Dual Battery Use Question

[TomS]

The way they set it up the switch selects battery 1, battery 2, both 1 and 2, or "off" so either one can be the starting battery depending on which position. If you actually had the switch on "both", you probably killed both batteries. Otherwise just try 1 or 2 and see if it starts.

 

[Remediation]

Easy way to find out is put it on 1 and see if it cranks the starter. Try it on 2 also. The house battery is the one that does not crank the starter. If hanging out listening to the radio, put the switch on house battery only. This saves the starting battery. Put it on 1&2 (all) when running the engine to charge both batteries. Never switch the starting battery off while the engine is running. Bad things can happen.

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

I'm also new to all this...I have a new Benny with a dual battery set-up. Let's just say that while I was cleaning the boat, I had the radio on a bit too long and killed the battery. How do I know which is the starting battery? I have a battery tenner, but not sure which battery to begin with? Thanks for any assistance.

Switch should have 1 and 2.

See which cable goes to 1, and what battery that goes too. Make that your starting battery to keep it easy.

 

[jgingrey]

I hate to revive an old thread but I can't seem to be able to find an answer.  We have dual batteries.  Selector switch choices are 1, 2 both, and 0.  I was under the impression that when the switch is turned to zero it kills power to both batteries.  Is this correct?  Our boat was started at the Marina today in the 0 position and it surprised me.  When I turned off the ignition nd switched to any other choice nothing happened.  We waited about ten minutes and the engine started finally in the 1 position. 

Any opinions?

 

[jfrack77]

He is giving good advice. Also never switch the engine starting battery off while the engine is running. Lots of bad things will happen. When running you want to be at 1+2 position to charge both batteries. There are automatic controllers that do it but this is a cheap effective way to handle it. We have two batteries and most of the time i leave it on 1+2. We only have the radio on and usually at low volume while floating. If i was going to blast the music for a long time i would switch to 2 only. When done for the day I will switch to off just to be safe. You will lose the radio presets but we can only get one country station on the water so it is no big deal.

Not to hijack the thread, but i have a battery with a single switch and I turn it to the off position after every use, and my presets are still saved.    I scratch my head on that because i was sure that I would lose them each time.   I wonder if the Sony M6 has some sort of internal battery (like a computers CMOS battery....)

 

[Jack M]

Not to hijack the thread, but i have a battery with a single switch and I turn it to the off position after every use, and my presets are still saved.    I scratch my head on that because i was sure that I would lose them each time.   I wonder if the Sony M6 has some sort of internal battery (like a computers CMOS battery....)

Do you loose your time ?

I loose the time and the pre sets

 

[jfrack77]

Do you loose your time ?

I loose the time and the pre sets

Funny you mention the time thing, i didn't even know it HAD the time on it until last weekend when we took it out!   I didnt figure out how to set it yet (i didn't really try either)  but i will definitely do that this weekend before i take it out.   Keep in mind, I'm the same guy that for 3 weeks bitched about how i couldnt see the dealer installed gps on sunny days..   One day i accidentally got to the "Backlight Brightness" section in the menu and it was turned all the way down!!!!    Hahaha  The ole lady got a good laugh at that one....

 

[Remediation]

Sometime the radio memory wire bypasses the switch so you don't lose the presets.  Our dealer wired our radio that way when he installed the second battery.  As our boat sits allot, I had him wire the memory before the switch.  We lose the presets but it won't drain the battery.

 

[gnc1017]

Not sure if anyone else has run into this but just realized Bennington wires the radio memory wire to between the helm master power switch and the accessory switch (on boats with a helm master power switch - R and Qs?). This would lose the clock, presets, and such every time the helm master power switch is turned off. Maybe Bennington is being cautious about draining a battery from that memory wire during long periods of non-use without a main battery switch turned off?

We always keep our batteries up so I moved the radio memory wire from before the accessory switch to between the 5A breaker and the helm master power switch (to the circuit that powers the master power relay coil, not the circuit that powers the relay contacts). In case you too find that resetting to be an inconvenience, it was a very easy fix for us and much happier to be able to retain those radio settings.

For those of you who regularly kill power with your main battery switch, it wouldn't matter and for those that don't periodically maintain a charge on your batteries (not that you shouldn't), maybe this isn't for you. But for folks like us, it was a simple wire relocation under the helm and thought it might be a useful tip to others too.

Per the schematic, without the helm master power switch, the G series may essentially be wired similar to our new way anyways (as far as that memory wire) so maybe this is simply just an oversight on Bennington's part?

Then again, with the Bluetooth phones and media players, maybe nobody uses the radio's clock or the radio presets anymore and a non-issue. Listening to the radio - maybe I'm just showing my age