anyone add a battery cut-off switch?

[bajaman123]

I always disconnect my battery leads from the machine when I put the trickle charger/maintainer on, as there seems to be much agreement to NOT even have a maintainer connected with the battery leads connected to the machine. So with this in mind, for the sake of convenience it would be nice to be able to leave the battery connected but turn a disconnect switch (like on full-size boats) to 'off' so no juice went from the charger to the machine. Has anyone done this, and if so, what switch did you use, and how did you like the results?

 

[mbellomy]

I have two cut-off switch's sitting on my workbench to do just this to my pair of Sea Doo's. I've been warned that Sea Doo's kill batteries due to constant drain and I keep them on a maintainer as best as I can, but a disconnect switch just like you say is the logical solution. I haven't rigged them up yet but will post some pic's once I do. I don't see any possible down-side to this.... when people tell me they "pull their batteries" every winter I just think "OMG you're crazy!"

 

[rusty nail]

if you leave your ski/boat in the water for long periods of time, and the automatic bilge pump is an important part of that, make sure the it is still lively even when the disconnect is thrown.

 

[bajaman123]

And...does it matter if it's on the negative or positive terminal? I believe my manual has several places where it states to always remove the negative cable first when doing battery work...not sure if that is related to protecting the MPEM or something else...

 

[mikidymac]

The disconnects are always on the positive cable for some reason.

 

[bajaman123]

Cool, thank you.