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A good argument for a bettery isolator

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Old 02-26-2011, 12:39 PM
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A good argument for a battery isolator

Well, I arrived in Mexico pretty late the other night and didn't move my truck for 3 days. When I got into it to go to the tienda, it didn't have ANY battery. Apparently some idiot, read me , left the cabin light on and by the morning the battery was so drained that it no longer gave out any light. While Kino Bay is a neat place , it is hardly the place to have a major failure. Because I installed a battery isolator in the truck, when I put the dual batteries in, I was able to jump myself (sounds dirty ) and was down the road in 5 minutes. Without the isolator, or a separator switch, both batteries would have been drained and I would have had a much bigger problem. Just throwing it out there. That is all for now...think I'll go fishin' ...Mark
Old 02-26-2011, 05:08 PM
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I like to have one set of batteries that serve ONLY the starter-cable and another set that provide power to everything else, preferably separated by a constant-duty solenoid.

Thus, regardless of what accessory may get left ON, it does not affect the starting batteries.
Old 02-26-2011, 05:14 PM
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Originally Posted by BearKiller
I like to have one set of batteries that serve ONLY the starter-cable and another set that provide power to everything else, preferably separated by a constant-duty solenoid.

Thus, regardless of what accessory may get left ON, it does not affect the starting batteries.
That is something that I never thought to do. Right now my axillary battery runs my inverter and my winch. I believe that I will switch it around when I get back to the states in a couple of weeks. (or more). This is not a good place to be making major changes to my truck, help is a long ways away. At least this time the isolator saved me...Mark
Old 02-26-2011, 05:15 PM
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Originally Posted by BearKiller
I like to have one set of batteries that serve ONLY the starter-cable and another set that provide power to everything else, preferably separated by a constant-duty solenoid.

Thus, regardless of what accessory may get left ON, it does not affect the starting batteries.
Just reread your post, do you have 4 batteries?...Mark
Old 02-27-2011, 11:55 AM
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Originally Posted by maybe368
Just reread your post, do you have 4 batteries?...Mark

Three at the present time.
Old 02-27-2011, 12:11 PM
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Originally Posted by BearKiller
Three at the present time.
You the man...
Old 02-27-2011, 05:50 PM
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Mark,
How is the battery you ran down now?
Bruce
Old 02-27-2011, 06:26 PM
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i have a group 31 optima for the engine, ive redirected the stereo, any memory added component to the secondary battery, just like my boat, the c-duty solenoid isolater, leaves the start up option, after everything else is dead, and i go to the middle of nowhere, this system works
Old 02-27-2011, 09:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Bruce M
Mark,
How is the battery you ran down now?
Bruce
Bruce, it was down to 1.6 volts and I thought it was shot. I put it on a 2 amp charge for 20 hours or so and it seems to be ok now. The good news is that the free replacement warranty is good until the end of April, so if it is bad I'll get a new one. It is a red top Optima from Costco, so it will not be a problem...I hope...Mark
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