Do I really need an isolator?

[Lonnie 10+ year member]

WELL an isolator is to make sure you dont run one battery dead right? Its not like im going to keep my car off and run the system for long periods of time or anything so that shouldnt be an issue.

Wanting to put a 600 amp cheap wal-mart battery I got under the hood with a Kinetik HC1800. Couldnt I just run a separate wire for the HC1800 off of the alt to my trunk? Then just ground the battery to the frame?...Wire going through a hole in the trunk directly to the frame.

Im just trying to avoid shelling out $50 for an isolator lol.

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[csu87 10+ year member]

if your not running your system with the car off, you dont really need one. I dont run one and havent had a problem. you can always do like you said and run the wire directly from the alt

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

No you don't need an isolator. Some will argue you'll shorten the life of the batteries, but I've done it for years and am still doing it with the original used optima yellowtop I bought when I was 16. So obviously it's life isn't exactly hurting...

 

[branham1127 10+ year member]

You'll be just fine... Plenty of people run an extra battery/battery bank without the use of an isolator.. Mines setup pretty much how you just said and I've never had a dead battery before..

 

[Lonnie 10+ year member]

Mmk ty

Well the HC1800 is now sitting in the floor next to me. Looking forward to hooking it up.