Dual battery switch/ACR?

[bruceb58]

Is this the one? $214.32 at the only Sam’s Club in the Bay Area, and is showing out of stock. I wonder if Sam’s Club will accept my Costco membership card?

This Group 31 battery is markedly larger than the Group 34’s that I’ve been running. I would need to upgrade my two battery trays.

https://www.samsclub.com/p/duracell-agm ... _product_9


F3758FE5-D873-4CC4-AF35-CE08C62F962E.jpeg



Here is the Duracell Marine/RV AGM brochure from East Penn Manufacturing (who also make the Deka branded batteries). The part numbers differ from the Sam’s Club part number, but I’m assuming that Sam’s Club received unique part numbers from East Penn?


2152.pdf

That's the one.

[Krob1114]

I once bought some Duracell batteries for my golf cart. They didn't last near as long as the Trojans.
I do like their smaller batteries.

[SAB220]

I planning to put two group 24 batteries in parallel for the house battery, This will drive the stereo amps no problem with the ACR. I rotate batteries anyway, based on life, between start and house (all the same type). The big disadvantage of a additional battery (size) is weight but I'm not skiing anymore. I only use AGM Odyssey batteries, but I understand Deka and Trojans are equally good. Dockside I always plug that sucker in. Need to find a new battery tender. I think BlueSea tender mounts in a console. Many believe AGM and lead acid wet have same life if kept fully charged w/ tender.

[CBO]

Resurrecting this thread, I am going to install the BS ACR and have a question that might just pertain to Cobalt boats only because I don't see any wire diagrams that have a Helm wire. My current set up is the 1-2-Both switch. On the back of the switch there is a 10 gauge wire that comes from the Helm circuit breaker and goes to the Common (Starter) post of the 1-2-Both switch. There is another 10 gauge wire that comes from the Bilge Pump circuit breaker that goes to the number 1 post of the 1-2-Both switch.
With the new Combine switch I am unsure where to land the Helm wire.
Bilge Pump wire goes to Battery 1 post.
Helm wire goes to?
For those of you that have an ACR your help is much appreciated.

[bruceb58]

Resurrecting this thread, I am going to install the BS ACR and have a question that might just pertain to Cobalt boats only because I don't see any wire diagrams that have a Helm wire. My current set up is the 1-2-Both switch. On the back of the switch there is a 10 gauge wire that comes from the Helm circuit breaker and goes to the Common (Starter) post of the 1-2-Both switch. There is another 10 gauge wire that comes from the Bilge Pump circuit breaker that goes to the number 1 post of the 1-2-Both switch.
With the new Combine switch I am unsure where to land the Helm wire.
Bilge Pump wire goes to Battery 1 post.
Helm wire goes to?
For those of you that have an ACR your help is much appreciated.

So...you are actually separating your engine from all the house circuits? You of course have to do that when you change to the Dual Circuit type switch.


As far as the bilge pump goes, one of it's input wires needs to be hot all the time. Most of the time, that means being hooked up straight to one of the batteries. The helm circuit needs to be on the output of either the house or the engine circuit...your choice(usually the same battery which has the wire that is hot all the time). If it were my boat, the bilge would be on the house battery.

On my old boat(not Cobalt) I never wanted to go throuigh all the trouble of dividing up the house and engine circuits so I added an ACR and just kept the 1/2/both switch.

[CBO]

The ACR is only going to be used to separate the stereo battery bank from the starting battery. Definitely not going to be dividing existing circuits within the boat.

[bruceb58]

The ACR is only going to be used to separate the stereo battery bank from the starting battery. Definitely not going to be dividing existing circuits within the boat.

You must run your stereo a lot! Personally, I would just keep the 1/2/both switch. You can buy the ACR all by itself.

[CBO]

I found an Amazon warehouse deal on the Blue Sea add a battery kit. Turned out to be cheaper than the ACR by itself. I like that idea of just installing the ACR to the existing system. The plan for the new stereo system is 1200 watts and I really do not want to be stranded with dead batteries after having the tunes on while floating around. Just a little added assurance I guess.

[bruceb58]

I found an Amazon warehouse deal on the Blue Sea add a battery kit. Turned out to be cheaper than the ACR by itself. I like that idea of just installing the ACR to the existing system. The plan for the new stereo system is 1200 watts and I really do not want to be stranded with dead batteries after having the tunes on while floating around. Just a little added assurance I guess.

If you are just listening to tunes floating around at a reasonable volume, doesn't matter if your amp is 1200W or 40W...it will be drawing around the same current with either amplifier for the most part. I will have to measure mine someday but I am guessing a couple amps.

In my old boat with a 1/2/both switch, I could run a bait tank, fish finder and the stereo all day floating around and had zero problems starting the boat.

[CBO]

I do know that the class D amps are a little more efficient compared to the older a/b style amps. It's been quite a few years since owning a boat, but my old Donzi sweet 16 had a fairly large stereo in it and I could kill that battery in a couple of hours. Also looking at different style batteries with higher AH ratings.

[SAB220]

For those unfamiliar with the function of a Automatic Charging Relay (ACR)

https://www.bluesea.com/support/article ... _Explained

[stifflkd]

I found an Amazon warehouse deal on the Blue Sea add a battery kit. Turned out to be cheaper than the ACR by itself. I like that idea of just installing the ACR to the existing system. The plan for the new stereo system is 1200 watts and I really do not want to be stranded with dead batteries after having the tunes on while floating around. Just a little added assurance I guess.

I assume the kit you received has the OFF/ON/COMBINE switch. If so replace the old switch with this one. This kit automates the 1/2/BOTH manual process. Reconnect the house to the one switched terminal and the engine to the other. Set the switch to ON when using the boat. The ACR isolates the two batteries unless it sense one needs to charge when the engine is running. You can drive your stereo till you kill the house battery and it will not effect the engine battery. When you start the engine the ACR will recharge the house. COMBINED should be used only if your starter battery is dead. It will put the two in parallel to start the engine.

[jhnmdahl]

There are a couple ways of wiring the ACR and switch - see:

viewtopic.php?p=75833#p75833