Battery switch question.
 

Does anyone know of a 2 battery switch that just allows for the use of one
battery or another at a time but NOT both? I just want a simple A/B switch.

Thanks.

Battery switch question.
 

On 11 Aug 2004 16:10:22 GMT, obull (CCred68046)
wrote:

Does anyone know of a 2 battery switch that just allows for the use of one
battery or another at a time but NOT both? I just want a simple A/B switch.

Thanks.

http://www.charlesindustries.com/mai..._switches.html

http://store.wardmarine.com/Merchant...tegory_Code=BS

http://www.marinegeneral.com/acatalo...tches_308.html

http://www.hopkins-carter.com/catalo...rySwitches.htm

http://www.aqua-marine.co.uk/acatalo...ries_11.h tml

That should get you started.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
-----------
"Angling may be said to be so
like the mathematics that it
can never be fully learnt..."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler", 1653

Battery switch question.
 

Thanks Tom but all those switches have a "BOTH" position. I am looking for one
that does NOT have a "both" position. I just want to be able to select battery
1 or battery 2. I have two very dissimilar batteries and its not a good to
put them in parellel.

Battery switch question.
 

Why not get one with both, and never use the both setting, or get 2
individual on/off switches, one for each battery?

Thanks

Christian


"CCred68046" wrote in message
...
Thanks Tom but all those switches have a "BOTH" position. I am looking
for one
that does NOT have a "both" position. I just want to be able to select
battery
1 or battery 2. I have two very dissimilar batteries and its not a good
to
put them in parellel.

Battery switch question.
 

Why not get one with both, and never use the both setting,

I could do that but one thing I have learned with boats.. If something can go
wrong it will. LOL.
Thanks.

Battery switch question.
 

"CCred68046" wrote in message
...
Why not get one with both, and never use the both setting,

I could do that but one thing I have learned with boats.. If something can
go
wrong it will. LOL.
Thanks.

Sounds like your boat's not the place to be unless a guest carries his own
life vest, EPIRB, fire extinguisher, sidearm, camping chocolate, spear gun,
jug of fresh water and a whole list of other things.

It's funny: No matter how many times I've wondered how fast my boat would
fill up with water, I've never removed the drain plug while fishing a mile
from shore. I really want to, but I can't bring myself to do it. But, I'll
bet it's gonna pop out one day and blow a hole in whatever surface it hits.
Probably the gas tank.

Battery switch question.
 

Sounds like your boat's not the place to be unless a guest carries his own
life vest, EPIRB, fire extinguisher, sidearm, camping chocolate, spear gun,
jug of fresh water and a whole list of other things.

Hahaha. Actually its just the opposite. My boat used to run 47mph till I got
all paranoid about safety gear after a good storm caught up with me at Lake
Erie.... best she will do now is 38. Hell, even my dog has a life jacket and
shes a Lab. :)

..It's funny: No matter how many times I've wondered how fast my boat would
fill up with water, I've never removed the drain plug while fishing a mile
from shore. I really want to, but I can't bring myself to do it. But, I'll
bet it's gonna pop out one day and blow a hole in whatever surface it hits.
Probably the gas tank.

Thank God my plug is not facing the gas tank or I would be installing a 1/2"
thick 304 grade stainless steel plate between them thanks to you. :)

Battery switch question.
 

"CCred68046" wrote in message
...
Sounds like your boat's not the place to be unless a guest carries his
own
life vest, EPIRB, fire extinguisher, sidearm, camping chocolate, spear
gun,
jug of fresh water and a whole list of other things.

Hahaha. Actually its just the opposite. My boat used to run 47mph till I
got
all paranoid about safety gear after a good storm caught up with me at
Lake
Erie....

It just takes one trip. For me, it was a trip on my dad's 32' Luhrs when I
was 12. We were trying to go from Montauk to Martha's Vineyard when the
weather got "interesting" - waves as high as the bridge. My two most
poignant memories are my mother yelling at him to stop imagining he was
still on his WWII aircraft carrier, and that maybe his son, who got high
grades in geometry should do the navigating from now on. Somehow, we ended
up in New Bedford, which was NOT a good place at the time. Two weeks later,
I was enrolled in a power squadron class and the parallel rulers became
mine.

Battery switch question.
 

