hooking up 2nd battery? | Ford Explorer Forums

  • Register Today It's free!

hooking up 2nd battery?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rydinhigh
  • Start date Start date
R

rydinhigh

I have a second battery in the rear of my X that is just for my system. I was wondering if it is better to run the 1. + wire from the battery up front to + battery in back or to run it from the + alt. to the + battery
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Run it from the battery in the front, and use an isolator switch. Then you can choose which battery you want power from.
 






yea but then how is the battery in back gonna get charged and how am I supposed to use the things I have hooked up to the battery in front.

Here is what happend. I hooked up a 4 channel amp using the + from the battery in back. Now the battery in back keeps draining. Im just wondering what would be the best way to keep it charged, by running it from the battery in front or from that alt. Also would I be better off running a seperate wire from the battery in front to the 4 channel amp, and just to leave the 2nd battery for my sub amp.
 






From what I understand, if you hook up two batteries in a parallel circuit( + from alt. to front, then to back battery) the front one will recieve all the charge, and the rear will get very little, unless you can isolate where the charge is going.

Part of the problem is that one of the batteries is in the back, using long cables to reach it. If it was underneath the hood, it would be a shorter distance to charge, since there would be almost no power loss in the short cable that would be needed there.
 






first off thanks for all the help crankcase.

If I get a battery isolater would this solve my problems
 






Originally posted by rydinhigh
first off thanks for all the help crankcase.

If I get a battery isolater would this solve my problems

No prob;) An isolator alows you to charge one, or both batteries at the same time. It alows you to run amps, lights, winches etc, off a secondary battery independantly, or use both for starting. It uses a little switch that you mount inside the vehicle....
 






I just got done doing some research on these isolators and im going to get one. Does anyone know what size wire I should be using for all of this?
 






the biggest possible for your application
 






the biggest possible for your application

Ok maybe I should be more specific. What size wire is recomended to run from the battery in the front and from the alt. to this isolator. I will be running 4awg from the isolator to my battery for my stereo.
 






Also, I beleive that the batteries must be the same size (amperage, etc) in order to use an isolator.
 






Originally posted by Rscotts1
Also, I beleive that the batteries must be the same size (amperage, etc) in order to use an isolator.

Dont tell me this. Im going to pick one up tomorrow. Can anyone else confirm or deny this.
 






I'm waiting for somebody to confirm this too!! Could have sworn that I read about it somewhere.
 






Go to a marine supply store to get the parts and ask about running multiple battery setups. Multiple batteries are a must for boating, and so the parts are more common (possibly cheaper, but don't hold me to that), the sales people may even be able to answer your questions.

Dave
 






At least with the brand Guest isolators for marine applications i have never had and problem with battery sizes. Matter of fact i have 3 batteries on one output of the isolator and a single battery on the other output. But like was stated i would talk to the salesman about your application. Here is the link to Guests site on isolators
http://www.guestco.com/isolators.html

Good luck:D
 






thanks guys. I picked one up today (actually my friend had one he wasn't using). Now I ran into another problem, this is so much fun isn't it.

I was using 4ga wire for everything, then I ran out.

I got both batteries hooked up to the isolator using 4ga. I was wondering if I could use like 2-3 8ga wires, which I have plenty of, from the alt. to the alt. spot on the battery isolator. would 2 or 3 8ga. wires give me the same output as one 4ga wire?

Like always thanks for all of the help everyone. I would be lost without all of you and your knowledge.
 












Featured Content

Back
Top