Will I need a dual battery setup ??

Hey guys I plan on doing a total remodel of the sound system. I will be running an amp to the door speakers, an amp to two 12's and then also running a 10 behind the seats. I also plan on doing a lot of aftermarket lighting light bars , retrofits, etc ...
If you have links to setups please share thanks

 

better safe than sorry, but if you are doing a dual battery setup, look into IBS battery manager. I have two red tops, but inadvertently leaving my lights on one night, drained them.


that being said, there are multiple ways to mount them, i opted for ATO dual battery tray with which i had a hell of an install, and the instructions and whoever answered their emails were useless. I would not recommend it.

 

Is it a hard install ?

 

The ibs that is

 

no, i think the issue (cannot confirm) was it's designed for an 05-12 engine bay, and i have a 13. i had to do a lot of little trims and such. the biggest bitch i have is that i literally have to take the batteries out to change the headlight bulb.

i had the worst customer service from ato - who if i remember correctly is now owned by another company.

**edit
no, it's relatively simple, but the wiring for the display can be tricky depending on mounting location.

 

How'd you wire the aux battery to the regular battery?
And how much to an ibs system cost ya

 

In the beginning, i just had them parallel, which was easy as hell, just a few cables from autozone. Here is the link: http://ibs-tech.ch/en/products/dual-battery-system.html.

It's just shy of 400 through http://www.sierraexpeditions.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=2074 and well worth it IMHO.

 

How are they wired now ?

 

roughly....

 

the batteries are controlled by the regulator, and until i get off my lazy ass to install my second fuse panel and new lights, pretty much everything is just attached to the batteries. it looks similar to this:

 

So basically the regulator goes between the batteries to control when to cut on and off the auxiliary battery

 

basically. it can be run in two modes, one where they are just running in parallel and one where the aux battery is used as a trickle charge.

 

I'll probably run parallel just because I'm new to this and will I need a bigger alternator ?

 

i'm still running my stock alternator and haven't had any issues with it. but once again, i'm cheap and lazy.

 

Im just limited on funds

 

you can do it after the fact. i ran mine for about 6 months before deciding to get it. i do a lot of night fishing so it made sense to me, especially after inadvertently leaving my mud covered light bars on in alaska and, if you think a single dead battery is embarrassing and inconvenient, try waking up to two.... dead.... optimas....