Lights when at anchor.

[boboncc]

My wife, the person I was worried about when getting into boating ;D, wants to have a go spending the night on the boat this summer.
Now I know whilst anchored I have to display an all round white light. I only have the one battery (new & fully charged) and since having no experience of this, I am wondering if there is a problem of draining it and not being able to start the outboard in the morning. All advice appreciated!

Cheers
Bob

[lethal098]

Bob,
There is always a chance of having the battery drain overnight, Just ask the guys that spend a very cold night missing on Moreton Bay last night. Cause we spent 12+ hours looking for them cause of a flat battery,

Personally i would invest in a jump starter pack to ensure that you can start the next day,

Not worth the risk in my opinion,

[Noelm]

rather than have to carry around a jump starter gizmo, just get a second battery and have a switch, that way you have a 'spare" battery in case something goes wrong. Very common in boats, one battery for the motor only, and the second battery to run all the "stuff" you have on board.

[boboncc]

Thanks lethal098
Yeah I was a bit concerned. I was half thinking of having a second battery fitted but will also look into a jump starter pack.

Cheers
Bob

[thelump]

Always a chance but with new LED lights not much of a chance of the anchor light alone draining battery. I used to carry a jump start pack as lethal recommends but have never had to use it. I recently installed a second battery for peace of mind. To give you some idea I did an overnighter recently had the anchor light (led) on all night and a fluoro deck light from 6pm to around 1.30am as well as the stereo from 6 -12 midnight. Motor fired easily the next morning on the same battery.

[thelump]

FYI my second battery setup cost me under $300 to setup. And very easy!

[boboncc]

Thanks Noelm, we must have posted at the same time.
As my later post suggests, that is something I am considering.

Cheers
Bob

[boboncc]

Thanks Macca. I had been thinking about it for "peace of mind" reasons, but where I got the boat serviced they didn't think it was necessary. They however did not know about over nighting.
I thought it would be a bit more than $300, did you do the job yourself?

Cheers
Bob

[Fed]

Regardless of the light you should always have a couple of ways of starting your motor, main battery + pull start or jump starter or second battery.

With the light $20 or so will get you a LED light powered by a torch battery if you're only using it a few times a year, even if you put a new battery in it every time. Cable tie it to your aerial or something.

[boboncc]

Thanks Fed, the more I think about it, I will probably get the second battery. It covers the light situation and will be a good back up if the other battery fails.

Cheers
Bob

[Scalem]

Bob, I had a dual switch installed at the boats' last service which was at 260 Hours for F115 Yammy 4s. Total cost $783.00 including fuel and oil filter, water pump, Oil + labor.

The actual battery switch cost was $45.00, IMHO I preferred to have the guys install it while in for a service, even IF I knew what I was doing electrically ( which I don't) all the running around getting cable, cutting it to length, where a pair of normal side cutters won't do it I am pretty sure, a marine dealer would have all the tools. I am not prepared to take the risk doing it myself, besides, my shed is full as it is with left over bits and pieces from DIY jobs over the years.

The one thing you have not told us is what size motor you are running and what sort of boating you do? If you are an offshore fisho backup power importance is x 10!! My F115 was supplied with a zip chord where you can wrap a few loops around the flywheel if you were really desperate, but good luck trying! I think the biggest motor I successfully pull started was my old 3cylinder 2 stroke Jono on the previous boat I owned. Let's just say that was challenging, and the panic that sets in after the 1st 2 attempts failed.....

Those jump starter thingies you can get from auto shops?? Don't waste your money. 1st, they are not marine and the salt rusts everything in no time. The bigger your motor, the more amps you will need so 900 or 1200 amps will cost you.

Depending on how your electrics are wired, best option is a dual switch and 2nd battery. Because I am a tight a$$ my 2nd battery came out of my mothers Kia Rio where she left the cabin light on for a week making it totally flat and she wanted a new one. Sure! I replaced it with a new Century, took the old one home and charged it up fully. It ran electrics for 2 years and started the outboard on battery position 2 before I replaced my primary ( now 4 years old and second battery) with a new marine battery, and the car battery went to my brothers wifes car, still going to my knowledge. During the entire lifecycle of any battery running your boat, buy yourself a battery tester, they are very cheap to buy, and check battery regularly.

Scalem

[ITZADOOZEE]

Thanks Macca. I had been thinking about it for "peace of mind" reasons, but where I got the boat serviced they didn't think it was necessary. They however did not know about over nighting.
I thought it would be a bit more than $300, did you do the job yourself?

Cheers
Bob

I recently have just done this install myself in my boat, I'm certainly no electrical genius, but it was very easy to do. All up I paid about $170 for the battery, about $30 for the switch and less than $20 for the 2 additional cables required. All done it took less than half an hour.

[Cheech]

Second battery is a must. Also to keep costs down, you don't actually have to have it wired. Just have one on board so that you can swap it over if you have to.

Last year I was over at Morton and some guy in a runabout with only one battery had a flat. I ended up disconnecting one of mine, connect to his boat so that he could start it, then switch back to his battery. Would have saved a lot of mucking around for all of us if he just had one (connected or not).

