Should I dual battery?

I have a two week camping trip coming up in a couple of months where we will be staying in the truck cap the whole trip camping.
My question to you all is, do you think I should spend the money on a dual battery setup just to run some lights in the cap at night, a small 12v fan and to charge handheld accessories while on our trip?
Would I be better off purchasing a small suitcase generator and lugging the fuel? (Not sure I can use it everywhere)
Is it possible to run a battery charger off of the inverter in the bed to charge a portable battery system while I’m driving and jumping between campsites during the day? (I’m thinking no..)
I’m not planning on this to be my only camping trip. Just the longest one more than a night or two.
I also have several aftermarket LED bars and pods I’ve added to the truck but don’t really plan to use them while the truck isn’t running.
Any advise will help! What would you do? Thanks!

 

Will you be driving each day? What’s the longest the truck will stay parked? Personally I didn’t want to bother with dual battery. I bought a deep cycle 31M size battery and put it in stock location. If you’re concerned with running the battery too low you could pick up one of those small jump starters.

Or you could get a small battery powered fan (I have one that runs on D batteries for my tent) and small rechargeable led lights. That way it’s less draw on the system.

Or even add solar. A set up can be had off Amazon for less than $200

Just thought I’d name a few alternatives to dual battery.

 

@EatSleepTacos I’ll probably be driving a good bit each day.
Now you just stirred the pot again on me.

 

Honestly I wouldn’t bother then. I’d get battery powered recharable things (fans, lights, etc), charge phones while driving, and have a small jump starter just in case. I use a

$100 noco gb40 1000A ultrasafe car battery jump starter, 12V battery pack, battery booster, jump box, portable charger and jumper cables for 6.0L gasoline and 3.0L diesel engines, gray

noco gb40

 

Can I run a battery charger off of the inverter by chance?

 

I don’t see why not. Plenty of people use it to charge power tool batteries.

 

I have a Group 24, 101 Amp Hour portable battery box setup.

 

Looks like you are limited to 100watts when driving. To stay under that threshold you might want a charger that charges at 6.5amps or less... Just make sure input is less than 100w

 

Nice set up and seems much more practical than expensive dual battery kits. You mentioned you put a nice deep cycle battery in the stock location. So does that battery work with stock hardware? Who made the battery mount you pictured?

 

That battery cage pictured is made by pelfreybilt, and is very well made. The stock battery holder could fit, if you sourced longer J hooks and modified the factory battery holder. I did that as a temporary solution but feel much more comfortable with the battery cage. That thing is rock solid.

 

Anyone running lithium ion for the accessory battery to save space and weight?

 

Not sure what kind of batteries you’re wanting to charge with inverter. I may Be way off base, but I charge my AAA and AA batteries with it all the time.

 

Couldnt you get away with a small goal zero yeti 150/400 or renogy phoenix etc.
Same idea as a dual battery but portable and plug/play.
They can be had pretty cheap if you go to goal zero/lastchance.com

 

I like the bedrug. I think that would be nice with the GoFast Camper... I'll have to remember that!

 

101 Amp Hour, group 24, 12v Deepcyle battery.

 

I can dual battery cheaper than the Goal Zero. I have everything except a battery cage (which I can make farely cheap) and a isolator.

Edit: *Cheaper than Amazon wants for the Yeti 400.

 

I’m thinking upgrading my factory battery and taking along a jump pack and my 12v portable 101AmpHr. Battery pack I built for a back up is going to be the best bet as @EatSleepTacos mentioned.
Now, can anyone point me in the direction of an upgraded deep cycle that could hold a cranking charge after about a 10hr constant recharge of maybe 5amps max? Worst case?
Does that make sense? Haha.

This is the factory batt.

 

Just keep the single battery and spend the money on a small solar array and it’ll power everything you need including laptop, LEDs, portable radio, etc plus it’ll last almost forever.

You can even get a quiet Honda 2000W generator for less than $1000 and that will definitely last forever.

 

I might not be able to run a generator at night though at some of the camping spots.
I could use it however to charge a battery.

 

A generator you can always use anywhere even at the house when the power goes out.

You can get a cheap $100-$200 solar panel that will charge your cell phones and LED lights, etc.