Second Battery?

I just bought a 12500lb winch and am trying to figure out how to wire it. I bought another battery thinking it would be easy to find a place to mount it but its really now. Does anyone out there have 2 batteries in their taco? and if so how did you wire them together?

 

I do not personally but most people seem to have them mounted in a toolbox.

It is possible to reconfigure the engine bay and mount it there, but it requires a pretty heavy time investment as IIRC it involves relocating the fuse box and rerouting a lot of wiring.

 

I have seen some put it in the bed. Also I saw one guy that turned the stock battery sidways. Then he was just able to fit two in there.

 

Yea i thought about making a marine box and putting it in the bed. That just seems like a long way to wire a battery. The next question is do i wire it to the alternator or what?

 

National luna has a kit that isolates the battery so if you have the truck off and are using one battery you won't drain the other so you'll always be able to start it.
http://www.nationalluna.com/DIY.htm

 

I just read this other day over at IH8MUD.

http://www.ih8mud.com/2009/08/optima-yellowtop-deep-cycle-battery/#more-13

The owner of this place said this would work on a Taco. He had a pic of one installed.

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/optima-battery-widthwise-p-306.html

This guy did a great job on an install too:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31781&highlight=dual+battery

 

awesome, im looking into it. Seems like this winch is turning out to be a little more than i expected haha

 

Why second battery? You going to use the truck for logging? Darien Gap? I had a winch on my Dodge diesel and almost never used it? I had one on my Jeep and again hardly ever used it.
Just let the engine idle when you are using the winch.

 

I just didnt know if it would draw to much on the battery. Never had a winch before and my friends all drive diesels so they never had to worry about it because they already had 2 bats

 

Check my build page. I have the dual battery set up with one in the tool box. I really enjoy having the extra one.

 

man i just saw you live in georgetown, im in round rock right down the street.

 

No crap lol. Well hell, if ya wanna come up here and have a gander sometime lemme know. Ill show you everything you need for the dual battery

 

and you need to start coming out to the meets and stuff with us. Got a meet planned for the last weekend of this month. Lemme know if you are interested or not

 

If you are doing an extended pull trying to extricate a very stuck vehicle the winch can draw your battery down until it dies and you’re stuck... That and if you are back country camping and leave a light on or just run your stereo for an extended time then a dual battery can be a life saver. You run your electronics off of one and when needed you jump start yourself from the second battery. I just mounted my old winch onto my new truck today and I have the battery isolator kit… Was thinking of mounting it in the bed but I would be interested to see a successful dual battery install under the hood of a second gen. Tacoma…

 

You don't need another battery for a winch.

Get a Yellow Top battery. It has two sets of posts. Easy.

And yes, we had a yellow top in our jeep for like 6 years and wheeled and used the winch a lot. The key to keeping the battery charged while winching, is keeping the rpm's up so the alternator can replenish the battery. Never had a problem with the winch or the battery in all of those years.

 

I think im going to go with the side by side, that kit looks legit and ive heard its been done before. When i get home in August ill probably be doing it.

As for the meets and what not, i plan on it, i work overseas and its a hit or miss with me. Id like to come out and check out your ride. If you need any help, everything that has been done to mine i did.

I just looked at that link and thats a pretty nice setup, ill look into that one.

 

Leave the engine idling and you don't need a second battery for a winch. Been there and done that. Why carry all that extra weight and complications?

Different story if you are out camping and using your battery for a power source but that's not what the OP was asking about. He was asking about a second battery for a winch.

 

well my first concern was the winch, i do camp and hunt abit, and it will help.

 

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