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Hi Guys...a newbie who has been absorbing info the last 3 weeks after having purchased my FW Horizon 250.

Quick question: This boat has the factory dual-battery setup. Can someone tell me which of the 2 batteries is the main "starting" battery? Or are the both identical and it doesn't matter?

I ask because I'm going to be installing a dual battery charger and one of the 2 leads is marked for the "main starting" battery. The battery that sits closest to the engine has just 2 leads going to the pos/neg terminals. The most starboard battery has an extra wire-bundle going to each pos/neg terminal that I assumed was for all the stereo, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!

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'04 Four Winns Horizon 250 - Volvo Penta 5.7L DP

The factory dual battery installation doesn't differentiate. The typical installation was a pair of dual-purpose group 27's, both mounted in the aft starboard area, connected to a Perko 1/2/both/off switch. Many 230's had a starboard list due to so much weight from the dual batteries being mounted on that side, and they had to have one or both batteries moved to port. I'm not aware of any 250's having that problem though.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Thank you very much for this information! It will make the install go a lot more smoothly now....thank you!

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'04 Four Winns Horizon 250 - Volvo Penta 5.7L DP

On my H250, both batteries are DP27's both mounted on the starboard side just as Mike mentioned. I typically run off battery #1 on one outing, then switch to #2 on the next outing, and so forth. As far as the listing, my H250 does list slightly starboard, but it's barely even noticable. However, I'm not a small guy @ 260 lbs, my wife weighs well over 100 lbs less than me, and we typically use our own cooler and store on the starboard side of the rear seating area (I normally use the factory cooler as a snack drawer). We're not helping the weight of our batteries with our normal set up and like I said above, our boat only lists slightly. I also have the trim tabs. So if the wind (or my big butt) is making the boat list more noticably, then I can easily level it off. I rarely use them, though.

Please let us know how the charger install works out. I am contemplating this upgrade during the next off season. I would be curious to know of any issues you face given it sounds like we have the same basic battery setup.

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2005 FW Horizon 250
8.1L VP DP

To those contemplating moving a battery, I originally had a single system with the battery on the starboard side. I did not want to put both batteries on the starboard side for the listing concern and my boat already had a slight starboard list. I put the other battery on the port side. The positive cable that runs from the port side battery had to be about 9 feet long to make it from the batt, across the transom and back up to the switch. I wound up using 1/0 cable for this run and all the other runs (much shorter) I used 2 ga cable. If you move the battey and do not use a heavy enough cable you can get voltage drop and heating of the cables. I have not had any problems with this system in the 5 years it's been in so the cable size must be adequate....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

The install couldn't have been more simple. It took less than 1 hour (and likely could have taken 30 mins start-to-finish) and I mounted it close to the batteries (both left in the stock, starboard position). You basically attach 2 leads (pos/neg) to each battery terminal via the pre-existing wingnuts and just plug her in once she's in my boat slip. I keep the battery selector switch on "OFF".

I went back 24 hours after the initial install and the batteries were in the second "top off" stage. Went out boating......came back, put it on the charger again, and both batteries were topped off in less than 12 hours, so all is good-to-go.

My boat doesn't noticably list to starboard, unless I'm going crazy and just can't tell! Thank you guys very much for the information...awesome resource, this board is!

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'04 Four Winns Horizon 250 - Volvo Penta 5.7L DP