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Old 08-13-2018, 10:07 PM   #1
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Desperate for help.. Isolator to battery bank!

Hi there, thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and I hope someone can help me!



I am going full time in a truck camper and bought 4 costco 6v deep cycles. I wired them in series parallel to make one big 12v battery, this is going into a xantrex sw2000 pure sine inverter. I hooked the batteries up with help online, I used all tinned copper lugs and 1/0 wire and marine shrink tube as well as soldered every lug after crimping it with hydraulic crimper.



The inverter turned on and worked great, shows no faults.. the problem I'm having is since I have a 130amp alt in my super duty I got a battery doctor Isolator since Oregon is going to be raining and cloudy the next 9 months or so.. The isolator keeps showing a fault... i hooked main from battery + to main on isolator, then aux on isolator to a 250amp fuse run all the way back to the bank in the truck camper, and of course ground on the isolator to a fender bolt that has no paint.


Blinks red showing fault in aux battery... I grabbed instructions again and it shows to go from negative to ground on the bank of batteries... I used jumper cableds and went on the side that had the two negatives together and to frame, sparks and made the cables glow... what in the world am I doning wrong, everything seems correct? I hope somoene can point out what Im missing.



If you can help or have suggestions I would appricaite the help!



Thank you,

Danny

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Old 08-13-2018, 10:41 PM   #2
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Welcome superduty - I am not the resident electrical guru but let's get a bit more info.

Let's see a diagram/picture of the wiring you did with the four Costco 6 volt batteries. Draw it on a piece of part and take photo of it, if that is easiest. Include which battery terminals are getting positive and negative out to the rig from the aux bank.

Next, I would run the ground from the isolator directly to a bolt in the frame. Not sure the fender is going to cut it because the fender, as part of the body is floating on rubber bushings and is relying on grounding straps between the body and frame.

Do you have voltage meter? What are the readings from each positive terminal (main/ aux) to a known good ground? What is the reading from each of the two positive terminals (Main / Aux) to the center negative terminal?
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Old 08-13-2018, 11:11 PM   #3
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Hi there, thank u for the reply... Here is a pic of the exact way it's hooked up, I mentioned when i fired up truck and got the blinking light it meant problem with aux battery so i grabbed manual and saw it said go from bank neg. to ground thats when it shot sparks and then again started glowing the jump cables i used to complete ground for testing to see if it made it switch to charge mode but just red blink...
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Old 08-13-2018, 11:12 PM   #4
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the inverter showed 12.7 on my test before i had hooked up the isolator
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Old 08-13-2018, 11:47 PM   #5
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Clearly, something is connected incorrectly. Connecting the negative side of the battery to ground should never cause the cable to glow red. Somehow, you had a direct short as shown by the fact that the cable sparked and started glowing red. I would go back and triple check all the connections. I would also suspect you may have damaged the isolator when you shorted out the batteries. Sorry I can't be more help......
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Old 08-13-2018, 11:52 PM   #6
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does it have anything to do with the batteries being run in series parallel, since a positive and neg are crossed to accomplish this? It would of blown either of two fuses woudln't u think before blowing the isolator? I dont understand why the xantrex works and shows no codes, gives me the right voltage on readout ... i used very high quality 1/0 wire and lugs that were soldered, crimped and marine heat shrink. maybe i knicked a wire running it from the battery to the truck camper...
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Old 08-13-2018, 11:53 PM   #7
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if the ground was bad the + /- from the inverter has a ground to the truck bed... if it was the ground woudn't it of melted the wire or ? Thanks for the replies!
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Old 08-14-2018, 12:23 AM   #8
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Where in Oregon you located? Sounds like you have reverse polarity on your Aux batteries. I would recheck the connections.

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Old 08-14-2018, 12:31 AM   #9
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Im in Salem... Ill double and triple check again...
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Old 08-14-2018, 02:26 AM   #10
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I do not see the aux batteries negative terminal connected to chassis ground in your pic. Is there a ground wire from there?

Just re-read the first post. You are saying when you did this with a jumper cable, I hope just one side of the cable, it sparked? Inverter off? All 12vdc loads off?
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