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How To: Marine Electrical Seminar - Battery Isolator Troubleshooting - Episode 28

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[Music]  you  [Music]  all right here's a Baidu  battery isolator right this device here  and you've got an alternator now the  alternator will never really output more  than it should these two batteries  notice the arrows they're directional  comes in from the alternator and goes  either to one battery or the other this  is a great device  yesterday I was sharing my enthusiasm  for this device I love this device this  device they used to be around but they  were diodes and you lose 70% of your  alternator output nowadays you lose only  1% I cannot tell you how I love this  device this device is miracle every boat  should have one they don't because they  didn't exist a few years ago a lot of  actually French builders are putting  them in now like Jeannot and they're  putting them in there great because  remember French builders most of them  actually are making their boats for the  charter market and they'll never have a  parallel switch between those two  batteries ever they do not have a  parallel switch they just don't they're  like it causes too much grief most  owners always think that more is better  and they put all their boats in parallel  as you know and a Benneteau do not come  with a parallel switch there is no  ability to put your batteries in  parallel you carry jumper cables they  just don't they're like you know what  the operator causes more damage than  what the battery switch can provide in  terms of benefit so they actually put  these devices on board and that's how  they solve the problem of having one  alternator on a sailboat charge multiple  battery banks same thing on a lagoon  they do the same device they have that  French or crazy for those devices I love  it by the way this thing is this is it  every boat should have one this is how  you this is how you share an alternator  to multiple batteries this is the way  but notice the builder has to take away  the daisy chain remember we were talking  about how the alternator typically is  daisy chained to the starter solenoid  right well the manufacturer has to go no  we're not doing that anymore and they  take the wire from the alternator and  now they run it to the battery isolator  and then from the battery isolator they  go to one battery and then to the other  every boat eventually will get there is  just there's a slow adoption rate people  are stubborn but this is a perfect  device there is no downside to this  device not anymore  you would you would unlikely because the  question would be if you have a multiple  output charger you don't need to the  challenge is you might have a combiner  if you have a single output inverter  charger and you're like well this  charges my batteries only when the altar  is running but how do I get this battery  to charge this battery when I have an  inverter charger that's only connected  to one battery and then that's when you  might have a combiner you would solve  that by putting a multiple output  charger like having a backup charger you  know those little Chris Tek on those  your nose and bennetto's those blue  little yellow little chargers that they  have they're multiple up with chargers  that's how they solve this problem  because they they're both don't come  with inverters stop the inverters an  add-on so they've actually doing it  great they're great it's perfect it's  it's it's like it's rare that you have a  perfect device this is a perfect device  there is no compromise to this device  potentially but I've never seen one  break like anything but in terms of  there's no fuses the fuse will never  blow because your alternate is always  going to be whatever this is rated for  100 amps you rate the wire to have 100  this has chosen to rate 100 this is  rated to 100 you put a fuse that's maybe  125 you'll never have a nuisance  tripping that's why I love it it's  because the problem with fuses right if  you go back to this thing and I didn't  you know this is this is why I love what  I do because you learn all the time I  was so excited about this but I didn't  realize is the battery tanks are getting  bigger and bigger and you have large  lows you have nuisance tripping and  nuisance tripping is really hard on an  owner because we're not Star Trek  nobodies monitoring fuses on their boat  and if you're not monitoring voltage  here how the hell are you gonna know  that this battery is not getting a  charge and you might be blissful you get  on your boat and everything's so happy  and you just don't worry I get on my  boat I'm dialing things in right but  most people aren't doing that they're  like everything works until it doesn't  and it's not not gonna work you just  don't know that you lost suddenly the  benefit of recharging your battery  through a combiner and eventually your  battery your thruster battery dies and  you're like why is my battery thruster  battery at 3 volts and it's a golf cart  or it's a group 31 AGM $400 a piece you  lost two of them it's $800 why because a  $25 fuse blew and then your thrusters  doesn't work and you need your thruster  because you know you had a