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Playing the stereo & not draining the battery?

Adam2012

Adam2012

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HI all,

First year on our Bennington coming this summer- just curious what's been everyone's experience regarding stereo usage. I LOVE to have the music playing but have obvious concerns regarding how that will affect the battery. Is it safe to assume that playing while the boat is running is always fine but not so much when the boat is turned off and idle?
 
Get 2 batteries run 1 when anchored listening to tunes and the other one will always have a full charge for starting.
 
I have the same concerns. For now, I plan to bring to along a charged battery booster (just throw it under one of the seats) whenever I know I'm gonna be out at the sandbar or anchored for extended periods. However, I do plan to follow the technical advice on this forum, buy a 2nd battery setup/switch (Dual battery installation thread) and hopefully install it successfully on some cool, cloudy, non-boating day. Hell, I might even get jiggy and follow in the footsteps on this forum and install all kinds of other goodies (LEDS, etc). Thanks to all the experts on here!

Mind you, I do have concerns about being the jackass that has to hook up the battery booster at the sandbar while everyone laughs so the dual setup might happen sooner rather than later. Hehe!
 
If you look at your stereo configuration, (head unit only, head unit plus amplifier(s), plus powered subwoofer, etc), you can get an idea of how many amps it would pull per hour. Then take a look at the Amp hour rating of the battery (RC usually printed on the top of the battery). The two will give you an indication of the amount of time it would take for the equipment to completely drain a healthyfully charged battery. My rule of thumb is to take 10% of that time to ensure more than enough cpacaity remains for starting the engine.

Example: Generic Group 24 'Combo' Deep Cycle/Cranking Battery, 550 CCA, RC 140 minutes (2.3 hours) at 25 amps. The RC (reserve capacity) is listed in minutes, and indicates that in140 minutes (2.3 hours) at 25 amps the battery will fully drain. Unfortunately, the drain rate is not linear, so can not be logically be extended by multiplying the 25 amps by the RC value, then dividing by anticipated amp draw, however many battery manufacuturers provide a table with different draw rates, in the case of the battery above, it is 16 hours at 5 amps, 4.6 hours at 15 amps, or 2.3 hours at 25 amps. So if you have a 5 amp head unit with no amp or powered subwoofers, you could would fully drain the battery in 16 hours with the engine off. Using my rule of thumb, 10% of 16 hours equals 1.6 hours.
 
I only have 1 Deep cycle battery in my I/O.............I'm like Skipperbill..........I've carried the Battery jumper/booster under my helm for 5 seasons now and the only time I've used it is when I've helped other people at the ramp or Island area. We use our stereo rather judiciously while anchored and have never had a problem...............................knock on wood. Ha!
 
BigKahuna said:
I only have 1 Deep cycle battery in my I/O.............I'm like Skipperbill..........I've carried the Battery jumper/booster under my helm for 5 seasons now and the only time I've used it is when I've helped other people at the ramp or Island area. We use our stereo rather judiciously while anchored and have never had a problem...............................knock on wood. Ha!
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That's funny? It wasn't on when WE were at the sandbar playing volleyball. And you DID have the anchor out. :p
 
IMO Its best to start with 2 of the same Batts, What every you decide to run Gell, AGM or Wet Deep cycle just get a matching battery. Same Size and Amp hr's There is a few different ways to hook them together.
 
Okay, I'm cheap. Let's get that out of the way up front, in case there's anyone new here that doesn't already know.

When my truck battery died two winters ago, I didn't trade it in for the $10 core exchange. You may be thinking: "Wait, you're cheap, what do you mean you didn't get the core refund???"

Let me explain...

Turns out a dead battery that won't start your car at 0 degrees, will run a boat stereo for hours when the temp is 90 degrees.

I bought a charging relay, hooked both batteries (the dead truck battery and the stock boat battery) up to it, and it's a "leave it and forget it" situation for me now. I didn't put in any manual switches. For my use, I don't need them. The charging relay takes care of all the switching automatically, and I will never have a dead starting battery. It's a slick setup. Spinzone helped me a lot on my decision. Where's he been???

But, in case I do have a dead starting battery, I also have a portable jump start battery. It does double duty in the wife's van in the winter, although it failed to start a relative's car after their battery was completely dead overnight. I had to jump that the old fashioned way. But, in the summer, with a smaller outboard, it should work. You can tell when the jump start weighs about 10% of a regular battery there's not much in it... Just beware on the jump start, and make sure you keep it charged up.
 
