There are many variations of hooking a system up but they all share one common goal. A battery isolator is a one way electrical device that allows an electrical current to flow in one direction but not the other.
Msel Solid State Battery Isolator
Do i need a battery isolator. One battery should always be dedicated to holding a charge for starting up your vehicle while the other battery can have multiple uses ranging from car audio equipment or powering portable devices through a power inverter such as a laptop printer or other powered equipment. In most cases you do not want to connect the batteries using a battery isolator. Battery isolators are hard on alternators because they have a voltage drop within the isolator and they are restrictive to current flow so your alternator has to power that voltage drop and resistance. Requires user to manually switch between batteries. The switch lets you drain one battery then switch to another to start the engine. A battery isolator typically is used in situations where multiple batteries are required and its primary purpose is to ensure that the failure of a single battery will not incapacitate an entire electrical system.
Heavy battery cables must be run to the switch. Without such isolation your house battery and sli battery will seek to maintain the same charge leveland if thats too low to start your rig youre left in the lurch. They isolate your rv house batteries from your vehicles sli starting lighting ignition battery. A battery isolator is a one way electrical battery that allows an electrical current to flow in one direction but not the other. To isolate your secondary battery so that when youre running all of your electronics you dont drain the starter battery. Installing a battery isolator in your vehicle allows you to use two or more car batteries for different purposes.
Battery isolator systems allow you to charge the secondary batteries in your van when the motor is running. The only time you use a battery isolator is in motor homes or boats. You must then switch to both in order to charge both batteries or have a separate diode type battery isolator. No need to separate starterignition wiring from accessory wiring. A battery isolator typically is used in situations where multiple batteries are required and its primary purpose is to ensure that the failure of a single battery will not incapacitate an entire electrical system. Battery isolators do just what it sounds like.