According to the auto repair shops I've been. If it's hooked up as an equalizer, though, then it will keep your batteries balanced even if you aren't using the 12V circuit, which is good for battery life.

 

Dunk,
Obviously I'm not educated in this area. Can you explain a little more so I can understand what they are saying?

Thanks!
Sandman

 

The auto repair shops says that the equalizers have a max current rating, but that's just the balancing max current. To use an equalizer you would still use the splitting techniques as above. This means that you can actually use more than the maximum equalizer current for short periods of time, as long as the equalizer has a chance to balance the batteries out afterwards.