[bobbie88]

Well i was installing a flood light for reveresing today and i got to thinking about my dual battery, now i have found what im guessing is some kind of isolation relay type thing but im really not to sure, so i grabbed a few pics to chuck up here and was wondering if anyone would help me out in answering a few questions.

what is it?
What does it do?
are they crap/worthkeeping?
any more info

[bobbie88]

Sorry About the massive Pics. not sure how to change size:(

[royce]

its a continuous duty solenoid, used for linking batteries together and so on
simple way to isolate the battery, turn the ignition on and they link, turn it off they isolate, plenty of em in 4wd's round the country

if its working there is no real need to replace it, you can get fancier stuff with voltage sensing and so on but end of the day not much differs

[bobbie88]

ok so if i have my iginition turned off and my fridge still connected to 1 battery? will that run the fridge until battery is dead and then il still have 1 battery to start the car with?

any more info on these royce, cheers for the quick reply, also i have left on lights on over night a couple of months back and i couldnt start my car a all? can u explain a bit more:)

[royce]

ok you have 1 battery that runs everything in your car, from starter motor to the engine to the lights

if it goes flat from say leaving your lights on, car wont start

dual batteries adds another battery in, to basically rund whatever you hook up to it, the isolator links them together when the engine is running so it can charge and isolates them when off so whatever is running only runs of the one battery

normally you would fit a battery and wire up a socket to plug a fridge or light or whatever in so that it powers it but doesnt run from your main battery so the car will still start, also allows you to fit a battery better suited to the low current draw and deep drain of things like fridges and possibly even bigger capacity

now cause your lights and so on are still on the main battery leaving them on drains your start battery, you can do fancy things like link buttons and stuff to get you out of trouble but it relies on lots of variables and its often easier to turn the lights off

[bobbie88]

thanks heaps man:) thats helped me heaps ay.. im going to fraser island on friday and i was just wondering if i was safe running my fridge over there.. i have a 12 volt point in the back of my car.. and that is wat i will be running my firdge off?

[bobbie88]

sorry 1 last question royce, is there any checks i can do on the solenoid just to make sure it is working and doing what it is suppose to, i have a multimeter.
sorry about all the noobie quesitons

[dj181]

i have put one of these into my pajero....and i had one in my vitara....they work fairly well.........the easiest way to tell if it is working is follow the cable to the main battery and disconnect it from the solenoid........then measure the point where u disconnected it at the solenoid with it activated and de-activated....with it activated u should have 12 volts at the disconnected point and with it deactivated u should have nothing there......or if u like , and i u arent too far away from me (north side of brisbane) u can drop over and i will check it out for u if u want...