Battery switch

[JJ28]

I am a new owner of a 2006 Albin 28 TE flush deck with the Yanmar 6LPA-STP engine. I had to have the alternator rebuilt as I was getting no charge on the batteries. Now that Im generating electricity I have a couple of questions

1) If I keep my battery on 2 ( the starting battery) will it charge both batteries when underway.

2) Can I switch from 2 to both to 1 when underway as long as I don't go through the off position without harming the alternator in order to charge the house battery.

Any help would be appreciated. Jeff

[catalina_mike]

1. no it will not, it ties to whatever battery is powering the engine in the factory configuration. Now if some other combiner or ACR relay etc.. could do that.

2. yes

My setup was to install a Pro Mariner that prioritizes charging the starting battery before it switches to the house.

[JJ28]

Thanks for the help.

[Jay Knoll]

JJ

you may find this interesting

http://www.boatingmag.com/how-to/automa ... stallation

I've had this setup on my 27FC for three years now, it works great.

[RobS]

I use an ACR as well. My battery banks are all separate, each engine has it's own Group 31 crank battery and the house is a 4 Golf Cart 6V series/parallel setup. So I use the ACR so that the port engine charges the house bank when at sea. The ACR will pull in at 13.6V (when it senses a charging condition) and drop out at 12.6V to protect the crank battery from drawing down. Super simple and works perfectly.

I also wired in an LED indicator so I can have a visual as whether she's in connect or isolate status and I wired in a toggle so I can manually control the ACR if needed.

JJ28, the best thing you can do is get a handheld digital multimeter (even a cheapo Radio Shack unit will do) and check the voltages at your battery terminals with the switch(s) in different positions so you can "see" what is actually going on. Do it at the dock with the engine running, no need to be out on the run. That's the best way for you to know for sure what YOUR boat is doing..