Spent this evening constructing a wooden backer frame for the Blue Seas battery switch that I will be installing tomorrow. The Optima Blue Top will be set up on one side of the switch and the Interstate Deep Cell that came with the rig will be on the other. The switch also has a "both" setting that can be used to maintain full charge to both batteries when hooked up to shore power. As a reminder, I elected to go this route due to the dealer provided battery not having sufficient power to run the fridge for a days preparatory cooling prior to camping trips. The "house" Optima battery will be used for prep purposes, and in the event it is drawn down the "starter" Interstate battery can be used to crank the Onan generator to restore the charge to the Optima. Sorry about the boat nomenclature, but I figured if it works on the boat, I would adopt the same methodology for the Montana. Will post some follow-up pics later this weekend. Will be camping next weekend and plan on installation of the TST TPMS and the wireless auto-start for the generator. Pics will follow on that one as well.
Bingo
Got the battery switch installed and both batteries are good to go. Her is a pic of the batteries side-by-side in the battery bay prior to the switch installation:
A picture of the switch mounted on the backer board prior to installation:
Finally a picture of the final product on it's initial installation. As time allows the entire board and switch will be mounted in a more permanent fashion, possibly on the generator compartment wall or perhaps as a shelf addition a little higher than shown. That will allow easier access to the batteries:
For the time being, this installation will suffice, until I can get it "prettied up".
Linear Mode
