[SKIPJACKSLAYER]

My boat has 2 batteries. One house, one starting. The starting battery is larger than the house battery. I can’t tell you the exact sizes of them right now. But they are hooked up to a Marinco Parallel battery switch. Here’s where it gets confusing. The switch has 1, 1&2, parallel, and off switch options. Not like your regular perko battery switch. Position 1 does nothing but turn on the mercury VesselView. Postion 1&2 runs all the systems, but only one battery(starting) is charging during this process. Position 3 “parallel” using all systems and charges both batteries. After Using 1&2 all day, my power steering, trim tabs and jackplate all stopped working due to low voltage. So after fully charging all batteries and running only on parallel setting, I’ve had zero issues. Parallel is supposed to pull power from the other battery to start the motor in a dead battery situation, seems odd that I need to run it in this setting at all times in order for everything to work. There is also a DVSR (digital voltage sensing relay) in the wiring schematics that is supposed to decide which battery to charge due to voltage demand?? Also there may be 2 inline fuses, one for each battery cable that I haven’t been able to locate yet. I’ve spoke to the dealer, and the manufacturer and they both said they didn’t wire this thing up and blamed it on each other. Not a common switch and I’m trying to figure it out and prevent further voltage problems without having to running it on parallel at all times. Would be much easier to have a 1, 2, 1&2, and off setting switch and control which battery I use for all functions. I’m also wondering if the power steering, jackplate, and trim tabs should even be hooked up to the house battery… bc the motor starts off of the other battery. Could this be the main issue here? Included below is the switch itself, and the wiring schematic that is supposed to be with this switch on a single engine dual battery application. I have checked all settings with a multimeter while the boat is in idle at the ramp to verify which batteries are actually charging and when.

 

[Sgrem]

Dude.
Remove switch. Light on fire.
Replace with an off/on/emergency switch and an ACR.

On mine I turn it in. I turn it off. Works flawlessly and seamlessly. Have never used the emergency combine. Have never run out of house or starting since I wired it in.

 

[habanerojooz]

Agreed. I have the BlueSeas Add-A-Battery switch and ACR. It’s a simple solution for a house and starter battery setup and it works very well.

 

[Sgrem]

That's the setup. Very simple solution so you never have to start a post with "advanced" and "electrical" in the same discussion.

 

[SKIPJACKSLAYER]

Agreed. I have the BlueSeas Add-A-Battery switch and ACR. It’s a simple solution for a house and starter battery setup and it works very well.

Is the emergency switch and acr really necessary though? Why not just a “1, 2 , and both” type of switch?

 

[Sgrem]

Just makes things so simple. On turns on everything. Off turns off everything. Emergency is just that. And the charging is seamless as it charges both. Everything on autopilot. Less fail points and more backups in a simpler setup.

You already ended up with a dead battery....that's why....and you have indicated things are confusing....thats why....so I would say yes it's necessary to alleviate those aspects.

 

[Jkmoore03]

Agreed. I have the BlueSeas Add-A-Battery switch and ACR. It’s a simple solution for a house and starter battery setup and it works very well.

I have the same setup on my current and previous boat. Best and easiest way to go.

 

[SKIPJACKSLAYER]

Just makes things so simple. On turns on everything. Off turns off everything. Emergency is just that. And the charging is seamless as it charges both. Everything on autopilot. Less fail points and more backups in a simpler setup.

You already ended up with a dead battery....that's why....and you have indicated things are confusing....thats why....so I would say yes it's necessary to alleviate those aspects.

ok let’s say I wire It up your way and I drain the battery down with my stereo at the ski canals. Am I draining both batteries down to the point of failure? Or just one?

 

[Sgrem]

Just one.
Starting is wired to motor only.
House is wired to everything else.
Then if you start your motor and cruise around for 45 mins it will charge up your stereo battery.

 

[habanerojooz]

From the looks of your wiring diagram, it appears that your DVSR operates similar to the ACR.

I wonder if your setup was wired correctly. If it is wired correctly, then I’d wonder if the DVSR is working correctly.

Here’s a pic of my switch and ACR…

 

[habanerojooz]

I found this Marinco video that explains the features of your switch. It appears that setting 1&2 is the proper setting to use during normal operation.

 

[Gilbert]

get rid of that and follow sgrems post. I have a cranking battery with the motor/gps/nav lights/jack plate/power pole and house battery for the live wells/underwater lights/deck lights/radio/amp/usb charging ports.

 

[troutsupport]

Ditto on the above.... Blue Seas add a battery

I additionally added a charge on the run battery charger for the TM batts. it's triggered when the add a battery charges the house batter... that then turns on the charger for the TM batts, it also charges TM batts while running the boat.

 

[SKIPJACKSLAYER]

Just one.
Starting is wired to motor only.
House is wired to everything else.
Then if you start your motor and cruise around for 45 mins it will charge up your stereo battery.

Do you think it’s odd to wire the power steering to the house battery instead of the starting battery? Still trying to figure this out. And yes apparently this DVSR is supposed to function like an ACR so I’m wondering why I need to swap out what I already have for something else that has essentially the same function. Im just trying to understand the system I have now and it’s not very straightforward

 

[beefmaster]

That DVSR does perform the same function as the ACR, so if your system is wired correctly and the DVSR is good, then both batteries should charge when the switch is set to 1-2. When you shut the engine off the DVSR isolates the batteries so you can run house circuits (radio, livewells, etc) without running down your starting battery. Setting it to "Parallel" simply bridges the two batteries such that they are no longer isolated from each other and will in fact equalize in voltage.

Sounds to me like your DVSR is bad, but also sounds like it isn't wired correctly because I agree with you - the power steering should probably be on the cranking battery.