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How To: Marine Electrical Seminar - Battery Isolators - Episode 11

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[Music]  you  [Music]  all right now this is a magical device  battery Isolators so a battery isolator  for an alternator is perfect because  what it does is you take it as an input  and then from there it's sort of like a  gate valve a Wye valve and then it sends  it to both the engine battery and to the  unstretched distribution to go back to  the house and you could have one input  going to three places in the past this  device used to exist by the way it's  existed for thirty years but it was  horrible  why it was made of diodes and for this  level of automation you would probably  lose about 70% 60% of your alternator  output now that is a massive cost that's  like me saying oh you got to bank  accounts that you want to deposit money  in no problem I'm your middleman I'm  going to take a reasonable cut seventy  percent of your income and I will  distribute it evenly to whatever bank  accounts you need and literally no joke  thousands upon thousands is probably  hundreds of thousands of votes have  battery Isolators with diode combiners  and the reason was what's the  alternative have an owner start moving  switches to figure out where things are  gonna go like well that's gonna go awful  so they're like well screw it we're  gonna you know what that's the only  choice we have let's go with automation  and they literally would put in diode  combiners on both and I have buckets of  them on both that we take off and we  replace them with fat the modern version  which is like 99% efficient I can live  with a cost to do a transaction to  regulate which batteries going to get a  charge for my alternator if it cost me  only a 1% but a 70% 60% cut of my  alternator output so that I can have  automation that's a little steep so when  you're looking at getting one of those  master volt makes them there's plenty of  companies the ones we use all the time  are Victor on you can have one two three  one two two and you literally have one  alternator recharging maybe your house  your engine and a thruster bank and the  banks will never see each other  right so there's never this problem when  one battery bank is completely empty and  the other one needs a charge because the  thing what's great about is the  alternator is limited it can only ever  output 120 140 so you will never have  nuisance tripping of the fuses that's  why I like about it the operator doesn't  need to be involved this device is the  one that I collect for paperweights and  that is on if you have a boat from the  80s or 90s even 2,000 because a lot of  people building boats even in 2000 are  just set in their ways and they just do  what they've always done they ended up  putting this those thins are ways to  dissipate heat so it can tell you how  hot this thing gets and that's that  energy loss is your alternator output  that you're losing so if you have a  diode combiner that looks like that the  FET combiner is like two hundred three  hundred dollars it's a no-brainer  no-brainer like in boat bucks no-brainer  you take that out your alternator now  I've got boats where we design boats  suddenly the alternator without doing  anything to the alternator not changing  the wire not doing anything I'll put  three times where they used to output by  just changing that device because you  don't lose two thirds of the output you  have full output it's 99 percent  efficient that's why I love those things  so make sure when you buy one that you  choose one that has the correct amperage  because they're gonna say well how much  is your alternator going out but it's  gonna be outputting 100 amps 200 amps  you got to figure that out and this one  is really nice to the victor on that's  the one we use all the time this is sort  of like Tibbets fusing you know make  sure you should choose the right wire  size and so now on a lot of boats where  the battery banks are uneven and that's  kind of commonplace because small engine  battery huge house bank we'll put that  right in middle like the alternator  alternate output goes to that device  that device goes to the battery banks  and this is easy breezy it just works  and there's no nuisance tripping  question in the back  believe it or not yeah because people  that you know I'm gonna be one day like  that I'm gonna be set in my ways and I'm  not gonna be learning can I'll be like  oh this thing is the best and there's  gonna be something new and I'm gonna be  like oh that's crap I was so yeah so on  my boat I have an echo charge for that a  small echo charge on my vote and I to be  honest the question is how do I charge  my battery banks cuz this only solves  the alternator  I love multiple output chargers like  when I'm designing an electrical system  most boats most boats I'll end up  because most boats have more than two  batteries I'm gonna go okay if you've  got engine batteries or a generator I'm  gonna put a small 30 amp 40 amp  dedicated small charger for those and  then I'll have an inverter charger on  the house yeah this only works from the  alternator right it's only an  alternating it output right this will  not allow Kurn this is only a way to  distribute alternator power now the  thing it sounds bad but let me go here  what what it means though I'm wondering  if I have it yeah let's go back to here  at the end of the day though your house  batteries they're really only one thing  that needs constant love right like your  engine battery once you start and you  refill it for 15 seconds it's fine  if your engine battery is what it is  which is just to start the engine so you  don't necessarily need to worry about  what's ue4 you doing all these different  things it's how do I get an alternator  recharge my house that's really more the  issue it's not how does my methanol fuel  cell recharge my engine battery your  engine battery you generally don't worry  about because if you've wired it only to  start engine the engine is gonna run  charge the battery and you'll be fine so  fuel cells solar panels all these things  are generally all worried about the  house right the house is what you worry  about because that's your checking  account that's the one that gets drawn  out all the time you're saving accounts  not so much the question upfront was  well how do you maintain it at shore  power like just to maintain it I do that  with an echo charge but you could also  put a simple like on a dedicate  five amp charger a trickle charger right  because your engine batteries not meant  to ever cycle down to 50 percent or  anything like that he goes from full to  99% to full again so any questions on  set combiners or battery Isolators other  than I love them you could you couldn't  it's possible this is a way to solve the  alternator problem listen I could leave  no joke Lisa was asking me could I do  this for how long I could go for 24 48 I  am so crazy passionate about this stuff  I could do a 12 hour marathon on  combiners and tell you there's your  combiners that only look at polarity on  one side and then oh my god and you can  disconnect it when you like it is  awesome  but I was reminded earlier this is  supposed to be an introduction somewhat  normal level so I'm not going too deep  it is possible and we do install  combiners with Isolators yes absolutely  there is an application for that there  is any other questions on battery  Isolators no not at all  no no no it's whatever the alternator is  outputting it doesn't regulate voltage  right it puts things in parallel  effectively so if your alternator is  over charging the battery yes this does  not stop current it just lets it through  it's sort of like the way I was thinking  about explaining some times is it  imagine you have a faucet that hits the  middle divider between two sinks right  the faucet flows hits the divider goes  on either side and this things are  always even no not necessarily if one  has a big hole in the bottom meaning  you're draining a lot more is gonna go  on that side they're gonna keep them  about even combined so if you were using  a combiner to combine your house bank  and your start engine you and let's say  on the rear situation you had to use it  for a lot for starting its way down the  combiner won't regulate itself below a  certain amperage it'll trip the field  no yeah no I understand what you're  saying I think that's an offline  question we could go into rabbit hole on  that one I'm gonna hold that one for a  little bit later yeah I'm gonna there  yeah that could be a rabbit hole one so  we're not gonna go there sorry I just  don't want to go there on that one any  other questions      

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