Donnie had the batts seperated house and start already, but with a perko as ya know could not charge them isolated while running. Plus the advice that Perko had failed above in thread, and the batt charger being 5 years old noticed the LED light was not working-but it was charging per volt meter. All sort of freaked me out when I could not get the engine to crank on #1 and had to combine them BOTH. That BEP cluster is a thing of simplicity, and glad i went that way and spent the extra clams. It was simple to wire however getting it back in place and tight was a contortionist act under the console. Ended up placing a piece of Azek for mounting, using the existing bolts for batt charger thru the side of console to hold Azek in place, and then screwing the BEP, battery charger, onto the Azek so not to drill more holes thru the console. Started at 6PM, ended by 1AM under some serious halogen lights in the front yard. Also swapped in 2 group 31 AGM Sears (odyssey) batteries, and cleaned all the connections. Basically peace of mind, and the veradoclub folks saying that the engine/power steering take a lot of juice and merc now reccomending AGMs. Good opp to get it done at the start of summer. Nothing was wrong with Donnie's setup, the batts were new but not AGM, just that single engine confidence builder in heading offshore a bit
with a re-done charging and isloated batt setup.
-BEP 716-SQ-100A off amazon was 164 clams cheapest could find
-Sears group 31 AGM
-Promariner 100 charger
-scrap Azek
-bruised ribs to get in place
Next tackling the trim tabs, and then wiring the backup bilge pump direct off the battery with a 2 way switch. Then gotta think about a thruhull-seacock-pump for washdown and livewell.