Isolator or just straight parallel???

[Mo4130]

Pretty simple, I am going to be setting up my truck with dual batteries soon and I have a question that I just can't seem to answer myself.

My truck is a 11 nissan frontier and it will be running a warn m8000, arb fridge, various ipods and phones as well as probably a total of 6-8 25 watt led lights. I have a sears plati in there now, the group 34 770 CCA. My question is, should I just get another group 34 and run em in parallel or get a deep cycle battery and run em in an isolator setup. As of right now the longest I will be staying in the back country will be 3-4 days.

 

[ert01]

You will probably get a lot of response that will tell you to spend lots of money or else you'll be stranded in the middle of Africa without hope. But the truth is you're probably fine doing them simply in parallel for short outings. That's all I would do. Keep it simple.

 

[Mo4130]

There is most certainly validity to the saying K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid.

With that being said, I guess all I need is some nice 1/0 wire to run to the truck bed, and be done with it.

 

[Glorybigs]

This will solve your problem... BLUESEA ML-ACR
it will also prevent your primary battery from discharging beyond a safe limit due to loads. Has manual override, as well as switch override if you want to control the relay from inside the cab.

I would put this setup against any "offroad" dual battery system on the market. Continuous rating of 500amps and crank rating of 2500amps.

 

[4x4junkie]

I have dual Delco Voyager 27s in mine simply wired hard-parallel. The very few (two) times I've had my fridge cut off due to low voltage the batteries still had plenty of juice in them to start the engine. I try not to make a habit of that though because draining any battery below 40-50% charged is not good for it. With two in parallel, you'll have much more reserve on hand before you get down to that point.

It should be noted however that if you do wire them in parallel, it's imperative both batteries are the same brand, size, type (AGM/flooded/grid composition/etc.), and are of similar age. Ideally they should be mounted next to each other as well so they are operating under the same environmental conditions, though I know that isn't always possible.

 

[dwh]

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ke-a-cheap-isolated-dual-battery-setup-for-50

With a deep cycle battery and hook the extra loads (except the winch and driving lights) to the aux battery. You're gonna do it anyway - might as well do it right.

 

[craig333]

I know everyone likes isolators. I have three of the sears platinum batteries. I run a marine battery switch. No point of failure there. Normally leave them running in parallel, with 200 watts of solar I rarely worry about running the batteries down. Eliminates any charging issues too. If its winter and the solar isn't working I'm not staying in one place long enough to run the camper battery down anyway

 

[lysol]

I would do an isolator. It's always good to have some type of safety net.

 

[SiliconTi]

I simply isolated mine using a big relay (300 Amp) and a switch. Flick it on to charge (or self jump), flick it off to isolate. I used some jumper cable wire to make the front to rear run. Cheap and reliable.

 

[CaliMobber]

Ive had an isolator and a manual disconnect. Now I have 2 yellow tops in parallel and I like it the best. They have never let me down. Fridge has a auto shut off and other loads would take forever to drain them.

Parallel is much better for you since your running a winch, help spread the load on 2 battery instead of one taking all the force.

The Blue sea is the best for sure giving you more option of safty and control but its a little pricey. Parallel when you want and auto disconnect for every day use.

 

[wirenut]

I use the Blue Sea ACR on 3 different trucks. It works great. I don't have to worry about my truck not starting. I don't have to worry about setting a switch in the right spot. I don't have to make sure my batteries match.

 

[Michelle Wulfe]

Question on isolator hook up.

I am trying to redo/repair my house battery charging system. There was an isolator between the the starting battery and the house battery. It is now gone. It looks like the feed to the house battery comes from the starting battery, not directly from the alternator. A standard diode isolator for two batteries has three terminals; one in for the feed from the alternator, one out for battery A, and one out for battery B. To properly isolate the two batteries would the wire from battery A be connected to the A terminal on the isolator or to the input terminal as if it was coming from the alternator?
Thanks,

 

[Idahoan]

I went the expensive way but like the features http://www.nationalluna.com/battery_systems.htm

 

[4RunAmok]

I am trying to redo/repair my house battery charging system. There was an isolator between the the starting battery and the house battery. It is now gone. It looks like the feed to the house battery comes from the starting battery, not directly from the alternator. A standard diode isolator for two batteries has three terminals; one in for the feed from the alternator, one out for battery A, and one out for battery B. To properly isolate the two batteries would the wire from battery A be connected to the A terminal on the isolator or to the input terminal as if it was coming from the alternator?
Thanks,

This is probably going to start muddying up this guys thread, as many people will have an opinion on this... you should have started your own thread...

But here goes...

The diode type isolators are pretty much designed to bring a lead from your alternator and then split it to each battery without actually connecting the batteries together, so they get equal charging.

The PROBLEM with this is the severe voltage drop caused by diode type isolators. They greatly reduce the amount of voltage to the batteries so that NEITHER battery will ever get a full charge.

You can eliminate this problem with the previously linked to Blue Sea ML-ACR (Magnetic Latching Automatic Charging Relay) Hook Battery A to the A post, Battery B to the B post, hook the ground wire to a solid ground, and the unit becomes completely automatic with the ability for manual override. Problem eliminated with extreme prejudice.