Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I want to add a second battery to my pontoon to run things like my radio party light Ect. I'm wondering how to go about this because I want to be able to shut that battery on and off and also once the battery is turned on have switched installed that will run the radio, party lights Ect. Any ideas how to get this started? Currently I have one battery that runs everything. I should mention that I just bought this pontoon and it is the first boat I have ever owned. Maybe one battery is enough for all these things but it worries me that if I have my radio playing too long I won't make it back off the lake. Please be as descriptive as you can as I have no much knowledge about wiring. Thanks.

its easy to add a second battery and a switch

Thanks for the pictured diagram. So on that switch Ivan switch between the two bateries or use them both? So I could run all my accessories on one battery and the engine and other necessities on the other? I guessing that the switch is manual so I would need to wire somewhere it would have easy access, right?

with the switch in the picture you are correct, it is completely manual and you must decide which battery you are going to use and you shouldn't move the switch while the engine is running. this is a very common switch and the easiest to wire in. the biggest downside is that the battery that isn't "on" won't get charged. thus, if you drive around on the "start" battery and park/float using the "house" battery, when you switch back to the "start" battery, the "house" battery won't recharge. its generally not recommended to run all the time in the 1+2 setting. that's there to combine the batteries if they are both weak and you need the extra juice to crank the motor to get home.

what you may want to look into is an ACR type switch. this is more expensive and complicated to wire, but it is automated. when you turn the ignition to crank the motor, the batteries are isolated, then when the "start" battery is charged to above 13.4v, it combines the batteries and charges the "house". when you park and float all day it automatically isolates the batteries and you can drain the "house" battery and still have a fresh "start" battery to get home with. the cycle repeats itself and typically by the time you get home both batteries are charged and ready for the next day.

i have an ACR on my pontoon and the 1,2,1+2 switch on my master craft. it would be a pretty big hassle to remember to switch the batteries when we are floating, so typically what i do is run a few days on battery 1, and then switch to battery 2 for a few days to keep them both charged. to me this manual switch is really there just for emergencies in case one battery dies and you then have the luxury of a spare battery to get home.

jafo9 wrote:with the switch in the picture you are correct, it is completely manual and you must decide which battery you are going to use and you shouldn't move the switch while the engine is running. this is a very common switch and the easiest to wire in. the biggest downside is that the battery that isn't "on" won't get charged. thus, if you drive around on the "start" battery and park/float using the "house" battery, when you switch back to the "start" battery, the "house" battery won't recharge. its generally not recommended to run all the time in the 1+2 setting. that's there to combine the batteries if they are both weak and you need the extra juice to crank the motor to get home.

what you may want to look into is an ACR type switch. this is more expensive and complicated to wire, but it is automated. when you turn the ignition to crank the motor, the batteries are isolated, then when the "start" battery is charged to above 13.4v, it combines the batteries and charges the "house". when you park and float all day it automatically isolates the batteries and you can drain the "house" battery and still have a fresh "start" battery to get home with. the cycle repeats itself and typically by the time you get home both batteries are charged and ready for the next day.

i have an ACR on my pontoon and the 1,2,1+2 switch on my master craft. it would be a pretty big hassle to remember to switch the batteries when we are floating, so typically what i do is run a few days on battery 1, and then switch to battery 2 for a few days to keep them both charged. to me this manual switch is really there just for emergencies in case one battery dies and you then have the luxury of a spare battery to get home.

Thank you very much for the descriptive answer. What you mentioned about having the extra battery to get home should one be dead is exactly why I want to do this. I thought if I were to have basically auxiliary battery to run things like my radio, lights, and any other thing I may want to add that needs power would help take some of the stress off the battery powering my motor. I am completing new to all of this and maybe this is a bit overboard(no pun intended) but I would hate to get stuck out on the water because I ran my radio or party lights too long. I guessing that is a rookie mistake!

By the way you also mentioned about the batteries recharging. Prolly a really dumb question but how do they recharge? Is there something I have to buy to make them do that or is the engine itself recharging them when its running? Sorry I am such a noob!!lol

here is the write up about this topic:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13546

This is what I just installed and is probably the best automated system without having to switch manually between the batteries.

I will also add that if you are running dissimilar batteries (i.e. one cranking and one deep cycle) then try not to keep it on the "Both" setting (and also heard this about one new and one old battery - don't run on "Both" setting). I have heard arguments both ways so your mileage may vary.

jafo9....I had a 2007 X1 for several years (sold it a couple of years ago when the kids got too busy for wakeboarding all the time). Mastercraft's are great boats and the X30 does it all very well.

the battery is recharged just like your car battery. it receives charge from the alternator at roughly 14.4v. in the 1,2,1+2 scenario, only the battery(s) selected are going to get charge from the motor and only the battery(s) selected are going to power your accessories (radio/lights/etc). if you wanted to run the accessories off a separate battery that is not hooked into the boats charging system, you would have to devise a way to recharge the battery, i.e., separate AC battery charger you would plug in to a typical 110v house wall plug after each use. this would be a real hassle and surprisingly exactly how the fridge on my premier came wired from the factory. that was the main reason i installed the same setup as in reiner's excellent post. my install was a little different as i didn't use a separate box and i added a 2nd voltmeter to the helm to monitor the batteries independently.

the ACR setup solves the charging issue by giving charge to the 2nd or "house" battery only when it is appropriate and always prioritizes the 1st or "start" battery.

another option not mentioned yet is a jump box. it is amazing how small they have gotten in the last few years and the prices isn't horrible. if you are just running a factory radio and a few lights for a few hours at a time, it is not likely to completely drain a standard marine battery. a jump box would just be a nice insurance policy to get you cranked. the only hassle would be remembering to keep the box charged and remembering to bring it with you when you use the boat.

There is still another option available that I've personally seen utilized once myself.. This happens to be a Yamaha on the video, the one I witnessed was a 50 Honda, and a Mercury isn't likely to be any different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvPCPBIJ8w8