Jumper Cables
 

Is anyone traveling with these on board? Wether for yourself, or some unlucky boater. Just curious.

Yea I have a pair

Booster pack, easier. Sometimes you need veeeery long cables to be able to connect...

Yup. A battery switch :)

Seatow!!!

in theory, with a multiple battery system that is properly kept and managed, you should never need one. on a side note you should also never run with the battery switch in the "all" position, that is only for starting purpose. if you are one of those guys that runs in the "all" position. . . . . . better pick up some jumper cables :D

Please help me out here, with twins/triples I'd never run in the "All" position, start there if necessary then switch engines to their individual battery(s) to isolate a bad battery or slowly get some charge into it.

With a single, if I have one crook battery, if it's not totally dead, I would have thought running on all batteries might get some charge into the tired one while maintaining the good one(s). If I'm out for the day, I hate worrying that I only have one good one. When at anchor, I always isolate batteries.

RR

I helped out a guy one day at a boat ramp. Had to go back to my truck to get cables. I got him started and he left a big scratch in my boat that didn't notice until I pulled the boat later that day.

you can run in the all position in necessity but don't make a habit of it and correct whatever problem as soon as possible. if you have a battery that goes down from use like running a stereo all day, switch to all and start the dead side but switch back to it's parent system and allow it to charge normally. it still comes back to managing charge and maintaining the system, but if you have an issue out on the water then by all means use the "all" position as needed. Not sure if you gain any charge advantage in running both, I would think letting the low sides charge on it's own would be better.

I don't carry much in the line of tools these days, but I still carry a set of jumper cables. That said, in 20+ yrs. of boating, many of those yrs. with a single engine and one battery, I only used them once.

I bought a set of 16 footers for like 20 bucks at harbor freight . I also ordered remote jumper posts from summit racing and mounted them in an easy to reach location. My hatch is hydraulic and batteries are in engine room. If they go dead I'm kinda screwed even though pump is mounted outside in a compartment. Cant really put that much power through a tiny gauge wire so opted to remote posts. Happy to say since I did this I haven't needed the cables lol!

^^^ Did you check to see if those cables are rated for the amperage needed and length? When pricing adequate cables, I was in the $80 range and not at HFT.

Thought about cables then killed that idea for a jump box that many on OSO are using. I rather be self sufficient , so between that, Boat US towing and battery switches, I feel I'm covered.

The day you take them out is the day you will need them. Better to have them and not need them...


I keep some on the boat, but one day took them out to use them on the farm for starting the backhoe. (They are long and heavy duty) I then forgot to put them back on the boat and lo and behold, ran the battery dead the next weekend. We found some cables, but they weren't heavy enough to get enough juice to my boat to turn the motor over fast enough and run the electronics to start it. That was a long tow back to the ramp. Quality cables aren't cheap, you need really, really heavy cables to go 20' and start a fuel injected big block. ..

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Exactly. My first outing in the NT lost all battery juice to the engine batteries, amazingly, both alternators were shot. Previous owner ran them in ALL and I guess that tears them up. Anyway, was able to jump the engine batteries from the accessory batteries to make it back to dock. So if you have batteries just for accessories, jumpers can come in handy if you should be so unlucky to lose both engine batteries.

So my wife's boat says to never move the switch while the engine is running or alternator damage may occur. I have always moved the switch from "all" to "2" after I throw anchor before cranking up the tunes. Is this wrong?

Running in ALL is not recommended. I'm sure that's why I had to buy 2 new alternators when I bought my boat. I run port 1 and starboard 2. ALL when boat is off and on shore power.

I have a single engine boat with dual batteries. I always run "all". I park and listen to the radio on all as well. Never have an issue. My diesel truck has 2 batteries wired the same way. I dont get why its an issue.

^^^^Dual engines, each has a battery switch...put on all combines the two motors.^^^

It's only an issue with 2 engines (2 alternators tied together). One alternator changing 2 discharged batteries can damage the alternator.

How do you know if both batteries are good? One may be crook and you'd never know.
Single engine with two batteries, when you anchor its good to switch to one battery so if you have any problems, you still have the second battery available.

RR

Ya, I would run half the day on 1 battery, then half the day on the other to keep them charged.

I have an onboard battery charger on my current boat. I was thinking I should also carry an extension cord.

I have boats with a single motor and dual motors that have 2 battery set ups. Always ran on All. If I planned on parking some place for hours I may go to one just in case I ran it into the ground I would have the other to back it up but I have never had an issue. Now I have found if you leave your batteries on All when the boat is stored and have a bad one it will suck power out of the good one so I always turn them off when the boat is not in use unless its sitting in water and needs the bilge pump on.

I have a 25' set on every boat. You never know when someone else might need a jump.

Yep, last year I was at put in bay and it was raining the entire weekend. With no access to shore power to keep the charger going, I went ahead and left the batteries all on in parallel to make sure the bilge pumps could run as long as possible if needed. Id rather deal with dead batteries than a sunk boat.

So, some of you don't have hard wired bilge pumps ? Meaning, if you turn your batt switches to off, your pumps get no power ?

No, its hard wired of course but If the switches were off, the bilge pump would drain the one battery that it is hard wired to. This is just a single engine boat that only has one bilge pump (have plans to install a backup). But by having all 3 batteries on and paralleled together, I have 3 times as much battery power to run the pump if needed with the constant rain water.

I have an on board battery charger. I leave the boat plugged in all the time at home. It acts as a tender to the batteries. I don't seem to have battery issues.

How is 2 alternators on a boat different from dual alternators in a diesel truck ?