Do these work well?

[cosander]

I want to keep my starting battery for starting only and my lights,sonar,stereo on another battery is this what I need? http://www.amarket.com/imdc270.htm

 

[vipzach]

Re: Do these work well?

I have never seen one like that, but it sounds like it would work. The one I have is from bass pro and was very easy to install and works great. It is called Bass Pro Shops® XPS™ 12V Phase Charger. I tried to copy the link for you, but it was to long to insert. Go to bass pro's web and search for it, if you want.

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: Do these work well?

Most iBoaters seem to use either the West Marine (Yandina) Combiner:<br /><br /> http://www.yandina.com/c150Info.htm <br /><br />Or the BEP Marine combiner:<br /><br /> http://www.bepmarine.com/showproduct.cfm?productid=12 <br /><br />I use 2 of the West 150 combiners in a 3 battery system and they work great. Many people rave about the BEP model as well.

 

[cosander]

Re: Do these work well?

I like the price of the one at amarket. Does anyone see why I should spend an extra $100 bucks for one of the others

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: Do these work well?

The old fashioned way was to use a battery isolator, which is a set of diodes which allow the charge to go to each battery but doesn't allow the batteries to connect to each other. One problem is that there is a voltage drop across the isolator means you need to have an externally regulated alternator with a voltage sense wire downstream of the isolator. Another problem is the high failure rate of isolators. Another is that the voltage drop means wasted energy.

http://www.pkys.com/FAQ/Charging_multiple_batteries.htm <br /><br /><br />That is why Isolators have heat sinks - the inefficiency is dissipated as heat and the voltage drop can prevent full charging. That's why they are cheap. Combiners are simply switches that turn on and odd automatically as needed.