[Chester Stone]

Tom, it seems to me your question relates to when does the isolater work: only when the engine is running, or does it work when connected to shore power and/or generator. The answer may be related to where the isolater is located. I suspect it is between the engine and the automatic power switch box, and not after the switch box. I draw this conclusion from the fact that my engine batteries are charged with an Echo-Charger when the house batteries are being charged with the inverter. I also leave my merge switch off and have only used it once in the last 6 months when I accidentally left my ignition switch on over night and ran down my coach batteries.