Wiring Suggestions

Heres the plan, take the stock battery and wire it in a series to a second battery so they are both recharged by the alternator. however, i want the second battery to still provide power when the truck is off, without draining the normal one.

my only thought was a switch in the circuit that id flip to disconnect it whenever i turn the truck off then reconnect it when i turn it on

is there any more automatic way to do this?


(my theory was to run a security system that records 24/7 and stores it on a HDD under the seat)

 

Something like this?
Dual Battery Setup

 

You need to wire in parallel, not series, parallel gives you more current, what you want, series gives more voltage, 24 volts would burn up stuff, plus the alternator couldn't charge it, since it only puts out 14 volts. If you're gonna do it, best to understand the difference.

Anyway, I like the idea of a 24/7 HDD security system, that could probably be done fairly easily, maybe built around a netbook computer, something with flash drive storage for reliability.

 

sorry i was thinking parallel. good catch

and the system is a box with the hard drive that controls the video out put (all 4 or 1 at a time). it has 4 cameras in a housing with an infrared led panel which id remove for the reverse camera. the only problem is that the system ive used before needs a separate power and video cable while ive seen some that integrate it. not a big deal but itd be easier
this would hook up to the DVD Navi system im looking at

as for the cameras, id put one as a backup camera, one forward facing in front of the rear view mirror watching the road, one behind the mirror to watch the cabin, and one in the rear bumper facing forward to watch for axle wrap and any clearance issues.

i had 6 out of 7 free periods on friday and this is what i came up with haha

 

Sounds cool.

Flash drive would be.. nicer, for a bit anyway. Flash drives have major reliability issues under heavy read/write cycles.. the memory they are made from deteriorates over time when it's accessed to write too, which increases the likely hood of data destruction. Hard drives are slower yes, but more reliable if they are shock-proofed correctly. I work for a company that does CCTV systems and we do mobile deals for buses and such. Though, if you want it to run 24/7, you might want to make sure you don't let your truck sit for maybe more than 8-10 hours without running it for a while. A constant draw on the battery like that will drain it quicker. You might wind up having to plug it in.

 

thats why i was gonna run it off of a second battery so it doesnt really matter if it dies. its definitely gonna be hard drive based just for inexpensiveness and capacity. i didnt think of shockproofing though...hmm ill have to think of that. i like the challenge though. maybe a suspension mount....

if i was to plug it in at night, what type of apparatus would i need to charge a battery? i guess i could just buy a charger....not fun though haha

 

Wouldn't necessarily need to charge the battery, but you would need a solid 12V power source for the DVR. Pretty sure you can find hard drive mounts (maybe even full small form factor cases) that have shock proofing built in. The best I've seen were ones that have little shock absorbers that suspend the drive so it doesn't get jarred around. If you cause the heads to touch the medium on the platters, it's game over..

 

i would use a lead acid alarm bettery