I am with Dennis on that. If you spend a lot of time at anchor, you may need a large house bank and a dedicated (smaller) starter battery. Then an Echo Charger or ACR between the House and Start and all charging going to House.
But what Dennis describes is an easy and straight forward system. I do use it, though I don’t spend much time at anchor. Marek From: CnC-List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Dennis C. via CnC-List Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2018 19:08 To: CnClist <[email protected]> Cc: Dennis C. <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Stus-List Alternator Charging both banks? I do not like using the "Both" option for selector switches. If one battery dies, then it will drag the other battery down and you'll be stuck. For many years, I had two identical batteries on Touche'. My simple system was to use Battery 1 on odd numbered days and Battery 2 on even numbered days, never "Both". That ensured I always had one hot battery. You can get complicated with ACR's, etc. or a large house bank and dedicated start battery but the system I described above is simple and effective. The alternator should charge whichever battery is selected. Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA On Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 5:09 PM, Francois Rivard via CnC-List <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Do you guys know if the alternator charges all the batteries all the time? I was under the impression that the selector switch effectively directed all the current from the battery banks including charging from the alternator and I usually run on "both" to make sure all the batteries get exercised. Now that I might be looking for a new charger (Different story) and I'm looking into this charging thing deeper / I'm reading on the web that the alternator might actually be charging both all the time regardless of the switch position? We mostly daysail and don't require much from the batteries so I thought it would be a good idea to have them all involved both in charging and discharging so I typically use the "Both" option on the switch. Now I'm thinking I should maybe just use position 1 except when at anchor or for extended night cruises? Thanks, Francois Rivard 1990 34+ "Take Five" Lake Lanier, GA _______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paypal.me%2Fstumurray&data=02%7C01%7C%7C7be6a81b0ed74144ce3908d5d0b9661e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636644417050983872&sdata=6hzN9sTSrwy1oEjcksG0ViQCpckluqI9Hk1x95Y6yRo%3D&reserved=0>
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