Diode Battery Isolater Question?

[farbs93 10+ year member]

My question is to anybody that has experience with these kind of isolaters, how much of a voltage drop did you get by using it? I am running a yellowtop in my trunk and I have a voltage meter on it that is located right next to the steering wheel. Usually it reads in the high 11's which is horrible. Im trying to figure out if it is installed wrong or do I really lose that many volts with this type of isolater. By the way, the battery is about 15 feet from the alternator and all the wiring is 0 gauge. Thanks for the help.

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[LBX2G 10+ year member]

what did it read before u add that.

 

[farbs93 10+ year member]

The first time I installed that battery it was with the isolater, I have never ran it any other way. When I first turned on the system with the brand new yellow top in the trunk the battery read around 12.8 volts and sounded great at that. Since then it hasnt gone up only down or stayed the same. I even did a test, drove to work and back (an hour and a half total of highway driving) and when I turned the system on afterwords, my voltage started at 11.7 with the stereo barely on.

 

[jrz126 10+ year member]

Every diode had a forward voltage (voltage drop), its the voltage required for the diode to start conducting.

You can measure it with your voltmeter, just place a lead on either side of the diode.

It typically ranges from 0.7V to 3 or 4 volts

On a side note, I'm testing a diode panel at work that can handle 250 amps, and it has a voltage drop of about ~1.8V

 

[farbs93 10+ year member]

wow thats bad, I was thinking like .4 to .6, maybe I should forget the isolater and just run the two batteries together :\ . Too be honest though I might have blown the fuse the day it was installed. I heard a loud pop when I was blasting the music and I then turned it down immediately. Hasnt been the same since, thanks for the info.