T&T: Battery Selector Switch Procedure

[Peter Bennett]

Sunday, November 11, 2007, 5:02:36 AM, Jeff wrote:

JW> My Grady White center console has a battery selector switch with the common
JW> settings for 1, 2, BOTH or OFF. On odd-numbered days, I set it to 1 to start
JW> the engine and on even-numbered days I set it to 2 to start the engine as a
JW> way of testing the strength of the one battery under a load. Then, once the
JW> motor is started, I switch to BOTH in order to charge both batteries while
JW> running. When I shut down the motor, I return the switch to OFF. 

JW> For you electrical system gurus, do you see any downside to the manner in
JW> which I run the boat, or do you have any other suggestions? Power is a 2006
JW> Yamaha 200HP 4-stroke.

JW> Jeff Wright

That's the traditional recommendation for boats without a dedicated
house battery.  You could improve it slightly by adding an
Echo-Charger or similar device that would automatically connect the
two batteries together once the engine is running, so you wouldn't
have to remember to fiddle with the switch so often.

-- 
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI    Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Ennos 31 "Honeycomb"
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter 
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca