Battery isolator
09-30-2009, 09:06 AM
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Battery isolator
I have a twin engine boat w/ 4 batteries. The boat came with a battery isolator, which at this time does not work. The question that I have is do I need to replace it, and what exactly does the isolator do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
09-30-2009, 09:29 AM
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mrfixxall
All it does is it keeps a weak battery from draining the power from a fully charged battery.in other words the isolator keep the batteries from drawing power from each other
09-30-2009, 12:31 PM
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It does a little more than that. It does allow you to charge both batteries at the same time with the alternator running but prevents the two from discharging each other when the engine is stopped. This relieves you from having to constantly change the batery switch to charge both batteries. You can not leave two batteries connected together without one even if they are both fully charged.
The disadvantage to an isolator is they exhibit a voltage drop which results in slower charging. An active charge relay is a better option these days.
The disadvantage to an isolator is they exhibit a voltage drop which results in slower charging. An active charge relay is a better option these days.
09-30-2009, 05:51 PM
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I agree, a relay is the better setup and they aren't costly either. A 2 bank Blue Sea relay runs right at $70.
http://02e5fd1.netsolstores.com/blue...a1224vacr.aspx
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