Next message: Jim Lynch: "Re: lv-ab: Lets get the facts straight on "voltage drops in charging circui..."
From: "Jim Lynch" <>
To: "Colin Foster" <>
> Hi, Colin,
>
> I've got three banks, if you look at it that way. Two banks of house
> battery and one of starting battery. I'll put the combiner (yours, I
> just got last week, thanks) between the hot side of the 1-2 switch and
> the starting battery which is connected directly to the starter and the
> alternator. The only connection to the house batteries from the
> starting battery is through the combiner. So to charge both house
> batteries, I'd have to put the 1-2 switch in the all position. I could
> add another combiner to parallel the two house battery banks, but that
> would defeat the 3 stage, 2 bank charger.
>
> Thank,
> Jim.
>
OK, that makes more sense, Jim.
Why do you have two house banks? My experience has been that you should put
them in parallel and give yourself the maximum capacity. That way you don't
have to remember which bank has what charge in it, and on average the depth
of discharge will be less which leads to better battery life. If you
parallel them, you won't need a second combiner and you can leave the two
"bank" leads from your charger both connected to the single house bank.
This doesn't "defeat" the charger, they will work together on the same bank.
You can achieve all this by leaving the switch permanently on ALL so
everything will be fully automatic.
Colin Foster,
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