The booster sounds like the best idea on many levels(helping others, plenty of power), but has anyone used solar battery tenders while anchored with any success? I know they don't match the draw from a stereo, but it is a "free" offset, no?
 
The regular radio-CD player head unit doesn't draw much electrical power. But add the power booster and powered subwoofers, and you're barking up another tree.

Adding a second battery is not that easy. It's also got to go through a battery switch and the batteries have to be segregated from each other. You want one battery to run the motor and the other to run the accessories--and both charge at the same time when the engine's running.
 
I have the factory twin battery set up with 3 way switch, the Sony blue tooth stereo, with the Kicker speakers. I thought the Wet sound sub woofer addition was too expensive at the time I ordered the boat, so I did my own thing. Bought a small footprint Kenwood powered sub woofer ... the wiring on the Kenwood is very basic and simple / plug and play, as the Sony has all the output and input jacks hanging off the unit mounted inside the helm. Sounds good, right. Well, with the ESP package the whole bottom of the boat is covered in aluminum sheets .... no way to run power to the amp from the battery without drilling holes in the floor and aluminum. I'm not willing to do that to a new boat. So, I bought an Optima deep cycle sealed marine gel battery. This weekend, it should be a simple install now. I'll put the Optima gel battery in the helm and connect the Kenwood power cable direct to the Optima battery. I have a small Battery Tender Jr. that will easily keep the battery charged after each use. I did a similar set up a few years ago on a fiberglass runabout that only had one starting battery. I did the same free standing battery to this boat and the stereo with the same brand sub would run for hours with no problem. I forgot, this Kenwood sub is only 150 watts as advertised, and most likely less actual watts, but the sound is a big improvement over just the typical Kicker style speakers....and I don't play it really loud either. Just food for thought, inexpensive and functional.
 
I guess at times I can be contrary. I have mixed battery sizes on my bowrider (House Battery is group 31, and starting battery Group 27), and will be doing something similar on my Benny (House Group 31, and starting Group 24). I believe in sizing batteries for their purpose, and not to match each other. I also will forgo install of a switch, knowing I can add one down the road if desired.
 
Greg Bland 2550 RCB said:
I have the factory twin battery set up with 3 way switch, the Sony blue tooth stereo, with the Kicker speakers. I thought the Wet sound sub woofer addition was too expensive at the time I ordered the boat, so I did my own thing. Bought a small footprint Kenwood powered sub woofer ... the wiring on the Kenwood is very basic and simple / plug and play, as the Sony has all the output and input jacks hanging off the unit mounted inside the helm. Sounds good, right. Well, with the ESP package the whole bottom of the boat is covered in aluminum sheets .... no way to run power to the amp from the battery without drilling holes in the floor and aluminum. I'm not willing to do that to a new boat. So, I bought an Optima deep cycle sealed marine gel battery. This weekend, it should be a simple install now. I'll put the Optima gel battery in the helm and connect the Kenwood power cable direct to the Optima battery. I have a small Battery Tender Jr. that will easily keep the battery charged after each use. I did a similar set up a few years ago on a fiberglass runabout that only had one starting battery. I did the same free standing battery to this boat and the stereo with the same brand sub would run for hours with no problem. I forgot, this Kenwood sub is only 150 watts as advertised, and most likely less actual watts, but the sound is a big improvement over just the typical Kicker style speakers....and I don't play it really loud either. Just food for thought, inexpensive and functional.
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Just wanted to suggest that you tie the ground of your Optima to the primary ground under the helm to avoid ground loop feedback through your sub.
 
cwag911 said:
That's funny? It wasn't on when WE were at the sandbar playing volleyball. And you DID have the anchor out. :p
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You know Carl looking back............ you're right I guess we didn't have it on............and I don't know why...........good observation! Maybe it was because we were really concentrating on that Olympic caliber of volleyball we were all playing. :lol: It was fun!!!!!!!!!
 
Jim_R said:
Just wanted to suggest that you tie the ground of your Optima to the primary ground under the helm to avoid ground loop feedback through your sub.
Click to expand...
thanks Jim! I'll find the primary and do just that.... glad to hear its in thelm! Thanks for the tip.
 
When Zodapop and I installed his power steering we unbolted the filler plate at the top of the pontoon. Takes two people but was not that difficult. Makes running wires much easier. I did my R without removing it but used fiberglas poles just for this. Steve
 
WOW!! I think at this point I will play the stereo only while underway and bring a boombox- HELLOOOO "D" size batteries!!!!!
 
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