Originally Posted by
MLA
Mike,
Next time you are on the water with the engine running, pop your head in and look at the ACR to see if the green Combined light is illuminated. This means voltage from the alternator is passing through it and both batteries are combined and receiving a charge.
Next time the boat is back in its resting spot, like now i guess, plug in the charger, wait about 5 or so minutes and again look for the green light on the ACR. If its illuminated, then your system is not wired to the most optimal configuration. This light being on indicates thet the on-board charger is causing the ACR to combine the battery banks into one large battery.
When you have a dedicated stereo bank and dedicated starting bank, as you do, these banks are used in entirely different ways. They see different loads and different degrees of depletion. For this reason, they need to be recharged differently. This is the main reason for using a 2 or 3 bank charger as opposed to a single bank. A good 2 bank has the ability to monitor and charge the 2 banks differently. If yours is wired as I think it is, your 2-bank charger is working as a single bank when the ACR combines.