Battery Drain Protection

I have a battery maintainer/charger that is plugged into the wall 24/7 when the car is not being driven.

Also have the ISIS InReserve system, though I see that as a emergency backup for when I forget or can't plug in the car. The switch to power off the InReserve solenoid is a convenient way to disconnect ISIS from the battery and could be thought of as sort of security feature as well.

IMO, any ISIS-equipped car needs a battery maintainer unless it is a DD (where normal driving and frequent use obviate the need for any special maintenance). There is just so much parasitic drain that a battery can't last long without being maintained, and the more cells you have, the more you need to constantly replenish power.

I have a CTEK 3300 that works great.
 
Will, I agree. I have an detachable umbilical charger that gets connected when it's parked in garage, when I remember to plug it in....

This unit is very simple to hook up and senses voltage drop to 11.7 and then disconnects battery. Simple turn on involves stepping on a brake or turning on a light - "any load transient of .02amp draw reactivates the battery". I liked the fact that it is inexpensive ($85.00 plus) and simple. The ISIS unit is more expensive and hook-up more complicated.
 
Looks like good Idea, Just thinking on the reset relay it would have to be something out side the control of ISIS, since ISIS is the battery drain culprit headlight, brake lights, and most of the electrical components wouldn't be usable. I'm open to ideas other than a hot switch strait from the battery.
 
Looks like good Idea, Just thinking on the reset relay it would have to be something out side the control of ISIS, since ISIS is the battery drain culprit headlight, brake lights, and most of the electrical components wouldn't be usable. I'm open to ideas other than a hot switch strait from the battery.

This could be a very simple trigger/switch
 

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Battery disconnect switch. flip it when done to kill all draw from the battery. Seems silly to leave your car plugged in 24/7, lol
 
I don't want my engine ECM to have to relearn every time I drive the car.

Relearning is over-rated - I notice no difference in acceleration, idling, drivability if I leave my power on and come back and drive a few times vs if I throw my cutoff switch when I'm done playing.

I suppose with my method if you have stuff like a radio or similar you screw yourself, but if you have a radio in the car you're doing it wrong.
 
How about a disconnect switch with a 10A fused bypass for ECM memory. The ECM battery line draws very little power, don't think you'll have to worry about it doing much damage. If you track the car the disconnect switch can be a nice safety feature and if there are no class rules to worry about I would go with one that's also a circuit breaker which would act faster than you can.

MARINE CIRCUIT BREAKER 200A PANEL MOUNT 187200P-03-1 - 46889
 
FWIW, fully charged to dead took about 7 days. Then it took 3 days to get it fully charged again.

We will never again forget to plug it in.
 
Why is the ISIS system causing so much parasitic loss? What is the ISIS system doing when everything is off? Not trying to bash ISIS just curious as to why it should be using so much power when essentially it isn't doing anything.

It sounds like they don't have some sort of standby mode where it only draws enough to know when to wake up again.
 
Why is the ISIS system causing so much parasitic loss? What is the ISIS system doing when everything is off? Not trying to bash ISIS just curious as to why it should be using so much power when essentially it isn't doing anything.

It sounds like they don't have some sort of standby mode where it only draws enough to know when to wake up again.

With the car turned off look at the power modules led's continually flashing while the ISIS system is checking all connected circuits for faults/issues. Yep - the battery will be run down within 7-10 days. Note that ISIS sells an "InReserve" kit to handle this issue (appears to be an afterthought & expensive & should have been included when you buy their system). IMHO they should have designed the system differently - I'm not sure it's necessary to continually be checking every circuit 24hrs. a day. Even the later model vettes are known for system battery drain - they recommend trickle charge installation if the car is not a daily driver.
 
I would like to think I had a bit to do with the inReserve system from ISIS. I pretty much told them that if I was going to continue to use their ISIS systems on GTM's, they were going to have to provide some way of preventing the battery from draining down. We wire cars here so that the stereo memory and engine ECU have continuous power, and pretty much everything else goes thru the inReserve solenoid so that the stereo and ECU never lose power but everything else is dead. We install the momentary button for the inReserve under the side-scoop on the driver's side so that you can walk up to the car, push the button and power up everything. I recommend to my customers that they use the button to power the car down every time they leave it also....unless it's just going to be a few hours. Otherwise the inReserve cuts power at 12.2v, which my battery charger says is about 60%.....and if you allow this to happen over and over, it will deep-cycle your battery and your battery will be toast in a matter of a few months. Manually tripping the inReserve every time, I have had a GTM here that sat for over a month, untouched, and still had 12.6v at the battery. IMO, this is a much better solution than having to hook your car up to a charger every time you drive it. And it offers the advantage of ISIS tripping the solenoid for you in the event that you forget.
 
Here’s my solution for the ISIS drain issue. I’m working on the wiring today and installed a latching solenoid battery cut-off system. I utilized the American Autowire piece - it’s simple and about 1/2 the price of the Painless Wiring unit. Press the hidden grounding switch and the power to the car is on/off instantaneously. The power to the starter is on a separate battery terminal so the heavy current to the starter will not be running thru the latching switch

American Autowire: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aww-500834/overview/

Painless Wiring: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/prf-30206/overview/

Also permanently attaching a
CTEK Power Multi US 4.3 Battery Chargers 56-864 with a marine type power plug/port to the outside of the body.
 

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That looks like the exact same unit that ISIS ships with the inReserve system. As an update.....we have a GTM in here right now that has ISIS installed along with the inReserve, and as I said above, I always trip the solenoid manually so the voltage doesn't have to drop to 12.2 before ISIS kicks it off. The car sat here from about Christmas time until just last week....untouched. Stereo memory, starter and ECU power is all that we hook direct to the battery and not thru the inReserve. After 4 months of sitting, the battery was still at 12.5 volts. If you install inReserve and hook it up like this, there is no need to plug the car in all the time....or at all. The system works. And as I said above, in the event you forget to manually kick the solenoid, ISIS will do it for you. IMO, inReserve is a mandatory part of an ISIS install.
 
I've been looking at the Granatelli Sure Start - 5 bucks more than the American Autowire and you get a remote: Granatelli Motor Sports Sure Start Smart Battery saver system for your vehicle at Crutchfield.com

Good catch and I believe I looked at this unit, but the directions advise: "The remote will only reconnect the battery, it WILL NOT disconnect the battery."

http://granatellimotorsports.com/images/catalogpdf/84f2c66898566fGranatelliSureStartSmartInstall.pdf
 

PeteB

GT40s Supporter
I purchased and installed the Granatelli Sure Start, and am happy to report it DOES connect and disconnect the battery with the remote. I don't know why the instructions posted on-line say it doesn't.
 
I purchased and installed the Granatelli Sure Start, and am happy to report it DOES connect and disconnect the battery with the remote. I don't know why the instructions posted on-line say it doesn't.

Good to know - Directions from the manuf. are wrong, this $hit doesn't surprise me anymore.
 
Granatelli usually makes crap parts, I sure wouldn't trust it with electrical.

I love their wonderful fuel pickups .... had to buy 4 of them for my 65 cobra to get 1 that wasn't kinked like a mofo
 
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