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Perko switch vs battery isolator

Posted on 6/5/16 at 7:12 pm
Posted by Ice Cream Sammich
Baton Rouge
Member since Apr 2010
10110 posts
Posted on 6/5/16 at 7:12 pm
Howdy all. I am planning on purchasing a boat in the near future. I am trying to work out all the details before hand and am even purchasing a few of the small items.

I have a questions as to how to wire the batteries. The boat I am looking at has a 24v trolling motor system. It also has a 12v battery for starting the motor. I want to add an additional 12v battery for electronics (home battery).

The two easiest options are a Perko switch and/or a battery isolator.

These two things do almost the same thing, but not quite. The Perko allows me to choose batt 1, batt 2, neither, or both. The both is kind of what I am going for, but if I get a bad cell, it will drain both batteries. OR if I leave the radio on overnight, it will drain both my starter and house battery.
The battery isolator allows for both batteries to be charged by the alternator when the motor is running. OR by the 3 bank battery charger that is installed in the boat. It also keeps both batteries completely separate when they are not charging so that one cannot drain the other. Now, if my starter batt drains, I will have to manually swap wires to the house batt, but at least it can be done.

Now, the old batt isolators were bad because the voltage drop was up to 1v. This never allowed either batteries to fully charge and significantly reduced their lifespan. The one that I linked from Amazon is supposed to not have the parasitic voltage loss, but I dont know if thats true or not.

I guess the other reason that I do not want the Perko... If I drop anchor and fish for 5 minutes, I do not want to have to switch from 1 to 2. Then 5 minutes later, switch from 2 to 1 to move to another channel to fish.

Finally, I guess all I am asking, someone please explain why you would use which one.
This post was edited on 6/5/16 at 7:22 pm
Posted by hogdaddy
Krotz Springs
Member since Feb 2010
5153 posts
Posted on 6/5/16 at 8:54 pm to
This is my set up. It combines both the A/B switch and Isolator.
Posted by SeaPickle
Thibodaux
Member since May 2011
3132 posts
Posted on 6/5/16 at 9:32 pm to
Sent you an email
Posted by Ice Cream Sammich
Baton Rouge
Member since Apr 2010
10110 posts
Posted on 6/5/16 at 9:33 pm to
Hog, I found that after posting all of this. It's exactly what I want. Simple on/off and dual charging. Thanks for posting it still though.

Did you install yours or get it done?

Also, do you have a battery charger? If so, do you have it ran to your house batt and flowing to your starter or starter to house batt? On just the isolator diagram, it has charger to house batt. That seems backward.
Posted by hogdaddy
Krotz Springs
Member since Feb 2010
5153 posts
Posted on 6/5/16 at 10:02 pm to
I did mine, I'd used a Minn kota 4 bank charger and went to each battery individual. Two batteries for the trolling motor, one for the Acc. And one for the outboard.
Posted by Ice Cream Sammich
Baton Rouge
Member since Apr 2010
10110 posts
Posted on 6/5/16 at 10:11 pm to
How bad was the install? I'm handy, but not fluent in wiring and electrical. However, with the diagrams, it doesn't appear to be too bad. I actually don't even know if I have room to stuff another battery in the console either. May just run a bigger starter battery.

I'll look online to see what to do with a 3 bank on 4 batteries.
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