Battery Isolator

[IslandRaider]

I have an older model Guest 2430 Isolator that was put on the boat by the previous owner but it is not connected,
I have 1 starting battery and 2 DC31's combined for my house bank, is it possible to connect the alternator and the solar panel controller output to the isolator and have them charge both banks?

The thought is to put the starting battery on one side and the house bank on the other.

Has anyone tryed this configuration and will it work?

[btrayfors]

Problem is, there's a voltage drop across the isolator. Unless you have a voltage sensing wire on the battery side of the isolator, your batteries will be undercharged.

Best current practice to handle this situation is to use a Xantrex EchoCharge or a Balmar DuoCharge device to maintain the start battery.

Start batteries require very little charging. Hook up the alternator output (and, by the way, every other source of onboard charging) directly to the house battery bank. Then, use the EchoCharge to bleed of a bit of charging current to maintain the start battery.

Bill