Two-Battery Two-Engine Battery Wiring

[batwingz]

I recently purchased a 1999 230 Outrage [later mentioned to be rigged with twin engines]. There is only one battery and one Perko switch in the boat. A diagram on a door shows two switches and two batteries. Give me pointers on how the boat was set-up originally. Thanks in advance,

Ed

[jimh]

I assume that since you mention your 1999 Boston Whaler 230 OUTRAGE has a diagram showing two batteries and two switches that the boat was rigged with twin engines. Please mention how many engines the boat has now.

The usual two-battery two-engine wiring for Boston Whaler is described in an old article I wrote years ago in REFERENCE. See

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... ttery.html


You can also ask Boston Whaler customer service for a wiring diagram. And try http://whalerparts.com to see if a wiring diagram is posted there.

If someone has been tinkering with the boat's electrical wiring--which is very common and must have occurred in your case--you should not expect that an original wiring diagram would describe the present wiring on your boat. Previous owners and dealers often add (or subtract) electrical wiring and circuits from boats. And often in a manner that is not particularly well done or attractive.

[batwingz]

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I have two engines and it appears that it was ordered that way as it has two feed line elbows coming out of the tank.

Ed

[jimh]

If you have two engines connected to one battery, you may have a problem (or may soon have a problem in the future) because the battery charging outputs of the two engines are connected together. Depending on how the battery charging outputs of the outboard engines are implemented, there is potential (pun intended) for wiring them in parallel to cause one of them to fail.