Thanks for all who responded. I guess I'll go with the combiner instead of
the isolator. (Hate to change my mind, the isolator was free and is already
mounted.) The combiner has two indicator lights, so I guess I'll mount it on
the outside of the engine cover so I can see them without having to remove
the rear two seat and the engine cover.

Bill
"Gary Warner" wrote in message
...

"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