Installing an EIDB

[rpaxton]

I am moving my batteries forward in the compartment in which they sit, and since I am paying a ton of money for good batter cables I am thinking about installing an EIDB system. How hard is this to accomplish on a boat that did not have one (2000 22i), and does anyone have a suggestion for an isolator switch to use? How does Tige create the system?

Thanks!

Rodg

[dingleberry]

I've read a number of threads on here that talk about the Blue Sea ACR as a pretty simple and effective system. Do a search for that on tigeowners and see if it gives you what you are looking for.

[chpthril]

Tige uses a diode type isolator. They work fine and are inexpensive, but I prefer to use an ACR (auto combiner relay) type set. They are simple and work great. The one I use in all my installs is the Blue Sea 7610 ACR. You can add a 1/2/BOTH/OFF battery switch and have the ability to use the "house" battery as a backup starting battery if needed.

I have done a few diagrams posted here, so try a search.

What are you paying for battery cable?

[rpaxton]

Tige uses a diode type isolator. They work fine and are inexpensive, but I prefer to use an ACR (auto combiner relay) type set. They are simple and work great. The one I use in all my installs is the Blue Sea 7610 ACR. You can add a 1/2/BOTH/OFF battery switch and have the ability to use the "house" battery as a backup starting battery if needed.

I have done a few diagrams posted here, so try a search.

What are you paying for battery cable?

I paid $6.50 a foot for 2/0 wire. I purchased 22 feet total and some conectors for a nice hit of $175!!

[chpthril]

Ouch! That marine-grade 'll gitchya!

[rpaxton]

Ouch! That marine-grade 'll gitchya!

Sad to say that is just automotive grade! That is what is in my boat currently. By the way, I think that I will go with the add a battery system from blue sea. That looks like what I am looking for. Something where I don't have to constantly worry about switching the battery selector around. Thanks for the info!!

[worsty]

Go with what Dingleberry and chpthrl suggested in regards to the Blue Seas ACR. Stay away from BEP combiners (big gray squares with a red switch on top). Remeber to fuse/breaker your feeds and have disconnect switches properly installed. Blue Seas has a good website to look at their products and to properly wire them.

[chpthril]

Sad to say that is just automotive grade! That is what is in my boat currently. By the way, I think that I will go with the add a battery system from blue sea. That looks like what I am looking for. Something where I don't have to constantly worry about switching the battery selector around. Thanks for the info!!

One thing to note about the Blue Sea 7650 Add-A-Battery system, it uses an Off/1-ON/Both switch. The down side to this switch, IMO, is combining a good battery with a discharged battery. The juice from the full battery will flood into the dead battery, leaving you with 2 low batteries. This equalization could be enough to prevent the once fully charged battery from starting the engine.

For this reason, I buy the 7610 ACR and a 1/2/Both/Off switch separately. This gives the flexibility to start off of Batt-1, Batt-2 or combine the 2 if needed, and the ACR does it's thing when the engine is running.

[rpaxton]

One thing to note about the Blue Sea 7650 Add-A-Battery system, it uses an Off/1-ON/Both switch. The down side to this switch, IMO, is combining a good battery with a discharged battery. The juice from the full battery will flood into the dead battery, leaving you with 2 low batteries. This equalization could be enough to prevent the once fully charged battery from starting the engine.

For this reason, I buy the 7610 ACR and a 1/2/Both/Off switch separately. This gives the flexibility to start off of Batt-1, Batt-2 or combine the 2 if needed, and the ACR does it's thing when the engine is running.

I am currently running with a 1/2/both/off switch, but I wanted to go with an EIDB system so that I did not have to keep switching between house and start batteries. I usually just end up running on the house battery for tunes and starts, and keeping the start battery in reserve.

The switch Blue Sea shows in the add-a-battery package appears to have seperate electrical paths for the two batteries, but only combines them when you select "combine". So are you saying that the ACR will combine the batteries and let them equalize? It is my understanding that 2 minutes after the engine is shut down the ACR will seperate the house and start batteries as well.

Am I understanding the ACR and switch circuit correctly?

I thought about using one of their remote switches, but it looks like I would need at least 2 if not 3 of those to do the same thing.

What I am trying to accomplish is what I understand, from my dealer, that the new Tiges do, and that is when you put the ignition key in accessory you are switching the electrical load to the house battery. Is that a correct understanding of what they are doing?