CrappieCat, as far as the engine dying, that shouldnt happen. When you use the switch you are providing a temporary jump between a trolling motor battery to the main starting battery. You are not disconnecting power from the main starting battery to the engine in any way, so as soon as you start the engine your alternator is going to be pumping juice back to the starting battery, so when you switch you are not cutting ties to the starting battery, just killing the jump.One thing to remember when dealing with 24 and 36 volt systems is that jumping the batteries does not make a 12v battery into a 24v or 36v battery. When measured at the terminals you will still have 12-14.4v at each battery. But when you measure from Pos on battery 1 and Neg on battery 2 you will have 24-28v. I have been asked that question dozens of times by friends. In my old tin boat I have 2 deep cycles with a jumper between them and a 24v Maxxum t-motor up front. I run the graphs off the deep cycles as it has a pull start engine. I have one graph hooked to each battery along with running the anchor and nav lights (again one on each battery). On the graphs I keep the voltage displayed so I always know where I am at for voltage at each battery. Dont end up with any interference from the trolling motor or anything, but that can vary widely from case to case.
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