- Joined
- Mar 2, 2017
- Threads
- 20
- Messages
- 245
- Reaction score
- 456
- Location
- Olive Branch, MS
- Vehicle(s)
- '16 JK Rubicon, '18 JL Rubicon, '21 JT Rubicon
- Thread starter
- #106
I would love to hear those reasons? On the off chance there is something I'm missing or overlooking.
Thanks for the kind words.
I was half asleep on the couch when I posted that last night, so I'll elaborate on why I say it's not suitable, and don't waste your money.
First, that device is only rated to carry 140 amps, or as the spec sheet says, 1.4E+2 Amps.

The JL comes with 2 alternator options - the standard one is 180 amps, and the heavy duty option is rated at 240 amps. That rating is the maximum current the alternator can put out under perfect conditions, and most of the time, it won't be blasting out that much, but it can.
The other factor is how much current your accessories draw. One good use for an isolator based system like our Gen 3 Power Hub is for winching. If you are stuck in the mud and have a really hard winch pull, your winch can draw well over 400 amps, which is a tremendous amount of current in a 12v system. The alternator will increase it's output to help with the demand, but the excess power needs will come out of the battery. This means while you are winching, that isolator could see over 400 amps flowing through it, for short durations. That little device is not designed to handle that much current, and I would not expect it to last long at all. Even normal daily driving, a max rating of 140 amps is considered light duty in an automotive application like ours.
The isolator we use is rated for 300 amps continuous, 400 amps for 5 minutes, and 2500 amps for 10 seconds.
Next, the wire size is too small. Again, the spec sheet oddly lists the length, and a rating of 110 amps, instead of a wire gauge size. Never seen that before. If they use appropriate sized wire to handle 110 amps, it should be at least 4 gauge. I have 4ga wire here that we used for our Polaris RZR kits that was rated to handle 85 amps. Just based on the picture, I'm going to guess that is 6ga wire, but I can't tell for sure, which is another red flag. Regardless, 4ga wire is not suitable to run from your cranking battery to under your back seat with a 180 or 240 amp alternator. It might work, but again with a hard winch pull, you are running a risk of that wire getting hot, and there is a very realistic possibility of it causing a fire.
Also the pictures in the link show that it comes with 2 fuse holders, but no fuses. What kind of fuses did you plan to get to go along with it?
Our kit uses 2ga heavy duty welding cable which has an extra thick jacket to protect it from abrasion and accidental damage, with a 600 amp ZCase fuse - that's high enough to not blow from using a winch or stereo equipment, but will blow if the cable is accidentally shorted out to the frame or something catastrophic, so you don't burn your Jeep down.
Next, I can tell from the pictures that the lugs they are using are not sealed. The bare copper wire is visible sticking out the end of the barrel. This is going to allow water or humidity to contact the bare copper, causing corrosion, and eventually leading to degraded current carrying capacity. Same thing on that little wire labeled Earth Point, that's a cheap nylon terminal and your ground wire is exposed.
Our lugs are sealed on the ends, and we use an extra thick heavy duty heat shrink to cover where the wire enters the lug so the wire doesn't corrode.
Next on the list is the Cut In and Cut Out voltage. That one will connect the batteries together at 13.3v, and disconnect at 12.8v. Your Wrangler has a 'smart alternator' which means it will vary the output voltage based on what it thinks the battery needs. When your alternator sees the battery is full, it will turn down the output by allowing the pulley wheel to free spool, saving a couple horsepower from the drivebelt. This means the alternator can drop the voltage down to 12.5v or even lower. When it does, that isolator will see the voltage drop and separate the batteries even while you are driving, so your second battery will not get charged while you are driving.
That's why we recommend the Engine On Sensor cable for our JL & JT customers. This cable tells our isolator when the engine is running, and the isolator will not separate the batteries while you are driving regardless of the voltage.
Another observation of your original plan, you mentioned putting a battery into a Pelican-style case so that it's waterproof. Question 1 - why do you need the battery to be waterproof? Question 2 - how do you get the battery cables inside the case and keep it waterproof? Question 3 - how would you secure that case in place so it's not being thrown around while driving?
You could just use our Adjustable Battery Brackets and our mounting base brackets to bolt it securely to the floor under the seat as shown on this page - https://www.genesisoffroad.com/collections/diesel-jl
There's no reason why the battery needs to be waterproofed. If you drive through a river, the battery would be dry but your interior will be flooded, so i don't understand that logic.
I hope all this helps you see that just because an option is less expensive, doesn't mean it's a good deal. I really believe you'd be better off doing nothing than wasting $115 (plus don't forget the fuses, plus your time).
One of our customers told me a great saying that I loved - Poor people can't afford cheap parts. I love that saying, it means just because you don't have a lot of money, doesn't mean you should waste money doing things the wrong way and have to do it over again, or cause more problems down the road.
Hope this helps.
-Shane
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