434_Gallery.jpg

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2 hours ago, shawndoggy said:

blue%20sea%20add%20a%20battery%202015_zp

sorry for the watermark.

 

If the battery isn't directly hooked to the ACR, how does the ACR know which battery needs the charge?

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because it is connected when you turn on the switch.  But when you turn off the switch, the batteries are disconnected from the ACR, so you can use a dual bank charger that will charge each battery independently and the ACR won't combine them.

Edited by shawndoggy
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1 hour ago, Moondawg101 said:

how does the ACR know which battery needs the charge?

It actually does not know. The ACR is not a distribute on demand unit, its much simpler. If you follow the basic diagram, the alternator is always supplying the main cranking banks. Voltage levels on the A and B terminals determine whether the ACR combines or isolates the house from the main. It does not actually monitor a state of charge.  

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so i connected my ACR and blue seas switch a couple weeks ago exactly as @shawndoggy shows above, with the exception of moving the "house loads" to the stereo battery side as discussed in another one of these threads elsewhere.  i had been out twice with no issues prior to saturday, but after a day of cruising, anchoring while playing the stereo, off/on all day, i got a low power condition when heading back to the dock and couldn't go above idle speed.  i used a battery tester and both batteries were showing below 12v.  i was out sunday with no problems, but now i'm questioning whether the ACR is working or not.  i don't have the three 16ga wires at the bottom of the ACR connected; are those required for the ACR to work or are they just for the LED function?

i did find a ground wire that was starting to slip out of the crimp so this could have been because of that, but i want to be sure before memorial day weekend coming up.

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13 minutes ago, jtryon said:

so i connected my ACR and blue seas switch a couple weeks ago exactly as @shawndoggy shows above, with the exception of moving the "house loads" to the stereo battery side as discussed in another one of these threads elsewhere.  i had been out twice with no issues prior to saturday, but after a day of cruising, anchoring while playing the stereo, off/on all day, i got a low power condition when heading back to the dock and couldn't go above idle speed.  i used a battery tester and both batteries were showing below 12v.  i was out sunday with no problems, but now i'm questioning whether the ACR is working or not.  i don't have the three 16ga wires at the bottom of the ACR connected; are those required for the ACR to work or are they just for the LED function?

i did find a ground wire that was starting to slip out of the crimp so this could have been because of that, but i want to be sure before memorial day weekend coming up.

If the ground wire on the ACR isn't connected, then it won't work.  So you'll just run down the battery that isn't on the "alternator side" of the ACR.  That's why I personally run mine the way I do, with "boat loads" on one battery and the stereo on the other.  In your case, it's likely that the starting battery was fine and fully charged, but the "house loads" battery (i.e. power to the dash and accessories, along with stereo) was run down.

It's easy enough to stick your head in once the boat is running to check to see whether the ACR is lit up and showing combined.  Might want to do that to (a) make sure it works, and (b) make sure it's working on your next couple of trips out.  But then again it should be easy enough to tell if it's combining just by looking at the voltage on your dash gauge while the boat is running, since your dash is being run off of the "other" battery.  If you aren't showing 13v+ on the dash when the boat is running, then you have a problem somewhere.

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i appreciate the input shawn, that explains everything then.  i have checked both batteries while running every time out and only the starting battery was getting 15+v while the engine was running.  yesterday i ran the switch on "combine" and you're right, the dash gauge was showing 13+v all day when in the past times out it was barely showing 11-12 and would gradually go down the whole day.  i was thinking the gauge was faulty, so at least that gives me one less thing to do there as well.

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30 minutes ago, jtryon said:

i appreciate the input shawn, that explains everything then.  i have checked both batteries while running every time out and only the starting battery was getting 15+v while the engine was running.  yesterday i ran the switch on "combine" and you're right, the dash gauge was showing 13+v all day when in the past times out it was barely showing 11-12 and would gradually go down the whole day.  i was thinking the gauge was faulty, so at least that gives me one less thing to do there as well.

99% it's a bad ground to the ACR.  That wire is real small and seems like a bit of an afterthought vs. the big heavy B+ wires in and out, but if the ACR isn't grounded it won't work.

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Screenshot_20200519-115410_Gallery.thumb.jpg.b5c8d60c2bbb3e3d3b9faed72bdcee8d.jpg

I understand the negative from the engine goes to the negative on start battery and the ground from the relay go to the negative on the stereo battery.  What is the line between those two the arrow is pointing at?  Also, what is the purpose of the light and will any type of light work?

