Hooking up Isolater with a 350Mag MPI engine?

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

What I need to know is, what wire should I use on this engine for the wire that is getting power when the boat is running?

Anyone with this engine and an isolater with info would be awesome. A picture would be even better!

'00 Tige 23v with a 350 Mag MPI engine.

Thanks!

--C

Cyclonecj · Soul Rider Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 338 City: Atlanta

Do you mean the wire that supplies charge power to your second battery, or WTF? If so, you need to hook the positive off your main battery to the isolator. It will only receive charge when the engine is running, and the isolator will not supply power to the second battery if the first battery is not fully charged (in a perfect world) Hot to the isolator, grounds connected together.

Use an 8 gauge wire if all you are doing is supplying charge power to a second battery bank powering your amps. If you are using it as a backup starting battery then use 0 gauge wire and keep the runs short.

What kinda isolator are you using, relay, diode type, or real man type (hellroaring?)

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

The "true ignition source" is the wire that I would be referring to. From the best that I could tell you hook one wire to a ground source and one wire to a "true ignition source" that is on when the boat is running. That is what lets the isolator know to charge both batteries.

I have a Stinger SR80 that looks like the below picture.

Cyclonecj · Soul Rider Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 338 City: Atlanta

Hook the alternator output to your true ignition source terminal. It is a big red wire that would normally go from the alternator to the battery or Perko switch. Trace it from the back of the alternator

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

The "true ignition source" terminal on the isolater is the tinyest little screw. It was definitly not meant for it to be hooked to a 2 gauge wire that is coming from my alternator.

My alternator has two outputs. One has the 2 gauge wire that goes to my main battery along with some other wires hooked into it. The second output has nothing attached to it.

Do I need to run a wire from this second alternator output to the tiny "ignotion source" terminal?

It seems that if I hooked the wire from the alternator output that has the 2 gauge coming from it, that the isolator would always be on since that wire goes sraight to the battery.

Maybe I should have gone with the crappy perko switch!

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

Update! I tried connecting a wire from the second alternator output to the "ignition source" for the isolator. From my multimeter readings both the alternator outputs are connected. So the isoaltor is always connecting both batteries.

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

Sorry to keep posting. I found this diagram from stinger:
http://www.stingerelectronics.com/sting_products/sr200_sr80%20diagram.pdf

I dont think the true ignition source is supposed to come straight from the alternator. This is what has been messing me up so badly I think.

The problem is that I dont know where to get that source.

dschock · Outlaw Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 135 City: Bellevue

Hey, I've got an '00 Tige 21v with the same engine. The true ignition source should be purple... anywhere in the boat. You could get that from the back of the gauges if you want. Because my isolator is in the back of the boat (right next to the batteries) I used the purple wire coming off of the alternator, which is the purple wire that runs to the dash anyways. I split off of that and ran it to the isolator.

Since you have a multimeter, test that purple wire first. It should be dead when the key is off, and live when the key is turned to ACC (or just one click... before ignition).

Oh, and by the way... that wiring diagram that you posted above was done by me for someone else a while back... I feel special.

Oh, and the "second alternator output" that you said you tried sounds like the alternator's connection to the battery. I traced that one the other day when I was trying to find a problem with my alternator (which turned out to be nothing, just a ghost in the system I guess). So basically you were using the battery as your own signal for connecting the two batteries. Hence the "always connecting both batteries".

If you have any more questions about finding that wire PM me and I'll try to get back to you ASAP.

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

Wow thanks! I'll bet back in there this evening and look for the purple wire coming from the alternator. Was it a small wire or a fat wire?

I made a blank diagram using that SR80 picture a last season and then someone (you it would seem!) took it and showed me how to hook it up. I just never got around to it with my old boat. I think the v8 tige needs it quite a bit more.

Cyclonecj · Soul Rider Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 338 City: Atlanta

The purple wire is just a small wire that is hot when the key is on (boat running) that turns on the solenoid (isolator) and basically shorts the positives of your two batteries together. THe purple wire should be coming off your ignition switch. The big wire from your alternator should still go to your main battery/perko Sorry for the misinformation, I didn't look at it right.

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

So the purple wire(s) are only hot when the key is turned (all the gauges come on at this point) or only when the boat is actually running?

Would that purple wire actually connect to the alternator? I looked all over it and I didnt see any connections to the alternator except for the ones for output from the alternator.

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

I am an idoit. I wasn't trying to connect to the alternator, I was trying to connect to the starter. The fat 2 gauge wire goes from the battery to the starter and not to the alternator.

--C

Cyclonecj · Soul Rider Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 338 City: Atlanta

The purple wire is hot in the RUN position, so the isolator is energized when the boat is running. It combines the hots of the 2 batts and charge is supplied to both batt's via the alternator. When the key is OFF, the isolator is de-energized, and the hots of the two batts are no longer combined. Your stereo plays off the second battery without draining the starting battery.

The purple wire is under your dash on the back of the key switch.

ATXParrothead · Outlaw Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 129 City: Austin, TX

Why dont you take the cables that are already connected to your current battery and that are already ran to u'r engine alternator and starter, connect them to the isolater. Then run a set of cable to the already inplace battery from the isolator and then run a 2nd pair of cables to the 2nd/new battery??

pcm2a · Soul Rider Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 318 City: LaVergne

I got my wire hooked into the alternator. When you turn the key the isolator is connected when the key is off the isolator is disconected! So we know the isolator works.

Then it was time to test everything out.

I turned my radio, amps, etc on and left them on for several hours. Came out and tested both batteries with my battery charger. Main battery was rock solid (fantastic!) and Stereo Battery was 3/4 low. Just what you would expect.

I turn the key, isolator connects the batteries, perfect. I go to start the boat and I get a uhh, uhh, uhh, uhh. Boat will not start. I disconnect the battery cable going from the isolator to the stereo battery. Now the boat fires up perfectly.

I have the whole system and taken it out of the boat since it doesnt work. I am going to buy one of the Perko switches and try that.

My question is, if Battery B is dead and Battery A is full and I have the switch set on Both, we know from the isolator that my boat is not going to start. Can I set the switch to Battery A to start the boat and then WITH the engine running switch it to Both so that my dead battery B can get charged up?

Thanks!

lee · Outlaw Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 196 City: USA

Cyclonecj · Soul Rider Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 338 City: Atlanta

IF you get the Perko with isolation (costs 10$ more or so) If not, you will pop the diodes in your alternator.

It sounds as if you hooked up something wrong with your isolator setup, it should have worked.

lee · Outlaw Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 196 City: USA

With a standard Perko Switch you can switch from A to B while the engine is running but not to the off position.