kickass audio Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 i would not in any way use a battery isolator. I think they are a total waste. Just dont slam your system when your vehicle is off for a long time and you will be fine. Get a volt meter if you do plan to slam with your engine off so you can see how low your voltage is going and if it gets below like 12.3v resting then id turn on the car to charge it back up. Isolators are a overpaid pile of crap and its one more thing to worry about breaking. I have 4 xs d3100 batteries in the back of my truck and a s3400 in the engine and i dont use an isolator and i have the same voltage at any battery point in my system. Also so you know, to wire one up, its the same as a fuse. You have one end of the wire go to one side of the isolator and the other end of the same wire goes on the other site of the isolator. Typically ppl mount them in their engine next to their battery. Quote 2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ18 Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Personally I would go with XS Power for the Battery. Dont bother messing with isolators either. Do the Big 3 upgrade under the hood in 0ga. If you have a battery in the back which I would recommend, you will then just need to run 1 each + and - from the front battery into the car to the rear battery. You can then hook up your amplifiers to the rear battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatthewBigBossWilliams Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Personally I would go with XS Power for the Battery. Dont bother messing with isolators either. Do the Big 3 upgrade under the hood in 0ga. If you have a battery in the back which I would recommend, you will then just need to run 1 each + and - from the front battery into the car to the rear battery. You can then hook up your amplifiers to the rear battery. im going to have 2 batteries in the back and one in the front. soo basically just hook up the front battery to the 2 back batteries in the back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ18 Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Personally I would go with XS Power for the Battery. Dont bother messing with isolators either. Do the Big 3 upgrade under the hood in 0ga. If you have a battery in the back which I would recommend, you will then just need to run 1 each + and - from the front battery into the car to the rear battery. You can then hook up your amplifiers to the rear battery. im going to have 2 batteries in the back and one in the front. soo basically just hook up the front battery to the 2 back batteries in the back? Yep. Here is a basic description of what you will need to do Big 3 0ga ground from alt to frame 0ga ground from front battery to frame 0ga power from alt to front battery 0ga power wire from front battery to positive post of first rear battery 0ga power wire from positive terminal of first rear battery to positive post of second rear battery. 0ga ground from first rear battery to frame. 0ga ground from neg post of first rear battery to neg post of second rear battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatthewBigBossWilliams Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Personally I would go with XS Power for the Battery. Dont bother messing with isolators either. Do the Big 3 upgrade under the hood in 0ga. If you have a battery in the back which I would recommend, you will then just need to run 1 each + and - from the front battery into the car to the rear battery. You can then hook up your amplifiers to the rear battery. im going to have 2 batteries in the back and one in the front. soo basically just hook up the front battery to the 2 back batteries in the back? Yep. Here is a basic description of what you will need to do Big 3 0ga ground from alt to frame 0ga ground from front battery to frame 0ga power from alt to front battery 0ga power wire from front battery to positive post of first rear battery 0ga power wire from positive terminal of first rear battery to positive post of second rear battery. 0ga ground from first rear battery to frame. 0ga ground from neg post of first rear battery to neg post of second rear battery. Id hate to sound like a noob, but you comepletely lost me. I am very very visual and hands on so if you can visually show me, I will take a picture in my mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corteznewbie Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 i thought you had to set the grounds up like one to engine block from battery and one from battery to chassis or body of the car. or is your way better cj? Quote Team DBs (Driven By sound) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickass audio Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Either way will work but i personally like to do it all on the battery. I did my grounds from the battery to the frame of my truck, and from the battery to my engine's bolt. I also did my rear battery bank ground to the frame (right now i dont feel like making a run for ground from front to back battery but next year i will) and my voltage drop although it is minimal is the same from front to rear battery bank. Quote 2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatthewBigBossWilliams Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Either way will work but i personally like to do it all on the battery. I did my grounds from the battery to the frame of my truck, and from the battery to my engine's bolt. I also did my rear battery bank ground to the frame (right now i dont feel like making a run for ground from front to back battery but next year i will) and my voltage drop although it is minimal is the same from front to rear battery bank. so connecting the negative to aground is a bad idea. just connect the negative to the negative of the front battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickass audio Posted August 14, 2011 Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Dude the negative IS your ground. lol. If you want a temporary way to have a decent ground, just ground to your frame if its a vehicle with an actual frame. If your vehicle is a unibody construction then ground it to your strut tower for an alright ground. For a great ground, wire from the negative of your front battery to the negative of your rear battery. If you arent putting a battery in the rear of your vehicle or have no need to then forget running the ground from front to back, just ground it to your frame/strut tower. For my truck my ground is run straight to my frame on my truck. I just drilled a hole big enough to fit the huge bolt into and then i took a tap and die kit and tapped the hole i drilled with threads so i could screw the bolt into the frame and not have to sneak a nut inbetween the frame to hold it. Once it was all threaded i took a wire wheel brush you can attach to a power drill and i held it on my frame to grind away all the paint in the area i was about to put the terminal onto. Then i bolted the wire up into the frame tight as all hell. Once i finished that i got some spray paint and painted over it so it wouldnt rust/corrode out on me in the winter. I repeated this step in the back of my truck for the ground except i used the cargo bolts in the back as a way to ground from the inside to the outside where my frame was. I didnt want to drill a big ass hole through my floor or wheel well to feed the 1/0 wire through so i had the great idea to use the stock cargo bolt area, get a longer bolt and have a wire going from my rear battery bank to that bolt. Then i have a wire on the underside of my truck which goes from the bottom side of the same bolt to the frame of my truck. Quote 2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatthewBigBossWilliams Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Dude the negative IS your ground. lol. If you want a temporary way to have a decent ground, just ground to your frame if its a vehicle with an actual frame. If your vehicle is a unibody construction then ground it to your strut tower for an alright ground. For a great ground, wire from the negative of your front battery to the negative of your rear battery. If you arent putting a battery in the rear of your vehicle or have no need to then forget running the ground from front to back, just ground it to your frame/strut tower. For my truck my ground is run straight to my frame on my truck. I just drilled a hole big enough to fit the huge bolt into and then i took a tap and die kit and tapped the hole i drilled with threads so i could screw the bolt into the frame and not have to sneak a nut inbetween the frame to hold it. Once it was all threaded i took a wire wheel brush you can attach to a power drill and i held it on my frame to grind away all the paint in the area i was about to put the terminal onto. Then i bolted the wire up into the frame tight as all hell. Once i finished that i got some spray paint and painted over it so it wouldnt rust/corrode out on me in the winter. I repeated this step in the back of my truck for the ground except i used the cargo bolts in the back as a way to ground from the inside to the outside where my frame was. I didnt want to drill a big ass hole through my floor or wheel well to feed the 1/0 wire through so i had the great idea to use the stock cargo bolt area, get a longer bolt and have a wire going from my rear battery bank to that bolt. Then i have a wire on the underside of my truck which goes from the bottom side of the same bolt to the frame of my truck. OK I understand that. So i should definetley connect the batteries together, well thats no problem. I saved myself 1500 bucks then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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