Perko shut off battery switch

[Marty59]

I have a combiner but also have a charger on every battery, including the starting battery. The combiner may not fully charge every battery beyond the starting battery depending on how long you run your big motor. I still like a charger on my starting battery because there is still parisitic drain on the battery mostly from the main motor ecm but there could also be other components with some parasitic drain too. Personally I want piece of mind that my starting battery is 100% charged when I start the day on the big water!!

Marty

[DW]

Originally Posted by Walleye2487!

So will I not need a on board charger with with a combiner?

The folks that moor or dry stack their boats typically can’t use shore power to charge their batteries. Everyone else should have an onboard battery charger. Maintaining batteries with a charger assures maximum performance and battery longevity.

A charger lead on each battery is ideal. However, with a combiner you can get by without a charger on every battery. For example if you have a charger connected to your trolling battery(s) the combiner will close when charging and charge your crank battery. Conversely, if you connect a charger on the crank battery, then a one bank charger will charge your trolling battery(s).

The big advantage of a combiner is the ability to charge your trolling battery on the water using the alternator on the main engine. This better assures your trolling batteries don’t die on the water. Several years ago, I ran my rig daily for 10 consecutive days and later I learned my charger was fried by a lightning strike, and I didn’t know it. The combiner provided sufficient charge to my trolling motor battery to keep it running every day without a shore charger. Not ideal, but that scenario demonstrates the impact of a combiner.

[TomP.]

Originally Posted by DW

The folks that moor or dry stack their boats typically can’t use shore power to charge their batteries. Everyone else should have an onboard battery charger. Maintaining batteries with a charger assures maximum performance and battery longevity.

A charger lead on each battery is ideal. However, with a combiner you can get by without a charger on every battery. For example if you have a charger connected to your trolling battery(s) the combiner will close when charging and charge your crank battery. Conversely, if you connect a charger on the crank battery, then a one bank charger will charge your trolling battery(s).

The big advantage of a combiner is the ability to charge your trolling battery on the water using the alternator on the main engine. This better assures your trolling batteries don’t die on the water. Several years ago, I ran my rig daily for 10 consecutive days and later I learned my charger was fried by a lightning strike, and I didn’t know it. The combiner provided sufficient charge to my trolling motor battery to keep it running every day without a shore charger. Not ideal, but that scenario demonstrates the impact of a combiner.

This all comes down to how much the big motor runs most smaller lakes the big motor will never run enough to keep both batteries charged or even one ( dual purpose starting and electronics ) using it as a house and starting battery. When I fish the Chip running 9 miles one way by the end of the day my onboard charger takes a while to charge my starting battery electronics battery.