it seems i have a problem...my stinger battery in the back seems to be not charging right or something. it used to run a constant 14.30-14.50 at all times then drop to about 13.80 on a strong bass hit. But now after about 5-10 minutes it drops down and stays at a constant 12.40-12.70 and drops to like 11.55 when the bass hits which is no good. Is there something i can do to get it back up to a constant 14.xx???

I was thinking it might be the alt. but the front battery seems to keep a good charge, would it help if i charge the stinger to it's fullest and then hook it back up like normal??

 

you can try that, but sounds like to me a cell is going. put the stinger in the front and let it charge up for a bit, then pull all connections and check the voltage in 5 minute increments.

 

well i went outside and put the charger on it, but it said it was charged all the way, so i re-attached the power and ground, and started the truck. It jumped to 14.44 (but i think it's because it's about 30 degrees here) for all of about 5 minutes, then it started dippin down so i dunno. If i buy a new battery and get an isolator will it fix this problem in the future??

 

what kind of battery are you running up front?? an isolator will only be usefull if u wanna play ur stereo with the car off. i would just run the batteries in parallel if they are the same. if they are different you will either have to isolate the rear or buy another battery for the front that is the same as the rear

 

The front is just a plain old duralast gold, thats why i figured an isolator would help since they say not to mix batteries but i dunno....i'll be upgrading the front battery to a stinger sp1000 once i get my 2150's for the back, but they won't be for like a month. I was hoping the isolator could work as a temporary fix..

 

Generally, when wiring in paralell, it's not as big of a deal to have your batteries exactly the same, since they both run at the same voltage, and you'd be splitting the current draw between the two, and adding the capacity together... You _can_ do it with minimal issues with different batteries, but preferably if they have the same current capabilities, i.e. CCA, reserve, and how fast they can discharge... But since your second battery is having some issues, you probably don't want it tied to your other battery, or it'll be constantly draining it.

When wiring in series (which you do NOT want to do) you need all your batteries to have the same capacity or you're going to hit over discharge issues...

 

try charging it first to its full potential then if that doesn't work and it is still dropping like that try switching from a stinger to a optima blue top its a deep cycle that i have used in all my system applications and have never failed.