What Do I Connect to the Battery Isolator?

Question:

Jeff, I’ve owned this boat for about 6 weeks. It has a battery isolator that they’ve used as a “gathering place” for anything that produces a charge - both alternators, both generators and at least one charger - the battery connections (2 banks of house) seem to be combined at the selector (when set to all). Is this normal / safe? I’m trying to survive till I can get up there to do this right. Thanks, David

Answer:

Hi Dave, thanks for the reach out. Not sure if this set up is safe but it’s certainly confusing and isn’t typical. Battery chargers should be connected directly to batteries via fuses.Your alternator and the respective battery banks should only be connected to the battery isolator. Each battery connection to the battery isolator should be fused at the battery. - Jeff