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1 hour ago, Moondawg101 said:

Screenshot_20200519-115410_Gallery.thumb.jpg.b5c8d60c2bbb3e3d3b9faed72bdcee8d.jpg

I understand the negative from the engine goes to the negative on start battery and the ground from the relay go to the negative on the stereo battery.  What is the line between those two the arrow is pointing at?  Also, what is the purpose of the light and will any type of light work?

all grounds need to be common.  So you need to ground both batteries and all circuits.  at the end of the day both batteries need to be grounded.  Usually you have a ground from the block to one battery, and then a jumper from that battery's (-) terminal to the other battery's (-) terminal.

that remote LED just shows you that your batteries are combined (ACR closed).  It's not necessary, but may be desireable.

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19 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

all grounds need to be common.  So you need to ground both batteries and all circuits.  at the end of the day both batteries need to be grounded.  Usually you have a ground from the block to one battery, and then a jumper from that battery's (-) terminal to the other battery's (-) terminal.

that remote LED just shows you that your batteries are combined (ACR closed).  It's not necessary, but may be desireable.

So let me make sure I have this right:  #1 I run the negative from the block to the negative terminal on the starting battery #2 I run a jumper from the negative terminal on the starting battery to the negative terminal on the stereo battery and #3 I run a line from the ground on the relay to the negative terminal on the stereo battery.  Is this correct?

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1 minute ago, Moondawg101 said:

So let me make sure I have this right:  #1 I run the negative from the block to the negative terminal on the starting battery #2 I run a jumper from the negative terminal on the starting battery to the negative terminal on the stereo battery and #3 I run a line from the ground on the relay to the negative terminal on the stereo battery.  Is this correct?

Yes, but don't get hung up on which battery you connect the ACR's ground to.  Either battery is fine.  It doesn't NEED to be the stereo battery, it just needs to be grounded.  

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Great, I think I am getting it.  Another question:  the red cable currently running from under the floor to the positive top post terminal on the battery (where the yellow arrow is pointing to) would be the "Pos from starter" as listed on your schematic, correct?  Also, I can do as minnmarker suggested and just run an additional cable from the #2 top connection on the switch to the positive threaded terminal on the battery and leave this one where it is, correct?

Screenshot_20200519-144804_Gallery.jpg

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45 minutes ago, Moondawg101 said:

Great, I think I am getting it.  Another question:  the red cable currently running from under the floor to the positive top post terminal on the battery (where the yellow arrow is pointing to) would be the "Pos from starter" as listed on your schematic, correct?  Also, I can do as minnmarker suggested and just run an additional cable from the #2 top connection on the switch to the positive threaded terminal on the battery and leave this one where it is, correct?

Screenshot_20200519-144804_Gallery.jpg

Yeah, you CAN do that.  But think about it.  The switch is there to disconnect the battery from the boat's electrical system.  You'd be leaving the battery connected to the boat's electrical system.  So what will the switch actually do when you turn it on or off?

Also, can you confirm that you have no battery switch of any kind at present?

Edited by shawndoggy
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17 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

Yeah, you CAN do that.  But think about it.  The switch is there to disconnect the battery from the boat's electrical system.  You'd be leaving the battery connected to the boat's electrical system.  So what will the switch actually do when you turn it on or off?

Also, can you confirm that you have no battery switch of any kind at present?

Good point.  So I would need to remove the engine block cable from the battery post, cut the top post terminal off, add a round terminal and attach it to the switch, correct?

inCollage_20200519_154958087.jpg

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That’s what I would do. And also put some heat shrink vet that bare wire that’s on the secondary positive post on your battery. 

Edited by shawndoggy
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42 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

That’s what I would do. And also put some heat shrink vet that bare wire that’s on the secondary positive post on your battery. 

Yeah, that's all in the plan.  Also plan to fix the two wires marked incorrectly from the wetsounds.  Is there a crimper you recommend or would you buy the wires with the terminals already attached?  Also, does it matter whether the engine block is connected to 1 or 2 on the switch?

Edited by Moondawg101
Ask additional info.
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5 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

This style works well for the home hobbyist. Probably not a pro’s tool, but it’ll get you enough good crimps to redo the boat’s wiring. 
 

https://www.harborfreight.com/hydraulic-wire-crimping-tool-66150.html

Great, thanks.  Does it matter whether the engine block is connected to 1 or 2 on the switch?

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