Dual battery setup??

[ICUFFEM]

new guy here just wondering if anybody has experimented with a dual battery setup? Painless Performance has a full kit for dual batteries and I was thinking about it for the purposes of running my stereo system, future offroad lights, and other accessories.

 

[Ronin8002]

new guy here just wondering if anybody has experimented with a dual battery setup? Painless Performance has a full kit for dual batteries and I was thinking about it for the purposes of running my stereo system, future offroad lights, and other accessories.

I'm looking into it, mainly because I am thinking of getting a winch this year. I hope to build a custom tray to hold both batteries side by side in the original location. If I can't get that to work, I'll probably have to get an optima and hide the second battery in the back somewhere behind the paneling.

Either way I was planning on using the Painless Digital Power Manager to isolate them.

 

[Triton8273]

I'm trying to beat you to that so we will see what happens lol

 

[corkey]

i did dual batteries in a 2nd gen, i put the 2nd battery in the back , used an isolator, and used it just for the in house electrical requirements , than used the one in the box up front for my winch,,
i extended the battery cables from the original wiring to the back battery,,

 

[Ronin8002]

i did dual batteries in a 2nd gen, i put the 2nd battery in the back , used an isolator, and used it just for the in house electrical requirements , than used the one in the box up front for my winch,,
i extended the battery cables from the original wiring to the back battery,,

Might just have to do that. Took some measurements today and I am not sure it's possible to fit them side by side. I may still be able to fit one on the other side of the engine bay. I'd like to minimize the amount of cable I have to run.

 

[Triton8273]

What gauge battery cable do you suggest to run to the new battery? I have battery's laying around and the time to do it.

 

[Ronin8002]

What gauge battery cable do you suggest to run to the new battery? I have battery's laying around and the time to do it.

I'd say 6 ga or bigger. Make sure you hook them up in parallel, not series.

 

[Triton8273]

So your saying hook each battery to the alternator separately as opposed to hooking the second battery to the first and having it charge that way?

 

[Ronin8002]

So your saying hook each battery to the alternator separately as opposed to hooking the second battery to the first and having it charge that way?

Simpler than that.

You should replace the existing terminals on the ends of your existing battery cables with new terminals that have extra places to hook additional large wires. You can get these at an auto parts store or even wal-mart.

Once you've done that, you'll run an additional wire from each of the new terminals, and add a terminal on the end of each new wire.

When it's time to hook up the batteries, both terminals on the positive wire will go to the positive terminal on both batteries, and both terminals on the negative wire will go to the negative terminals on both batteries. That way you're still getting 12V total from them, but double the amps, i.e. a parallel circuit. If you hooked them in series, you'd be getting 24V...and that would be bad.

You might also want to think about installing a battery solenoid or isolator on the connection between the 2 batteries...that's what I plan on doing. that way you can use and/or charge 1 or 2 batteries at a time depending on your needs. It will also prevent you from being stranded if 1 battery dies...you'll be able to jumpstart yourself with the other battery. With a simple parallel connection, it will be possible to drain out both batteries together since they're not isolated from one another. That's the main disadvantage of a simple parallel circuit with dual batteries.

 

[jjaganashi]

im running three in my rig.
2 are in the rear of the truck, they are marine deep cycles..
i ran a 250 amp isolator under the hood with a 190 amp alternator
the alternator gets jumped to the isolator center post.
then either of the side post go to the under hood battery and the other side post goes to the rear. the rear two are wired in parallel.
running an isolator allows the alternator to charge all three batteries, but if say the underhood battery that is only used to start the truck dies, it will not drain the rear two batteries so you can hook a jumper cable to the 2 side post of the isolator and jump yourself off.
it basically allows multiple batteries with a single alternator and they cannot drain one another..
i like over kill so i actually ran 0 gauge wire front an rear and swapped all my factory grounds to 0 gauge as well
my front battery only starts the truck.. the rear 2 are for all accesories(lighting, winches, power inverter, stereo, ect..) and the rears also make for a good arc welder if you pull them out and wire em series.
hope i helped.
max

 

[EXPLORER04]

this is my install:

 

[Triton8273]

All of that most definitely helped. I'm going to run a deep cycle marine battery in the rear. What size solenoid do you recommend? I have the stock 130amp alternator and plan on running 4gauge wire to the new battery.

Does anyone have a good diagram for this? There's so many to look at when I google it.

 

[JohnnyB1177]

Saw this thread. Thought it would help

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=376924

 

[mendy]

Saw this thread. Thought it would help

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=376924

It can be done. Depends on how big of second battery you want to run.
Best of to get the measurements of the second battery and make a cardboard mock up, then work with that.
It's not hard just time consuming, to make sure it all fits
That's what I did and so far it's been great.