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I have two batteries and two battery switches in my 31 Bahia Mar that does not have a generator. Does anyone else have this type of set up? I'm doing some re-wiring and was thinking of simplifying it with one battery switch and using the switch that I will remove from the Bertram and use it on my 17 Cape Horn when I add a second battery. Is there any disadvantage to using one switch? The only way I can start the engines is operating both switches in both, so I wonder if they are even wired correctly.

Fat thumb, Battery Switches, should be the name of topic.

I'm going to start (no pun intended) at the end... Assuming both your batteries are good then your statement that you need "operate both switches in both" means that you're currently NOT connected correctly... As for your options, this page gives a good display of your options: http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... ttery.html

It references outboards and Boston Whalers but it's applicable to other applications...

Blue Sea also shows some options (select 2 battery 2 engine from the drop down menu)... https://www.bluesea.com/resources/170/B ... plications

I have 2 deep cycle batts one for each engine
and 1 4d for the house
I have 5 switches all together, that gives me the option to back feed
from any direction

Nav,

grease AND electrical monkey too !!
Cheers, Santa Claus is coming to town !!!

I think I see the issue with my battery switches. I have the two battery switches, but they are not the simple on/off switches. They are off/all/1/2. I've always just operated them in ALL position as operating one on 1 and the other on 2 doesn't work. While experimenting with it tonight, I can put one on ALL and the other on 1 or 2, or vice versa and it works. I also have a tie switch which is a solenoid switch operated with a toggle to tie them together. I'm thinking two simple ON/OFF switches would be correct for this setup and would simplify use.

Not sure about that... My Berty originally came with two On/Off switches and a remotely operated solenoid that ties both banks together... The upside of this arrangement is that it allows starting of both engines as long as one bank of batteries is functional... The downside of this setup is that while it allows starting it doesn't address charging... Not a problem on my old school (i.e. non electronic) diesels... Quite a problem though if you're running gassers or electronic diesels...

FWIW, it seems to me that your boat originally started out the same way but that, at some point, the switches were replaced and you ended up with a "hybrid"... You already have the Off/All/1/2 switches... Now it's a relatively simple matter of making the right connections...

I think you are right about that. Maybe I can just figure out how to properly position the switches for use instead of re-wiring them, or just get ON/OFF switches and wire it up as shown with the tie switch.

I'm not sure why half of the picture got cut off, but you can see one of the switches along with the solenoid tie switch. Also, there is a resettable circuit breaker on one switch as seen in the picture. Any thoughts on that?

that circuit breaker is feeding something
its getting a feed from your left switch

craig
make it simple buy 2 switches on and off
set each one up on each batt
use one of your old switches as a tie
on the position all

Charlie, that is what I was thinking, however I might as well use the solenoid switch for the tie since it is wired to a toggle switch on the instrument panel and appears to work. I can do this by buying one ON/OFF switch, taking the ON/OFF switch from my 17 Cape Horn and swapping it with one of the ALL/1/2/OFF switches from the Bertram for when I add the second battery to my Cape Horn.

that will work

Blue Seas has good info on their website. I love their switches and other products.

https://www.bluesea.com/systems

Not sure if this will work, but here is a before picture of my batteries with 47 years of people hot wiring things directly to the batteries. I am guilty of constantly repairing the broken wires/fuse holders as they are prone to breaking from corrosion. I decided to tackle this job instead of replacing my complicated battery switch set up. The after photos will follow. I cleaned up all those stray wires looking like a spider web and created two separate hot battery busses with their own blade fuse panels.

Here are the after photos.







It was a lot of work, but I have been meaning to do this for years.

What a difference. Like night and day in there.

Not sure why the one picture cropped wrong. All connections are crimped, soldered, sealed with silicone and then shrink wrapped. The name Hot Battery Bus comes from my aviation background.

My next wiring project if I am up for the challenge will be to clean up this bird's nest of wires behind my instrument panel. Yuck! Does everyone's old Bertram look like this before it gets restored? I decided to bid a reserve schedule this month so I only fly when they call me.....so far only 2 days this month giving me plenty of time to work on my Bertram projects.