Exactly lol, I've done in 2 different set-ups of mine and my buddys car.. no issues at all

 

You notice the ground and ign+? that is a relay....

You don't keep your system in your car long enough to see the effects of not using a relay. every 6 months you have something else.

wet or gel cell batteries need some kind of isolation.

 

If that thing ends up being ok, I'll take back some of the bad stuff I've said about yellow tops.

for those of you who don't know, Rob took this one out of my trash pile...it had been run over by an E250 van...

Toby

 

Good point.

 

yea seems to be doing fine......im gonna give it a little bit more to make sure though

 

damn optima ftw.

 

Team Kinetik and cheap ass HC2400 FTMFW!

 

I have to agree that the isolator is not a necessity (as long as you don't kill the batteries by running electronics for long periods without the vehicle running). Have installed many second batteries after customer has added to a system over the years. We usually have them upgrade both batteries to Optima's as part of the conversion but not every budget has allowed this. Also, think about Diesel's (Ford has no isolators on the 7.3L diesels-as a matter of fact direct connected with 0 guage running across the radiator support)-and they would only allow warranty replacement of the one battery that was failing the test-NOT the pair, or many of the RV's with dual 12v batteries (most newer ones however run dual 6V house batteries in series). I am not saying it is healthy to run two different age/condition batteries as the stronger one will mainly be working to bring the other battery up to speed (like jump-starting a vehicle with a low battery) but it can be done. Just my experience anyway...