battery box

antlr-king · Post by **antlr-king** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:06 am

this picture is what I used to have in the boat. everything has been gutted, rebuilt, cleaned and ready for bilge coat. I was looking for battery box ideas. I dont like the plastic containers thats there. Also they are covered in oil so bad Im just going to toss them. So if you guys have any pictures of what you might of done in this area i would love to see them. thanks.

jddens · Post by **jddens** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:11 am

This is my setup. 3 battery boxes. The red tops originally had 2-6V each, now there's 1 group 29 in each box. The shared starter battery is in the black batt box. My 30' Seas Raider has the same layout as your F30......John

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 1:01 pm

here is what I did,
I build two battery boxes out of 3/4 plywood and coated them in epoxy.the ceter floor boards in the photos are turned upside down to keep the "top" clean until I finished the engine installs, my plan is to cover them with teak and holly when I do the cabin sole this spring.

each hold 3 group 31 marine batteries, I cut 2" diameter holes to allow cable access and for ventilation. The forward box acts as a step the aft box acts as a tool box stand.

antlr-king · Post by **antlr-king** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 1:47 pm

very cool. thanks for the ideas. i notice you guys have 2 battery switches. mine only has 1. it has 1,2, all. is this ok? or should i have 2 battery switches? whats the advantages? when out to do some bilge coat today, but forgot some tools at home. damn. the new engines are being delivered tommorrow. woo hoo. then the reel fun begins. thanks again for the pictures.

jddens · Post by **jddens** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 5:16 pm

The two switches isolate the house batts from the starting batt. This prevents running down the starting battery while on the hook or off the charger. It also make all batts combineable so if the starting batt does get low you can combine the house batts and use them all to start...........John

antlr-king · Post by **antlr-king** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:16 pm

ok thanks. i might have to do that. we had a week of rain before the haul out and the auto bilge float switch kept coming on and all 3 batteries went dead. that should keep that from happening.

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 8:05 pm

antlr-king wrote:...... we had a week of rain before the haul out and the auto bilge float switch kept coming on and all 3 batteries went dead. that should keep that from happening.

The battery charger will keep that from happening

But seriously, let's think about this; if the battery charger was off, and there was enough rain to keep the pump going that much, I'd want the pumps to have access to as much battery power as possible and drain them all rather than have one battery still OK but have water up to the floor boards, in the engines etc etc

jddens · Post by **jddens** » Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:51 am

Big D is right on....you should have a good charger that is always on when on shore power. It keeps the batts topped off and goes in a "float" mode when fully charged......John