Even so, those emergency vehicles occasionally dump an alternator shortly after an emergency start. As you already mentioned the isolator has a one volt (or more!) drop at high loads, and helps to serve as a current limiter. On some EMS vehicles an isolator is used, with a relay to connect an isolated (and fully charged) batttery to the starter for emergency starts. Without some sort of current limit, it is a very bad plan to just connect a nearly dead battery to a fully charged one. but even so, I 'need' to be able to run my stereo battery(s) down to the point that the amp(s) shut off (not every time, purposely, but just in case I'm having a good time, and get carried away once in a while) and then fire the vehicle right up, and charge the battery(s) with no problems. Tell you guys what, if I could afford it, I'd really like to just run another alternator, entirely, and not even have to touch the vehicles existing electrical system at all. Not to mention all of the conflicting info I keep hearing about mixing batteries, and battery sizes. and it never failed again (probably 5 more years of pounding). Don't know what all he did to it, but it came out to like just under 200 amps. So then I had that one rebuilt by an old alternator pro.

maybe 6 or 9 months before it finally went. Granted, I killed all kinds of stock alternators (crappy little 90 amp stockers for a Chevy S10) Then stepped up to an alternator out of an old Caddy (like 125 amps or so.

But ya know, come to think of it, probably not a whole lot more. I had said that my Power 1000 will draw more power than all 3 of my amps, back in the old days did. I really don't want to be bothered with watching a voltage meter. If my alternator can't handle it, I'll need a bigger / better alternator. But that just sounds really crappy to me. Man, I really appreciate you guys replies. The better long-term solution is to just parallel all your batterys together, install a switched voltmeter that you can monitor while the vehicle is parked, and simply start the vehicle up when the batteries start to fall below 12 volts. If the secondary battery bank is big enough, it can melt the alternator in a single charging cycle. Depending on the regulator circuitry that is used on the alternator, the under-load switching of the relay can take out regulators also. This causes a lot of heat buildup in the alternator, and reduces the life of the alternator. By allowing one battery to be run down completely dead, and firing up the vehicle, the relay will swith over to the dead battery and cause the alternator to run wide open untill the dead battery comes up. In fact, now that I'm looking, I can't even find a straight up battery solenoid for car audio ?īattery isolators and relays are a good way to toast your alternator. Plus, I have heard that isolators will cause a drop in voltage to the auxillary However, the three amplifiers I used to have, wouldn't have drawn as much power as my RF power 1000 will now. I could pound on my system until the amps started shutting off, hit my ignition, fire the truck right up, off of the front battery which had been untouched, then charge the rear battery for how ever long it needed, and it was all good.Īnd btw, I do like to be able to sit parked here and there, and listen to the stereo for 30 minutes to an hour, at moderate to high levels. Shop 12 volt battery isolators at REDARC with free shipping in the contiguous US.įor help in choosing the best DC to DC charger or dual battery isolator setup for your needs, or find the right 12v gear to suit your vehicle.Well first off, I have used a battery isolator, back in the day, for the regular truck battery in the front, and the dedicated stereo battery in the back. With all this power and the ability to withstand the harshest conditions, you can count on REDARC for your next adventure. Choose from our range of dual battery isolators to help protect the starter battery’s excessive discharge, allowing your auxiliary battery to power your accessories.įor the ultimate set up, pair a REDARC dual smart battery isolator with a battery management system. Going overlanding? You provide the adventure, we’ll provide the power. Not to mention, they have a sophisticated fault detection system which can warn you of over-voltage, voltage drops and excessive draw conditions.

With state of the art power saving technology, our dual battery isolator kits are compact in size and easy to install. As a microprocessor-controlled battery isolator, the REDARC Smart Start SBI range protects your primary battery by using your alternator to charge your auxiliary battery.

Rv isolator solenoid