big boat and  it was windy and now you crashing out of  the boat and now you're nervous no but  it sounds silly but there's a domino  effect right like planes don't follow  this guy because they shot at all the  time  they fall out one little thing happens  right that have what happened in Brazil  right all right it's a series of little  things that happen and then the plane  falls out of the sky that is a little  thing that causes big problems battery  combiners are good but they have their  limits this is perfect it doesn't it's  it doesn't matter it's looking at this  here is looking at the output and if  those are gonna be both always parallel  always the same they're always the same  they don't care that they don't there's  no such thing as one alternate looks at  two battery voltages it's assumed that  it's one bank you can you would you  can't have an external regular on there  well you would you because it would  still make this alternator smarter right  like why not like a lot of bennetto's  like the guy on the North Shore puts  them all the time you would put an  external regulator on here well you  don't need one but you don't need a boat  well I think maybe maybe you do  okay let's you know what wrong crowd  actually no no you need a boat and you  might not need an external regulator but  you do need a boat that was a bad bad  Jeff bad Jeff alright the primary the  one that I care the most about the house  yeah  remember this is short-term right okay  people write blogs super dangerous  by the way super dangerous reason why I  think blogs are dangerous because the  people are the loudest are generally the  people that are their most wronged by  the way so first thing there's some  people to have very little a lot of time  and are very information their  disproportionate they're the most  prolific bloggers they've played one  round of golf in their lifetime or maybe  actually a nine-hole Mini Putt maybe  even that's just a 9-iron course and  they are informing everyone how to play  golf they vote about maybe or they  worked on about a friend's boat and they  are absolutely utterly convinced that  because they played one round of golf  they're now going to teach everyone else  how to play golf and so you have to be  very very careful when you go on a blog  to listen to the most vocal person about  their opinion on how things could be  wired and especially related to this  device and an alternator and where that  sense could be and that's why I used to  do a lot of going on blogs but at one  point I trust only certain authors now  right like I trust authors right people  that I believe are prolific people that  I look up to but having someone that is  just really loud does not mean they're  actually knowledgeable and you've got to  be very careful especially dealing with  this and this and what the advice you're  going to get on the Internet yeah  the house battery gets them effectively  effectively through a charging voltage  through this only when this works right  effectively they're both gonna see about  the same voltage through this this is  your faucet it's dumping water  the tanks are uneven eventually they're  gonna get to the same point it's  shooting for a voltage that's what it  does this is like I want this thing to  be at fourteen point four feet high fill  it like just crazy and until it senses  that one of them gets to fourteen point  four this might get there sooner but  this will eventually get there and once  it this gets to fourteen four then  whatever this one is being monitored at  it will bring it down but if the faucet  is full throttle think about - literally  honestly this is the way to look at it  you got two sinks you got a divider in  the middle literally like a normal sink  you got your faucet on top your water  level is voltage that's all it is  one thought one sink is very empty  that's your house bank it might be at 10  volts 11 volts the other foss other sink  is at twelve point eight it was pretty  full you start you start the faucet full  throttle it hits the divider and the  divider is this device right here okay  then water starts pouring on both sides  this side was already pretty full with  it's going to get to 14-4 very quickly  right but what happens is all the  current because this is going to be  sucking more of it more of it is gonna  go on this one is going to be sucking in  more this won't have the same amount of  current as this battery because this one  was lower it's gonna take more of it and  then they'll come up together together  together together together until they  get to about fourteen four or whatever  voltage was set in that thing and then  they'll go through and whatever you  decided was going to get the external  sense if it was this one  they're gonna live it together and as  soon as this stops working they're  separate they'll never be together again  oh yeah absolutely they do if if you  have a what was deemed not necessary  just joking  this device yeah this device your  alternator will do bulk absorption flow  if you don't your alternator does two  states charging an internal regulator  does not do smart charging only an  external regulator does yeah so this is  why this device is amazing the batteries  are effective