OK , I see your point. I have 2 choices. I can keep the combiner and
use only one tap from the charger. The result is a starting battery
that is never optimally charged. Or I can lose the combiner, use both
taps of the charger and get optimally charged battery banks, but have
to deal with the inconvenience of manual switching.



On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 17:19:29 -0400, "Doug Dotson"
wrote:

I don't like them. They don;t provide an optimal
charge for the start battery. A better solution is to get an Eliminator
from
AmplePower or an EchoCharge from Balmar. They provide a
better charge for the starting battery. Depending upon your use,
using the second tap on the charger is great if you get to shorepower
regularly. If you are away from shorepower for extended
periods then charging you house bank from the alternator
with an Eliminator or EchoCharge is a better solution.
The problem with your current setup is that the starting battery is
being charged by both outputs of the shorepower charger. As such
it cannot determine when to taper off the charge on just the starting
battery.

Doug
s/v Callista

"johnh" wrote in message
news:YS18d.171507$D%.29911@attbi_s51...
Doug, could you be more specific, why do you recommend getting rid of the
combiner?

I would think the problem is that the charger takes its lead from the main
bank which probably requires more charging than the starter and
consequently the starter bank is being over charged.

I know of combiners, isolators and echo chargers, but do not know which is
the best. Without one of them, you need dual outputs from both the
charger and alternator or you need a 1/2/both switch which is no longer
the recommended approach. I use an echo charger and only connect the
charger to the main bank and it works great.

Don't slam me hear, I'm still trying to get a handle on best practices,
and why, myself.

John


"Doug Dotson" wrote in message
...
Yes. The purpose of a combiner is to connect the starter battery
to the charger when it needs sharging. Either get rid of the combiner
(recommended) or remove the charging connection from the
charger to the starter battery.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Marc" wrote in message
...
I suspect something is wrong, but need confirmation. I have three
deep cycle wet group 24's as the house bank and 1 deep cycle wet
group 24 as the starting bank. A 150 amp combiner is installed
between the banks and both banks are connected to individual legs of a
xantrex 20 amp charger.

The boat sits in a slip with shore power connected, charger on, and a
reefer running 24/7 off the house bank.

I am losing electrolyte faster in the starting bank than the house
bank.

Question : Since I have a combiner, should the charger be hooked up
to both banks? Could this be causing the electrolyte loss?