"Rod McInnis" wrote

The phrase: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind here. With
the
isolator, you can leave the switch on just one battery and both batteries
will still charge.

Same as for a combiner.


One issue with the battery combiner is that they are subject to failure.
The combiners have a current limit, and if you exceed that limit you can
destroy the combiner. The combiner connects the two batteries, and a
sudden
heavy load on one can start to draw current from the other until the
combiner disconnects.


I didn't know of think of that. Could happen on my boat it I shut down the
engine
and then restart it within the 5 or so seconds before the combiner
disconnects.
Now that I know that I'll take the time to see exactly how long the combiner
stayed connected after the engine if off (voltage has dropped). Then I'll
not restart the engine until after that time passes. (Not a likely scenario
except
maybe when troubleshooting something.)



You may not realize that it is no longer working until your "reserve"
battery is dead.

Good point. I'm pretty good at having safety habbits and am making up some
check-lists.
One thing to add to my mental & physical list is: Look at the combiner and
see that it's
indicator is on when it should be.


Thanks,
Gary