can I boost my van battery from the isolator??

[peppster66]

Hi , quick question,,, I forgot to turn off my GPS last night. and it seems to have dropped the van battery low enough that it was unable to start today .But my house battery is full, So I was thinking about the possibility of boosting the van battery from the house battery, then I realized the wire from the isolator that goes to the rear battery, is it possible? ,My idea would be to simply boost from there, or is there a risk of damaging the isolator or the rear electric items. It just seems so easy , if your in a bad spot. If you have any ideas , please let me know,,, thanks,,,,,Josef,,,,

[Bruceper]

You sure could. Personally I would disconnect the positive cable just to be safe.

Note that deep cycle batteries aren't really made for boosting and boosting could shorten their lifespan. But if you're stranded and need help I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[mkguitar]

in theory you could use a thick piece of cable to jump across the isolator to jump the van battery ( I work with electricity)... but there are so many variables, that in your shoes I would either swap coach and motor batteries... or I would pull the coach battery and carry it up front to jump the motor. mike

[avanti]

It mostly depends on whether your battery is dead or just weak. If it is completely dead, it is very unlikely that your upfitter installed wiring, circuit breakers and isolation relay with adequate capacity to run the starter at adequate speed. If you are simply in a "slow crank" situation, though, the extra current from the house battery may well save your bacon. The safest thing to do is to (a) plug into shore power or run your genset; (b) close your isolation relay with a jumper; and (c) sit around for awhile while your coach charger adds some amps to the coach battery; and (d) disconnect the isolation relay and try again.

[booster]

You can also just jumper the isolator, but not try to start the engine. If the coach batteries are full they may charge the starter battery enough to start you. Best, as mentioned is to plug into shore power and jumper the isolator to fully charge the starter battery.

[peppster66]

Thanks for all your replies, I was really thinking of keeping it simple, I always carry a set of jumper cables in the van, my thought was to simply use the positive side of the jumper cable from the main red positive wire coming out of the bottom of the isolator, and then put the other end of the jumper cable to the positive side of the van battery, I was thinking the negative side wouldnt need to be atatched, since they are both grounded to the van itself,, let it sit for a minute, then hopefully be able to turn on the motor.Again, this is only as a last chance , if there is no other way, and I have no other choice........do you think its a possibility, or possible damage to my electrical system.???Thanks for all your replies,,,,,

[booster]

I think all of the Dodges have #6 or #8 wiring from the coach to engine, probably with 50 amps breakers in the line at each end. The breakers will protect things as long as they work. Of course there is also the chance they will open but not reset (they are usually auto reset). There are probably pretty old at this point.

You wouldn't have to connect the negative, as it is as you said all frame tied already. You may just want to take you jumper cables from the coach battery to the engine battery. If they are too short, hook the positive and negative together to get longer since you don't need to hook up the negative. By aware that you will be hooking up the positive hot at a dead battery which can spark and find gasses, so you might want to make the connection at the isolator starter battery connection instead.

[markopolo]

Lot's of good advice in this topic, especially about the spark. I'd join the the appropriate posts on the isolator if needed. I made a small jumper cable for the RT I had. I'd remove it before cranking the engine as mentioned above.

Related links:

http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f5...ttery-263.html

http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f8...arged-432.html

[JimDavisHouston]

Something to think about to add to your gadget collection. Although I really don't need it because My Travato has a boost switch on the dash that connects the coach battery to the engine battery, I also have a "Zip Spin"

It's a very small unit that almost fits in a large pocket with a Jumper Clamp, and phone charger adapters. Rated to jump 3 or 4 batteries on a charge. I used it to jump a guys Winnebago at a truck stop last month, and it worked great. 70 bucks. The link is a mile long. Just Google "Zipspin"

[Bruceper]

Searching google for Zipspins brings up a CD/DVD duplicator.

Walmart link here PDE Tech ZipSpin Portable Pocket Power Jump Starter - Walmart.com

I've seen these units, and they're interesting. Do they work to boost a low battery? Yes.

Will they work to start your vehicle that's frozen at -40? Probably not. I'd also have safety concerns about using one of these at this temperature due to the massive current draw.

[stanw909]

Yes you can. I too have a short jumper cable as Marko mentioned. I even had to use the jumper in place to keep the van going when the starter battery completely failed. Not something I'd recommend but I have seen no ill effects so far . My van is a 96 Dodge and probably has simpler electronics (computer ) on board.