Can anyone explain the intended use of a battery combiner and a little about how it works. I have read a little about combiners but the articles seem intended to sell them but do less than adequate at explaining clearly how they work. On my 37 Legend, I have three battery banks; 2 large batteries for the refrigerator (when 110 ac is not present), 1 deep cycle for the house, and one for the engine. These are all routed into a west marine combiner. Since the combiner has a switch on it I leave it in the on position but do not really understand why or what the real benefit would be for doing so. It seems to me that if you had a bad battery and are leaving the combiner on, the combiner would pull all of them down. It seems to me that a combiner is just a way to make sure that battery switching does not have to be done manually and therefore keeps them all in a like state of charge. Is this the case? Also, where is the battery charger positioned on the 37 Legends and where does it feed voltage to the charging system? Thanks in advance for your comment.
Battery combiner
- Thread starter bill niessen
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Combiner Information
I have installed these on every vessel I have owned. The are great devices that only combine the batteries when an external charge is detected on one or more batteries. So when the motor is running the alternator is chaging the starting battery and the smart combiner sees that and connects the house battery. When on shore power the inverter/charger is charging the house bank and the combiner sees that and ties in the starting battery. When no battery is being charged they are not connected together. It is designed to protect against the problem you described. One battery can be flat while the others are fully charged. I've installed several of these made by West Marine and never seen one with a switch on it like you described. PS: I would have a third battery on a boat that size or make up a house bank with two six volt golf cart batteries.
I have installed these on every vessel I have owned. The are great devices that only combine the batteries when an external charge is detected on one or more batteries. So when the motor is running the alternator is chaging the starting battery and the smart combiner sees that and connects the house battery. When on shore power the inverter/charger is charging the house bank and the combiner sees that and ties in the starting battery. When no battery is being charged they are not connected together. It is designed to protect against the problem you described. One battery can be flat while the others are fully charged. I've installed several of these made by West Marine and never seen one with a switch on it like you described. PS: I would have a third battery on a boat that size or make up a house bank with two six volt golf cart batteries.
a battery combiner is simply
a switch (or relay) that connects two (or more)battery banks when the voltage of one of the banks excedes a predetermed voltage. usually about 13.5 volts. this lets all the batteries enjoy a charge from the same source. once the charge voltage drops below the set voltage the relay opens and the batteries don't discharge to the same drain
a switch (or relay) that connects two (or more)battery banks when the voltage of one of the banks excedes a predetermed voltage. usually about 13.5 volts. this lets all the batteries enjoy a charge from the same source. once the charge voltage drops below the set voltage the relay opens and the batteries don't discharge to the same drain
west marine combiner
Daryl's pretty much covered the explanation of the combiner-it's definitely the way to go to manage your batteries. we've got one on our 356 and it works great. However, check to see how that switch is wired-you can go to the west site and download the installation directions and schematic-the switch is optional, and can be wired to force the combiner on or off. the correct postion for the switch is off, so the combiner can switch the connection automatically
Daryl's pretty much covered the explanation of the combiner-it's definitely the way to go to manage your batteries. we've got one on our 356 and it works great. However, check to see how that switch is wired-you can go to the west site and download the installation directions and schematic-the switch is optional, and can be wired to force the combiner on or off. the correct postion for the switch is off, so the combiner can switch the connection automatically
4 batteries present
Maybe my original note was not clear. There are four batteries connected together via the combiner. There are two wired together expressly for the refrigerator, then one for the engine and one deep cycle for the house. All three are wired to the combiner. I notice that when the combiner is on and there is no charging system (on)the voltage on every battery reads the same. If I turn the combiner switch to off, the voltages change to separate and different values. I am having zero problems with this system and only want to have a better understanding of it. Thanks
Maybe my original note was not clear. There are four batteries connected together via the combiner. There are two wired together expressly for the refrigerator, then one for the engine and one deep cycle for the house. All three are wired to the combiner. I notice that when the combiner is on and there is no charging system (on)the voltage on every battery reads the same. If I turn the combiner switch to off, the voltages change to separate and different values. I am having zero problems with this system and only want to have a better understanding of it. Thanks
You are using a manual combiner switch
When the switch is on, all battery banks are hooked up in parallel, "combined", and behave like one big battery. Thus the voltage is the same on all battery banks. When the switch is off, the battery banks are disconnected from each other and left to supply power to their respective loads. Battery voltage will vary significantly depending on the load it is subjected to, battery size, state of charge, among other things.
When the switch is on, all battery banks are hooked up in parallel, "combined", and behave like one big battery. Thus the voltage is the same on all battery banks. When the switch is off, the battery banks are disconnected from each other and left to supply power to their respective loads. Battery voltage will vary significantly depending on the load it is subjected to, battery size, state of charge, among other things.
combiner
Bill, I think my answer still applies.... when you put the switch to on, the relay closes and connects all the batteries together(via the charger connection) so they all can charge, with the switch off, the relay won't close until at least one battery shows a charging voltage, typically around 14 volts. the correct position for the switch is off-when the charging source is on, youshould see the charging voltage on all batteries
Bill, I think my answer still applies.... when you put the switch to on, the relay closes and connects all the batteries together(via the charger connection) so they all can charge, with the switch off, the relay won't close until at least one battery shows a charging voltage, typically around 14 volts. the correct position for the switch is off-when the charging source is on, youshould see the charging voltage on all batteries
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