Dual Battery Setups! Let's see them! Multiple Batteries Thread!

Nice setup. Well done.

 

Thanks. Took a bit of time, but very happy with it. Can run my fridge all day while driving, and when I park, my solar setup should top off the battery enough so the second battery doesn't shit the bed. I have run the fridge for 4 days on solar alone. With this setup it should be no issues.

 

I've got a question for you electrical wizards. As a temporary measure, I was planning on just dropping a new Optima Yellow-top battery in a box next to my ARB Fridge and running off that for this first big trip (carrying my Optima charger along to re-charge while driving) until I get this really wired up. So I just wired a simple plug directly to the battery with an inline fuseholder. If I plug in my 12v spotlight, it lights up so I know the plug gets juice. When I plug the Optima digital charger in, it says the battery if fully charged. When I plug the fridge in, it refuses to turn on. I tried swapping the polarity of the plug to see if that mattered, but that didn't seem to help. If I plug the fridge into the plug in the dash, it starts up and runs just fine. Shouldn't this temporary setup have worked, or am I missing something simple (and stupid)?

 

Did you Un-smart your Alt. to get a true 14.4V?

 

No. I figured with the demands im putting on the system it wasn't too detrimental. I'm really only running the fridge off the second battery and the inverter and lights are only ran the odd time. The solar system gets it to 14.4 volt charge though (when the fridge is plugged in it varies). Then when the truck is on (engine running) it goes from 13.7-14.0 in the summer. Winter it tends to go a bit higher. I really only wanted the second battery to be topped up as the solar could keep up on longer trips (could run the fridge for 4 days continually on solar, but I'm sure it wasn't great for the battery).

Do you see any flaws in not doing the unsmarting the alternator? I didnt read too much into it so I'm hoping I'm not messing anything up. I think this is one of the benifits of running the dc to dc charging.

 

you are absolutely fine with your setup. A smart Alt. won't produce the full constant 14+ volts that a AGM style battery demands, but you are achieving that with the solar.

 

Gotcha. If my batteries start dying prematurely I'll have to look into unsmarting the alternator. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Solved: It must have been my cheapo plug. I stopped at Pep Boys last night and picked up a $5 plug with clips, clipped it to the battery and the fridge started right up. So happy to have this fixed as the fridge needed to keep things cold for the 32 hour ferry ride to Ketchikan and I was worried we were just going to have to empty it before we boarded the boat.

 

A couple questions for you all:

1. Anyone made any reinforcements under their primary battery location to prevent the destruction I've been reading about elsewhere in the forum? (Chassis tearing/pinchweld tearing/radiator mount deforming)

2. Ml-acr users and others with contura switches: have you noticed that the indicator lights on the switches get super hot (and run so bright they make the whole switch a red glowing rectangle)? Anyone tried dimming them?

 

I have mine mounted next to a usb and a battery voltage monitor, and have not noticed it being overly bright. Haven't had any issues with the ACR switch. Will double check the temp of the switch on a longer trip though.

 

So, after sitting on most of my parts for almost 2 years, I finally knocked this project out. Only ran into two problems. 1. My solder Fu is weak. 2. The battery base plate rubs up against a coolant hose. So, I did the best I can with solderless connectors and I'll have to wrap the hose with something to keep the plate from rubbing through and causing a leak.

Other than that, I think it turned out pretty good. I didn't blow myself up and I didn't let any smoke out of the components. I'll need to get bigger batteries eventually, the Optima's I sourced were originally for another vendors battery tray. You can see that there's a couple inches of space on either side of the batteries.

Many, many thanks to all my fellow TW brethren who've posted in this thread. More than a few questions I had were answered by using the search function. I still need to hookup my Peak DBI dual voltmeter and deal with the hose rubbing, but it took me about 6 hours to get everything done today. Very happy to have this mod finally done.

 

Lots of good read here! What I am curious is how do people install dual battery where ABS is located?
PS. I might have not made to a page where it could be explained if it's in this thread.

 

The newer offroads do t have an abs block there. It's part of the master cylinder

Basically if the truck has atrac, it doesn't have the abs block

 

I see, what about the sport models between the years 2012-15, anyone has experience with relocating ABS or some other place for battery?
I don't want to have 2 batteries next to each other, too much weight on one side in my opinion.

 

If your abs module is in the way, I think your stuck with 2 next to each other. Unless you come up with something custom or mount the 2nd battery in the bed.

 

^or behind the rear seat in a DC.

 

May not be optimal, depending on what you what to accomplish with additional batteries... I ran 4 additional motorcycle sized batteries in an old truck of mine. They are small and fit almost anywhere.

 

Eugene- If it were me, I would reach out to Matt, @HeliMedic , and discuss it with him. If you want a quality system, you won't find a better product than his.

 

That sounds interesting, I will look into it!

Thanks, I will PM him too later.

 

back in the old days I used to run a constant duty solinoid to charge the AUX battery. Had the solinoid powered up via a hot in run only wire... what has changed that requires a multi hundred dollar charge controller?