First, I'll admit it. I'm lazy. I can (and often do) avoid this problem. But I want a way to eliminate it completely. Just wondering what others have done...
I often start my port engine off my house bank. That's the engine with the bigger alternator, so leaving it connected to the house bank all the time is simpler than switching back and forth before and after anchoring.
But of course the house bank might be getting low, and the voltage sag from starting often causes anything electronic to reboot. Probably the most inconvenient is the battery monitor itself; I lose the calculated SOC. Again, no big deal, I can see by the amperage going in that it's charging, and when it's done. There are also the radios and chartplotters, but a bit of fiddling gets them back pretty quickly. And, if I really want, I can climb down into the ER and flip a few switches, before and after starting. So this problem has never made it to the top of my list.
Still, it would be nice to press the Start button without having to think about where my switches are set. One thought was a dedicated electronics battery, maybe isolated with a diode or DC-DC charger or something. I know there are combiners and isolators, but those aren't exactly what I'm after, and introduce new problems of their own.
Suggestions?
I often start my port engine off my house bank. That's the engine with the bigger alternator, so leaving it connected to the house bank all the time is simpler than switching back and forth before and after anchoring.
But of course the house bank might be getting low, and the voltage sag from starting often causes anything electronic to reboot. Probably the most inconvenient is the battery monitor itself; I lose the calculated SOC. Again, no big deal, I can see by the amperage going in that it's charging, and when it's done. There are also the radios and chartplotters, but a bit of fiddling gets them back pretty quickly. And, if I really want, I can climb down into the ER and flip a few switches, before and after starting. So this problem has never made it to the top of my list.
Still, it would be nice to press the Start button without having to think about where my switches are set. One thought was a dedicated electronics battery, maybe isolated with a diode or DC-DC charger or something. I know there are combiners and isolators, but those aren't exactly what I'm after, and introduce new problems of their own.
Suggestions?