I Keep Forgetting to Switch Between My Two Battery Banks to Charge the Starter - Is There a Better Way?

Question:

I have a Catalina 22 with 9.9 hp kicker. I'm adding a 100 Ah house battery and a 30 watt solar panel to maintain the battery during the week. Would there be an advantage to an automatic combiner or ARC? Typically I'm on the water 2 nights, the loads are phones, basic lights and small fans (DC).  - Lee

Answer:

In this case, we would recommend installing an ACR. This automatic combiner will see the charge voltage of any give battery rise and connect the two together to share charge and disconnect once the charge source is gone.This saves having to remember to switch between the two batteries possibly resulting in a dead starter battery while on the water.

https://www.pysystems.ca/products/blue-sea-7610-si-acr-automatic-charge-relay-with-start-isolation-12-24v-dc-120a/