On 11 Aug 2004 16:54:36 GMT, obull (CCred68046)
wrote:

Thanks Tom but all those switches have a "BOTH" position. I am looking for one
that does NOT have a "both" position. I just want to be able to select battery
1 or battery 2. I have two very dissimilar batteries and its not a good to
put them in parellel.

Um....ok, but why "dissimilar"? I'm curious about two different
batteries.

Later,

Tom

Battery switch question.
 

Um....ok, but why "dissimilar"? I'm curious about two different
batteries.

One is an old 1000 CCA deep cycle for trolling and the other is a new 420 CCA
starting battery. Switching them to the both position will cause the good
battery to be discharged by the weaker battery. The way it was described to me
by a battery expert was "If you pour good milk into bad milk you have a bunch
of bad milk".

Battery switch question.
 

CCred68046 wrote:

Um....ok, but why "dissimilar"? I'm curious about two different
batteries.


One is an old 1000 CCA deep cycle for trolling and the other is a new 420 CCA
starting battery. Switching them to the both position will cause the good
battery to be discharged by the weaker battery. The way it was described to me
by a battery expert was "If you pour good milk into bad milk you have a bunch
of bad milk".

Get a regular 1/both/2 battery switch. There's no problem switching
those 2 batteries together when charging. Just use the 1 or 2 positions
when you want to troll or start and use both when the engine is running.

Except when brand new batteries are fully charged, there's almost never
a situation when a boat with 2 batteries will have both of them in the
same state of charge. People parallel them all the time to charge
without a problem.

Steve

Battery switch question.
 

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...


It's funny: No matter how many times I've wondered how fast my boat would
fill up with water, I've never removed the drain plug while fishing a mile
from shore. I really want to, but I can't bring myself to do it.


Oh go ahead! Remove that plug. See how it feels and how much water
comes in through that little hole. See how much time you would have.
But be on your trailer or at the dock and with good pumps - and ready
to put the plug back in.

Huh?

Battery switch question.
 

On 11 Aug 2004 22:02:21 GMT, obull (CCred68046)
wrote:

Um....ok, but why "dissimilar"? I'm curious about two different
batteries.

One is an old 1000 CCA deep cycle for trolling and the other is a new 420 CCA
starting battery. Switching them to the both position will cause the good
battery to be discharged by the weaker battery. The way it was described to me
by a battery expert was "If you pour good milk into bad milk you have a bunch
of bad milk".

Just so I can get a grasp on this, why do you need to switch them?
Unless you are using something like a charger and want to switch it
from battery to battery, but that doesn't make much sense.

Are they not both 12 Vdc batteries?

Later,

Tom

Battery switch question.
 

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 19:20:30 -0400, "Gary Warner"
wrote:


"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...


It's funny: No matter how many times I've wondered how fast my boat would
fill up with water, I've never removed the drain plug while fishing a mile
from shore. I really want to, but I can't bring myself to do it.


Oh go ahead! Remove that plug. See how it feels and how much water
comes in through that little hole. See how much time you would have.
But be on your trailer or at the dock and with good pumps - and ready
to put the plug back in.

Huh?

I did this once on my Ranger. Didn't notice it until I was walking
down the ramp to the boat and watched the bilge pump spray water into
another boat a the ramp.

Needless to say, the other guy was somewhat annoyed. :)

Later,

Tom

Battery switch question.
 

Most likely you were talking to a milk expert. In order for one battery to
discharge into another there must be a voltage
difference between two - one battery charged and another drained.
Discharge/charge current will be limited by voltage difference (open ckt.)
divided by sum of internal (source) impedances of both batteries. After
initial surge current will exponentially go down to zero as result of
equalizing of battery voltages. Since battery internal impedances are very
low and there were no other power dissipating loads in a ckt., there is no
signifficant energy loss.
In other words both batteries may be connected together. As soon as they
both charged -there no current from one to another. Charging current will be
shared by both differently every time due to difference in charge and
capacity..
Unlike bad milk there are no bad electrons.

Good luck.

Battery switch question.
 

"CCred68046" wrote in message
...
Um....ok, but why "dissimilar"? I'm curious about two different
batteries.

One is an old 1000 CCA deep cycle for trolling and the other is a new 420
CCA
starting battery. Switching them to the both position will cause the good
battery to be discharged by the weaker battery. The way it was described
to me
by a battery expert was "If you pour good milk into bad milk you have a
bunch
of bad milk".