they're not they're not  seeing one another but they have the  same voltage while the alternator is on  and working same by the way your charger  is this device this device is in your  charger that is in every charger now  Chargers don't look at multiple outputs  it's sort of like honestly it's almost  like children my fam first in the family  the rules were set for me my brother had  to follow they're like this guy's  trouble so the house was on like  lockdown mode there's no need to be  locked down in my house if my brother  was first he's an angel  but I wasn't so what you the alternator  does the charger looks at battery post  one on the charger it says whatever is  connect imagine this is a charger with  three posts and this is a negative  ground it says whatever is on here is  what I'm doing and then I replicate  whatever is on one i replicate on two  and i replicate on three and the voltage  that one needs is what I'm doing voltage  on two and three there is no such thing  as a charger it goes oh by the way  you've got a gluten allergy oh you like  protein a lot and you want I don't know  you were totally veg I'm gonna make a  meal for three of you it's like no no  we're cooking one meal everyone's eating  the same meal I don't care it's one  charger one output  I'm gonna do whatever one want one wants  and I'm if two is connected it's gonna  get what want wanted and then three they  don't see one another  but they're getting the experience of  number one and that's how a charger  works yeah does it matter and this is  the difference between the internet and  reality because the bulk charging only  lasts for a moment it's two three four  or five hours and then it's gonna get to  flow so you're right your engine  battery's gonna be but it's a compromise  right you want to chase perfection take  out your wallet  prepare yourself for time you'll never  leave in this lifetime unless you have  endless money you send a team of people  perfection and that's a difference in  reality between people in the blog  sphere and the internet that give you  all these things that can never be met  right in an ideal world every battery  would have its own charger but now do  you have room on your boat to put  individual chargers for every battery  I've never seen it by the way but yeah  of course if you had endless money  endless time huge boat lots of space on  the wall but big boats have more stuff  on the wall even on a hundred footer I  got no place to put things on the wall  there's no end 150 footer engine room is  full the whole engine I can't even mount  anything so it's not like I have ever  space on a boat ever there's just more  stuff on a bigger boat so don't worry  about it don't worry about it because  the bulk is not gonna last forever it's  gonna last 3-4 hours won't matter that's  why you do want to have your batteries  to be the same type right AGM gel  floodlit acid because you can't change  the profile you're not saying a GM  profile on let post one gel post to  lithium post 3 you go all the same yeah  question yeah that's what I'm saying the  battery charger is the exact same thing  it's exactly what this does well I mean  I'm giving you this output if you want  to conceptualize a charger is actually  literally four posts right and this is  normally the ground but it does the  exact same purpose of this except this  is fed by an alternator in and a charger  is fed by AC in but ultimately they do  the same device your posts on your  charger are isolated from one another  but they're actually doing exactly what  battery one wants to do yesterday I  emphasized this right  it's almost like it should be like you  should like keep this like photographic  memory like Oh post one house battery if  you put engine battery on post one your  house battery will never get what it  needs because the charger is looking on  post one is going post one's an engine  battery it's perfectly fine your house  battery is chronically under charged  their house batteries the big battery  bank the ones that's expensive the one  that's really hard to replace both in  time-space accessibility all those  factors come into play that's why post  number one is the most important thing  now how many people you think know that  then install a battery charger on your  boat what do you think the probability  is that your mechanic that's working on  your boat has read a battery charger  manual and he geeks out about this stuff  extremely low right how many boats where  I go where the battery posts are  completely random 95 98 percent nobody  cares but unrelated batteries are  unreliable right unrelated my electrical  system my boat never works I'm always  having failure it's so frustrating boats  are so frustrating all those things are  unrelated to the fact that it was not  wired properly if you do it properly  then things are reliable hence why  yesterday I was telling my passion about  electricity is actually deterministic  it's actually like plumbing it's not  magic electricity doesn't fly in the air  to another one it's just well of course  lightning does but you know you get the  point right it's it's gonna stay  contained within the wires so battery  Isolators    

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