Wiring Battery Isolator on Engine

Question:

I recently purchased the Victron Energy Argo FET Battery Isolator, 100A for my boat that has a 2019 Yamaha 300hp outboard motor. I thought this would be a straight forward process, by connecting the alternator OUTPUT to the Argo FET INPUT per the instructions.  However, I just watched a video by PYS and in the comments PYS says "Wiring an argofet to an outboard would involve some rewiring of the outboard alternator circuit."   Any chance you can you give me an idea of what is involved for making this work with my new outboard motor? I have decent knowledge of 12v wiring. Is it simply removing the jumper from alternator output positive post to the starter post?  - Randy

Answer:

Hi Randy, Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on how to modify an outboard engine for a battery isolator. We always use battery combiners with outboard engines.  Here is some general advice, when installing a battery isolator, you need to make sure that your Alternator positive is only connected to the battery isolator and NOT the starter solenoid as normal. In most cases, it’s a simple as running a new large enough wire (meet’s ampacity and voltage drop requirements) and removing the jumper between starter solenoid and alternator on the engine.  - Jeff

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