How can I hook up solar panels?
Most people want to use solar panels to be able to run their accessories for as long as possible with the engine off. You can connect the solar charge controller directly to our power and ground bus bars. The solar charge will go into your aux battery first to replace the power used by your accessories. As long as the panel is big enough to keep up with the demand and charge up the battery, then our smart isolator will link them together, and the solar will flow over to the cranking battery as well
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How do I connect a trickle charger to keep both batteries charged?
You can connect a charger to your factory positive wire on the cranking battery and the factory negative wire on the aux battery. This way the trickle charger works just like your alternator - it will charge the cranking battery first for a couple minutes, then the smart isolator links the batteries together to charge the aux battery as well.
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I left my headlights/radio/dome lights turned on, and now the engine won't crank. I thought the system would turn off the cranking battery to protect it from getting too low.
The factory positive wire harness feeds power directly to your fuse box, which means all of the factory circuits are powered from your cranking battery. The isolator does not turn off power to the fuse box. It 'isolates' the 2 batteries from each other, to protect your cranking battery from being drained by your aftermarket accessories that you have wired up to the bus bars. If you accidentally drain your cranking battery, that's when you'd use the boost button to jump start yourself from the second battery.
My factory post clamps won't get tight enough on the battery post. It is loose and causing weird electrical issues.
The factory battery post clamps are made of light duty stamped sheetmetal, and are easy to damage. First, make sure the post clamp is fully seated all the way to the bottom of the battery post. Try loosing up the post clamp nut so it is very loose, then use a large socket and gently tap the clamp down onto the post. Now tighten the clamp nut and see if it is secure. You can also try using a battery post shim, available from your local auto parts store, to fill the gap between the clamp and the post, allowing the clamp to tighten down more securely.
Do I need an sPOD, or is it unnecessary since the kit has the power and ground bus bars for hooking up my accessories?
The sPOD system from www.4x4spod.com is a great compliment to our dual battery system. It allows you to easy add electrical accessories that need a fuse, relay, and a switch. It does have limitations, however, with the amount of current that can be used through any one switch. For example, you can't control a winch with it due to the very high amp draw for the winch. Our bus bars are perfect for connecting accessories that need direct battery power, or for those that come with a wire harness that includes a fuse, relay, and switch.
How do I connect an sPOD system to the dual battery kit?
The sPOD source unit should be connected directly to our power and ground bus bars. For the best connection, we recommend using a larger ring terminal on the positive lead so that it can be connected to one of the large studs on the power bus bar. The sPOD's negative lead should fit the corresponding stud on the negative bus bar.
The sPOD is turning off my accessories. Did I hook it up incorrectly?
The sPOD has a low voltage monitor that will automatically shut circuits down to avoid draining your battery too much. When adding an sPOD to our dual battery kit, we recommend you pull out the 2 amp fuse inside the Source box. It is the only 2 amp fuse you'll see when you remove the cover. This will disable its low voltage cutoff system. Since you have 2 batteries, and since our smart isolator will already protect your cranking battery from getting drained, you probably don't care if your accessory battery gets drained down all the way. That's why you have 2 batteries in the first place!
Is it ok to use my favorite brand of batteries, or are the Full River and Odyssey batteries the only choice?
Any Group 25 battery will work in our tray. That refers to the physical size of the battery. We offer Full River and Odyssey batteries through our website as a convenience for people who want to have everything delivered to their doorstep, rather than having to go to the store to buy them and pay sales tax, and have to carry 2 heavy batteries home to be installed.
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Do you ship to international customers?
Absolutely! International shipping is no problem.