still have battery questions

[fish_hunter]

I have a 2001 265 Express with 2010 optimax 250's.
in the stbd battery well I have 2 optima blue top batteries and in the port well there is a deep cycle battery. All of the house loads are run off the stbd bank. Usually, I connect the stbd engine to the stbd batteries and the port engine to the port battery. When trolling for salmon I run one engine at a time to equalize hours.
My issue is that since all the house loads are running off of the stbd batteries (2 optima starting batteries), if I dont have the stbd engine running, it drains those batteries quickly so that i cannot start the stbd engine unless i switch the stbd switch to "both".
I have electric downriggers for salmon and use electric reels for halibut fishing, plus water pumps, electronics, etc are all on the house loads.
I looked in the owners manual and it showed the same arrangement in the schematic for 2 batteries on stbd and one on port, but it doesn't specify type of batteries.
Are your boats wired the same? should the house loads come off of the stbd starting batteries?
Can you run deep cycle batteries in parralel?

thanks,
Eric

 

[drbatts]

Eric, I have both my house battery and the battery I use for the starboard motor on the starboard side. The other starting battery is on the port side, along with the battery charger. My switches are set up so I can run either engine on either battery. I usually run the starboard engine off the starboard starting battery, and the port engine off the port battery for simplicity. My house battery is a deep cycle with its on switch also located on the starboard side. This battery is charged off the starboard engine. This works well for my electrical needs, however your needs with electric downriggers and reels is much more then mine. I have thought about putting an additional deep cycle battery house battery on the port side. I believe there are other members on the site who use this configuration. hope this helps.

 

[fish_hunter]

Eric, I have both my house battery and the battery I use for the starboard motor on the starboard side. The other starting battery is on the port side, along with the battery charger. My switches are set up so I can run either engine on either battery. I usually run the starboard engine off the starboard starting battery, and the port engine off the port battery for simplicity. My house battery is a deep cycle with its on switch also located on the starboard side. This battery is charged off the starboard engine. This works well for my electrical needs, however your needs with electric downriggers and reels is much more then mine. I have thought about putting an additional deep cycle battery house battery on the port side. I believe there are other members on the site who use this configuration. hope this helps.

It seems your physical layout is the same as mine, however, you have 3 seperate battery banks. my stbd batteries are wired in parallel where your stbd batteries are split into two seperate banks. You must have Yamahas with an auxilliary charging lead for the third bank. I have opti's which dont have that third charging lead.
it seems like your arrangement would be the right setup for me, i just need to figure out how to charge the third bank with the engines.
thanks,
Eric

 

[drbatts]

Yup Yamaha 225s. I think this setup is the standard setup in these boats. Didn't know the mercs don't have an aux charge lead.

 

[BobP]

Consider adding a selector switch on the line side to the house feeder breaker so you can choose between two sources. Blue Seas makes a nice compact one as I recall, and if you use it, never place in Both (1+2) position and leave it there. Then you can switch your house load over to the running motor of choice.

 

[Grandpapat]

My electrician told me starter batteries are designed for high amp output for a few seconds (20-30) to get the motor started but are not a good option for house loads where amp hours are far more important. That is why you can't get stbd motor started sometimes, because the house load has eaten up the amp hours over time.

The deep cycle battery should be used for the house loads, but it is not a good option as a starter battery, unless it is one of the dual use batteries that is a compromise between the two. On a particularly bad day with your starter batteries low and your deep cycle battery low you might not have enough amps to get motor started even with both.

Most battery chargers are not designed to charge two different technology batteries -- gel and lead acid -- at the same time.

He also told me to use a starter battery for our bow thruster since it is used sparingly for only a few seconds at a time but requires very high amps when it does.