[Chong]

mmmmm,
I recall a certain fishing trip at Mud when both batt. and switch failed:'(:o
Someone had to pull start the 100hp merc;);):-X
Cheers

[deckie]

Dont bother going to the expense until you know if you will be doing it again.
If its a trip of discovery to see if she (and you) enjoy the odd night out then maybe just get an LED white light that is battery powered....alternatively if the car battery is due for replacement anytime soon then maybe replace that now and take the old one out with you and run the light/s off that for the night, or carry it just in case.
A lot of people go out at night once and never again...not everyone's cup of tea. We'll all happily advise you how to spend your wallet on dual batt systems if you want to go the full hog...but i think from the sounds of things might be a tad premature.
If its an LED all round white light you wont have a problem as they'd be lucky to drain 0.5A, say 6A total overnight. If u have a little batt test voltmeter you could always test the batt once settled in at anchor and check its well charged...peace of mind. Just carrying a charged second batt with leads (or matching terminals) is actually a dual batt system itself...doesnt need to be connected up.

[solemandownunder]

Regardless of the light you should always have a couple of ways of starting your motor, main battery + pull start or jump starter or second battery.

With the light $20 or so will get you a LED light powered by a torch battery if you're only using it a few times a year, even if you put a new battery in it every time. Cable tie it to your aerial or something.

Hey Fed.....I LIKES this idea immensely.....also gets around the 1 meter high all round "at anchor" white light during dusk till dawn.

and WOULD WORK as well using the white light whilst underway (including the running lights of course) so it is out of ur eyes.

Of COURSE, I am only speaking in regards to smaller boats/tinnies up to say around 5 mts with no half cabin.

Thanks, Ray & Kerri.

[Fed]

I think a lot of this does get down to the boat & motor size.
You wouldn't want to be putting 2 full size batteries in a <5M boat, nothing worse than crippling a good hull with too much weight.
I can pull start my 90 HP V4 2 stroke with one hand, it surprised me how easy it was.
BTW, my 90 HP only needs 360 CCA so keep it real.
Right now I use a main battery + jump starter + pull rope and I feel pretty safe with that.
If I had a 6 M boat I'd choose 2 hard wired batteries.

OK Bob what have you got?

[JulianDeMarchi]

Thanks Macca. I had been thinking about it for "peace of mind" reasons, but where I got the boat serviced they didn't think it was necessary. They however did not know about over nighting.
I thought it would be a bit more than $300, did you do the job yourself?

Cheers
Bob

$200 for a god marine battery
$50 for the correct switch
$50 for the wiring you'd need

+ labour if you don't trust yourself to do it right. I'd recommend trying yourself however. If something goes wrong "out there" you know where to look to fix and you have a good understanding of how it works.

[Fed]

Hard wiring does add a huge point of failure into the system, I have very little trust in those changeover switches.
They might be rated to hundreds of Amps in the test lab but putting them into a salt environment is a different story.

Then you also double the amount of connection failure points too, with no switch there is only 4 connections but with a switch that jumps to 8.

Here's a good read for anyone interested, 53 potential connections to stop your motor from starting.
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/electricStart.html
Admittedly he has broken it down to every possible connection, but it is correct.

EDit: To push up to a couple of hundred Amps with only 12 Volts requires very good connections.

[thelump]

Thanks Macca. I had been thinking about it for "peace of mind" reasons, but where I got the boat serviced they didn't think it was necessary. They however did not know about over nighting.
I thought it would be a bit more than $300, did you do the job yourself?

Cheers
Bob


Mate I did it myself. It is pretty easy if I have a crack at it I'll tell ya. Battery was $154 (seamaster m70) Had the switch but they are around $50 Cable cost me about $30 and a battery box was about $20. I got the lugs for a couple of bucks each and had them crimped on at an electrical wholesaler as I visit them regularly for my work. Heat shrunk the ends and whack it all together. Took under an hour to do.

[boboncc]

Everyone thanks for taking the time to give me your advice, sorry I've not replied individually to some but there are a lot of posts.

I have a H.Sig 5.30SF with no pull start on the motor, I will probably go with Noelm's suggestion of two batteries, one for electronic gear and one for the motor, that way I will have peace of mind and all things should be covered. The extra weight should not be a problem as there is rarely more than three on the boat, I'm the heaviest and the rest are light weights.



Cheers
Bob

[the gecko]

If you get the second battery, install a VSR Voltage Sensative Relay Switch for $80. It will charge the main battery while the motor is running, then when the main is full, it will automatically charge the accessories battery.

Nice to know the main is always charged, and all your lights are running off a second battery. With LED lights and the sounder running, I get 3-4 nights trips before I need to manually charge the second battery. Main gets charged once a year, and I fish once a week.

[wayno60]

$200 for a god marine battery

I didn't know he was into batteries too!!

[BLOOEY]

I didn't know he was into batteries too!!

Got his finger in all the pies wayno, haha.

[goat boy]

Those little LED all round lights draw bugger all power. I regularly do overnighters and leave it on all night as well as GPS etc and never had an issue. I have a second battery though just in case (I'm out in some pretty remote areas for 3 or 4 days a time). Its not all hooked up, just in one of those pre-wired boxes with the 12v plugs as well. I figure it would take me 2mins to disconnect and reconnect if I needed. JMO