Should not matter, as sonn as they are both the smae voltage, then no
current. Get a 1/2/both switch so you can connect both togehter, of both
are low and you need a little extra energy. Run the battery on 1 (starting)
all the time and add a battery combiner from West Marine (about $90) This
connects both together for charging when the voltage rises above 13.4V.
Bill

Battery switch question.
 

CCred68046 wrote:
Does anyone know of a 2 battery switch that just allows for the use of one
battery or another at a time but NOT both? I just want a simple A/B switch.

Thanks.
The usual 1-both-2-off can be used this way. If you don't like it,
don't use it (the both position) Some day you might want it. Some
day you might want to charge both batteries at once.

A physical barrier to the both position might suit you.

Regardless, 2 simple off on swithes still allow a both selection.
Heavy enough switches not of the usual configuration in use in
millions of boats might well cost more, and as such, do not offer
the field defeat swith protection feature found in the typical switch.

Terry K

Battery switch question.
 

So... rather than replace the old, oddball battery(s), you think a different
switch is an appropriate fix? Gimme a break!

OK guys, I'm not going into huge detail here, I have done that before with this
problem. My Johnson outboard has an un-regulated charging system. There is
really nothing on my boat that uses any current to speak of. Once the starting
battery is fully charged (very quickly) the voltage go's up to 16+ and this is
not good. Its much cheaper to buy the switch to let the voltage go to the
trolling motor battery which is usually discharged enough to keep it "busy"
than it would be to try and put a regulator on it. To further complicate
matters the charging system is only 5 amps so when I used a combiner, both
batteries wound up low (I cant win!). Sooooo, I figure I can watch the guage
and just flip the switch when the voltage gets too high and let the trolling
battery have it. At 5 amps it would take it a looooooong time to recharge the
trolling battery. If anyone else has a better plan I am listening.

Battery switch question.
 

On 12 Aug 2004 05:23:20 GMT, obull (CCred68046)
wrote:

So... rather than replace the old, oddball battery(s), you think a different
switch is an appropriate fix? Gimme a break!

OK guys, I'm not going into huge detail here, I have done that before with this
problem. My Johnson outboard has an un-regulated charging system. There is
really nothing on my boat that uses any current to speak of. Once the starting
battery is fully charged (very quickly) the voltage go's up to 16+ and this is
not good. Its much cheaper to buy the switch to let the voltage go to the
trolling motor battery which is usually discharged enough to keep it "busy"
than it would be to try and put a regulator on it. To further complicate
matters the charging system is only 5 amps so when I used a combiner, both
batteries wound up low (I cant win!). Sooooo, I figure I can watch the guage
and just flip the switch when the voltage gets too high and let the trolling
battery have it. At 5 amps it would take it a looooooong time to recharge the
trolling battery. If anyone else has a better plan I am listening.

I've looked around and through my supplier books and I can't find just
a 1/2 position switch applicable for marine use.

I'm not trying to be offensive here, but you are over complicating the
issue. Just pick a switch and either disable the both position or
just don't use it.

Later,

Tom

Battery switch question.
 

I'm not trying to be offensive here, but you are over complicating the
issue. Just pick a switch and either disable the both position or
just don't use it.

No offense taken. I sometimes let others use this boat. If a 1-2 switch was
available I would prefer it due to the circumstances. Your help was
appreciated. Thank you Tom.

Battery switch question.
 

Lets review:

You don't want to leave both batteries connected at all times
because A) they are different size & capacity batteries
and B) the charging system is 5 amps and so the starting
battery only gets 2.5 amps and would take a long time to
charge back up. ~ While some here seem to disagree, I've
always heard and it makes sense to me that connecting
dissimmilar batts for a long time ain't that good.

You don't want to replace the 1000 battery, I guess because
that battery *does* make sense for trolling. Plus to do it
really right you'ld need two of the identical battery...something
like two dual-purpose batts. ~ I just bought two dual
purpose for about $110. This actually might be a good
option for you. But read on.

You don't want an A/B/BOTH switch because you seem
afraid that either you or people you lend the boat to
(guests) will accidentially leave it in the Both position. ~
While this makes sense to me....you also have to ask
yourself: How likely is this to happen, for how long, and
what damage will be done. If it's not likely and not a
lot of "damage" then maybe who cares?

