battery isolator do i need it??

[Wboy247]

i was looking through the northern tool book and found this isolator Northern Industrial Battery Isolator — 120 Amp, Model# B-120A1B2E | Energy Storage Batteries | Northern Tool + Equipment was wondering would it do anything i changed my battery cables so i could use some workaholic batteries. Northern sells a 120 amp and 90 amp if that makes a difference.

[nicho]

I'm gonna go with a big... fat.... NO.

It's not factory, it isn't needed.
Your battery comes with a warranty for a reason.

More to the point, the left battery will always be drained harder in a start condition, from what I can understand. Current always flows to the path of least resistance. That means the battery that is getting the most current is... well... the battery that is sending the most current. It all works quite well.

[Wboy247]

i dont know much about batteries but i got a free pair of workaholics (they have studs like on a big rig) instead of the posts an u dont have to fill them up are they different i wanna say deep cell but i dont know what the term is for the them

[AFBLUE]

Originally Posted by Wboy247

i dont know much about batteries but i got a free pair of workaholics (they have studs like on a big rig) instead of the posts an u dont have to fill them up are they different i wanna say deep cell but i dont know what the term is for the them

Deep cycle like as in Marine battery? The only time you should ever use a cutoff switch is for simple electrical circuit macines like a tractor, or not quite as simple but a race car for safety. I am not sure what the amp draw is on the starter, but from what I know its around a O-2 cable which is rated for 250+ amps at 12v so both switchs are not even close to handling the load.

[nicho]

Deep cycle. Just install and enjoy. It's not a switch, it's more of a power director.

Battery cut offs are good for a lot of things. My boats have them, for instance.

[mrnecsteve]

That device appears to be a device that would allow you to share your alternator output
between the original battery pair and an indendant ,third battery(or pair). You should NOT start your diesel on one battery ...so you shouldnt isolate the primary pair .
This device is primarily good for vehicles that have two independant and smaller battery systems.
To explain, I'll have to resort to the boat example. I have an old 25 foot cruiser. It has two batteries on a 4 position switch. Under normal operating conditions,one battery is perfectly fine for operating the boat. If i am going on an overnite, long trip (and I remember to do it) i put both batteries ON and start off on the trip. When I arrive at the destination and shut the motor down, i immediately switch to number one or number two
battery. I then operate my anchor lites,my internal lites and maybe my battery powered cooler. IF I drain my battery.overnite ..I switch over to the OTHER battery that I did not drain to start.
JUMP STARTS are extremely expensive on the water...ten years ago it was 150.00 minimum. Now the other drained battery is out of the system and is not getting charged. If I remember, i will switch back over to the first battery (when conveniant).
IF i had an isolater connected...I wouldnt have to remember to do the switching back and forth to keep both batteries charged.
Back to diesels:
IF that particular isolator was a much larger capacity,I might consider one IF I were to install
a third battery on my truck,with the third being auxillary only. ON our diesels the primary two batteries should always be kept setup as a parallel pair. I dont think that isolator could survive charging two batteries one one side and one battery on the other. ALSO your recharge rate on your primary batteries would suffer as it claims to equalize the charges between sides.
Make sense???

[alberta 7.3]

Those isolators are predominantly used on gassers with dual batteries in RV/off road applications. Say if you are winching you bush buggy out of a swamp, it will only kill the winch battery, and leave the starting battery alone.

[mrnecsteve]

Originally Posted by alberta 7.3

Those isolators are predominantly used on gassers with dual batteries in RV/off road applications. Say if you are winching you bush buggy out of a swamp, it will only kill the winch battery, and leave the starting battery alone.

I agree. It is important to realise that this devise assumes that the batteries are already on separate circuits. It allows you to SHARE the ALTERNATOR ,yet keep them isolated for load purposes.Powerstroke (factory sized) batteries should NOT be unpaired .