Battery Isolator

[wildman7798]

Might as well roll out another one. My 6.9 has a battery isolator but it doesn't appear to be fully hooked up. Did these trucks come from the factory with an isolator? It looks like a typical RV type adder from the PO. It seems like I might have been smelling a little acid when cruising in it the other day and my amp gauge seems to be off center to the charge side all the time, sometimes farther right than others, as you would expect, but seems to always been on the charge side. So my small brain got to thinking without an isolator the full charge always gets sent through the primary PS battery then feeds off to the secondary PS battery. Is this OK like this or does it cause the PS or primary to go to an overcharged scenario and possibly causing the acid smell I think I caught a whiff of. I haven't put the DVM on them or really even checked the temps to see if one is getting hot. Figured I'd throw it out there and see what comes back. Thanks

 

[franklin2]

How many batteries do you have? The original setup had two batteries hooked together and that is considered one large battery by the truck's charging system. If you are running the charge wire through a isolator that you are not using, you should take it out. They introduce about a .7v drop through them, which is something unnecessary to deal with if you are not using it.

 

[opusd2]

Unless you set in a 3rd battery like I did in my 24volt blazer to keep from eating the expensive battery when you want to pull a 12 volt source for an accessory or camper.

 

[icanfixall]

An isolater never came factory on our trucks. What you have is aftermarket. Are there three batteries or just the standard two. Reason for the two batteries is amps to crank and power the glow plugs. Its still a 12 volt system but.. You have double the amps waiting to find a ground. Some care needs to be used when working around a couple of items on these engines. First off the alternater has a hot wire charge cable running to it direct from the positive of the battery system. Thats the red waire on the back of the alternater. Its ALWAYS HOT... Ground it by accident when removeing the alt and its good by wires. That 1000 plus amps will melt the wire fast.. The next hot all the time component is the glow plug controller. Thats the two ywllow wires in the engine main wire harness. They are connected at both ends to one ring terminal. Dought what I posted.... Well just follow these lines to the fender mounted solenoid. Then follow that to the battery hot. One more item thats hot all the time. The starter. That huge cable goes directly to the starter windings but its not running the starter. That requires a signal from the ignition switch. A digital voltmeter will help you to know whats hot and whats not. Melting a wedding ring to your finger because you didn't know the wires were hot is no excuse. Just try telling her that story why your ring finger fell off one day... And thats why you can't wear a ring any more.