Dual Battery Setup?

[rpenner54]

For anyone running dual batteries what kind of parts peices did you get to do that? I know Painless makes a kit that allows you to do this without to much trouble but I have heard that the kits are not all that great. I now have an optima with the little pads to keep it starting fresh all the time (Thanks to all those who told me to get those) and I figure why not just add a second battery right there while I got it going. I figure I can stick two optimas in the stock location with a little cutting. I got the sawzall out last week and sorta took off the fenders in the rear of the truck. Rick thanks for that idea! So anyways any kind of advice or part numbers would be helpfull.

Thanks!

 

[mattadams]

Ryan - I'll have to take some pictures of my co-workers dual battery set up and post them to the board, its quite impressive. How it works is EXTREMELY basic but it does exactly what you need it to. Has the one battery that runs all the normal stuff then has one battery that has the winch hooked up to it. The winch can't be used it a key in the engine compartment is not turned though, the key sends the signal that it is OK to use the second battery. The way it also works is so if the first battery goes dead, turn the key and the second battery will charge up the first battery which is kind of what I think you were wanting it for anyway. Although really you don't NEED two batteries, but I know, I'm guilty of the same thing, I have all kinds of crap I don't need in there, heh heh. I'll try to take some pics and post them within a few days. He also has an older blazer so he has tons of room in his engine compartment... he could put 10 batteries in there if he wanted to...

 

[Fredness]

Ryan, could you explain the "pads" you used?

 

[BigDave]

In our old boat my dad set up a two battery system. This is pretty much necessary for marine applications because we would drive out somewhere and sit and listen to the radio and what not...anyway we had a selector that would allow the use of one or the other batterys, both, or we could turn the system off. Has anyone ever used this type of setup in their trucks. i know the part can be obtained at any boat store, but thought that for you guys wanting to run the dual battery thing...

Dave

 

[MFergy]

I thought I would put my two cents in because I am currently putting in two batteries myself... as in I have the stuff and if it wern't raining i would be doing it now. One thing that may be different from your set up is that I run an after market stereo with the amps to be run off the second battery, period, never the first. Bat 1 is a starting battery and Bat 2 is a deep cycle. I purchased a battery isolator from West Marine, a popular boating supply store. The isolator allows both batteries to be charged together equally and disables one battery from discharging into the second battery when not being charged. This would ruin your batteries. I placed an on/off switch between the positives of Bat 1 and 2 with the starter lead coming off bat 1. In the on position this allows the batteries to be connected in parallel, mucho important... not series, effectivly the same set up as jumping the bat 1. I chose this because bat 1 and 2 can never be connected together directly unless the switch is on, that discharge thing, and bat 2 can never be used alone to start the vehicle so it is always ready to power the stereo, winch, etc. The battery isolator comes with complete wiring diagrams, and I verified the switch location with a marine mechanic. unfortunately I cannot offer any pictures right now. I hope this helps and not confuses anyone. As you can tell I am very excited about setting up the batteries... the electrical possibilities seem endless.. Good Luck

PS I found that replacing the stock alternator with a 130 amp version was easy and provides a lot more juice with engine running, however if you consider this, do it before buying an isolator because most isolators have specific abilities to handle certain Amperes and numbers of batteries. Also this set up I described allows for two "banks" of batteries so that you could actually add a second bat to the auxilery side if you want even more power to run... say a mig welder or something like a washer and dryer.

[Edited by MFergy on 06-07-2000 at 07:49 AM]

 

[rpenner54]

Originally posted by Fredness
Ryan, could you explain the "pads" you used?

Yeah they are just like felt. They can be purchased at Checker or a place like that right next to the batteries. They were only $0.99 so no biggie on the cost. They keep the nasty stuff from getting all over your terminals though. Which is what happened to me in Moab.

I guess I will try finding some boating/marine places around here to see what they recomend. As far as weather I need a dual battery setup or not I think I do. Plus if I get a winch I know I will. It just seems to me to be to handy not to have.

 

[BenA]

Fredness,

The 'pads' are felt washers that are impregnated with a 'tar-like' alkaline material that prevents battery terminal corrosion.

You can find them at any auto parts house, a company called Motor-mite has the best ones. They market under the brand name of "HELP!" (Red cards that have all kinds of neat things, trim retainers, carb screws, window handle clips, etc.

After you have a set of them, remove your battery cables, clean the posts, set the pads over the posts, and replace the cable(s). If your battery cable terminal ends are badly corroded, or chalky, before you re-seat them, take a styrofoam cup filled with water/bakingsoda solution to neutralize any acids on the terminal, then reseat the terminal. The 'pads' will prevent any subsequent corrosion.

Hope this helps,

Ben

 

[Big E]

Instead of useing those little pads I have a cheaper idea. If you tape two pennies to the battery it will do the same thing. Just an idea.

Eric