Maybe just put a red X on the "both" position. Or, as
Tom suggested, maybe you can disable the both position
in some way.

Also consider your statement: "...I figure I can watch the guage
and just flip the switch when the voltage gets too high..." This
seems to assume you will be watching the gague. It seems to
me that you are more likely to forget to watch the gague
after a while (get distracted by the big fish that's biting) then
to accidentially put a switch into the BOTH position. ~ Same
goes for your guests. If they are smart and ware enough to
remember to flip the switch when the gague does a certain
thing....they are probably smart enought to NOT use the
both position.

You may be suffering from the same thing I often do. I think a
problem through TOO much and want the solution to be TOO
perfect. That's not to say I don't get your points. They seem
all or mostly all valid. And the perfect solution might be out
there. But maybe you need to step back and be simpler about
it.

Good luck,
Gary

Battery switch question.
 

Your thinking is correct about charging dissimilar batteries hooked in
parallel. You could wind up with one under charged and the other fried. Some
google searching will verify this (for non-believers). I don't think you
will find a marine switch without the both selection. Since you are dealing
with relatively low amperage, you may be able to find another type A/B
switch and then seal it with liquid tape. Just a thought.
--
Bill
Chesapeake, Va


"CCred68046" wrote in message
...
So... rather than replace the old, oddball battery(s), you think a
different
switch is an appropriate fix? Gimme a break!

OK guys, I'm not going into huge detail here, I have done that before with
this
problem. My Johnson outboard has an un-regulated charging system. There
is
really nothing on my boat that uses any current to speak of. Once the
starting
battery is fully charged (very quickly) the voltage go's up to 16+ and
this is
not good. Its much cheaper to buy the switch to let the voltage go to the
trolling motor battery which is usually discharged enough to keep it
"busy"
than it would be to try and put a regulator on it. To further complicate
matters the charging system is only 5 amps so when I used a combiner, both
batteries wound up low (I cant win!). Sooooo, I figure I can watch the
guage
and just flip the switch when the voltage gets too high and let the
trolling
battery have it. At 5 amps it would take it a looooooong time to recharge
the
trolling battery. If anyone else has a better plan I am listening.

Battery switch question.
 

CCred68046 wrote:
Does anyone know of a 2 battery switch that just allows for the use of one
battery or another at a time but NOT both? I just want a simple A/B switch.

Thanks.

Most if not all those multiple battery switches include a "both"
setting. They are set up so when you change from 1 to both or both to 2
etc the system never sees "no" connection, as this can damage some
proper alternator charging systems on the spot. particularly if done
when the alt. is running at high output. You can see how it might be
tricky or at least more expensive to create a 1/2 switch with this
protection.

Just get 2 on/off battery switches & position them so it's really
obvious if not physically difficult to have them both in the "on"
position together.

Don't get too fussed about having both batteries connected, the risks
are much overstated by the scary bananas brigade & yes the old OB
charging systems did show some high voltages but remember they never put
out much real power (amps). It takes high volts & high amps together to
murder a battery quickly & OB chargers of the type you've mentioned put
out very low amps even when they do work:-).

K

Battery switch question.
 

Don't get too fussed about having both batteries connected, the risks
are much overstated by the scary bananas brigade & yes the old OB
charging systems did show some high voltages but remember they never put
out much real power (amps). It takes high volts & high amps

Thanks Karen,
In spite of the high voltage and all the doom everyone warned me about, nothing
was ever hurt. I just find it interesting that no one I have ever found can
explain to me WHY they would make something that could do this and how mine ran
perfect for years and all of a sudden decided to run at 16 volts. Its only 5
amps so I guess its just a personal thing with me :)

Battery switch question.
 

CCred68046 wrote:
Don't get too fussed about having both batteries connected, the risks
are much overstated by the scary bananas brigade & yes the old OB
charging systems did show some high voltages but remember they never put
out much real power (amps). It takes high volts & high amps


Thanks Karen,
In spite of the high voltage and all the doom everyone warned me about, nothing
was ever hurt. I just find it interesting that no one I have ever found can
explain to me WHY they would make something that could do this and how mine ran
perfect for years and all of a sudden decided to run at 16 volts. Its only 5
amps so I guess its just a personal thing with me :)

It's cheap:-)

K