How much worry in running two batteries in front driver side?

A winch will drain a car battery under load in about 4-8 minutes with the engine off

However, you don't winch with the engine off and you usually don't winch with a dead foot. In a self recovery you are usually driving with the winch assisting until free. When winching others you usually increase RPMs above idle.

 

Why not just carry a $100 lithium jump pack for the extremely unusual possibility of draining your starting battery while winching with the engine off AND having a dead house battery? Seems way cheaper, easier, cleaner, and more useful than 3 full size batteries.

 

Because read his first sentence LOL

 

Oh, I absolutely understand that, but one can still discuss the logic of different choices without insulting people’s tastes and preferences

 

If it's only being charged by 25amps, I suspect the battery will be drained quite quick by even moderate winching. I believe the Redarc is for charging the secondary battery while the truck is running, not both, but it only supplies the 25A, not the 140 the alternator is providing to the starting battery.

 

You should never run a winch without the truck running. So... not long.

 

Here's my Group31 AGM battery install if you haven't seen it.

 

I had that same off grid kit in my truck, and it completely ripped out after 6 months or so. I have 2 friends with the genesis one that ripped out after 4 months for one, and 1 trip for the other, plus I had a customer with the genesis one that ripped out as well.

Don't know how many times it needs to be said that they are a really bad idea.

As far as dual batteries, it depends on your charging setup. If you have a DC-DC charger like the redarc, it's fine, but if you use I direct connection like the blue sea ml-acr, you should use identical batteries, or atleast 2x AGM.

 

@WormSquirts Do you have any pics? I'm interested to see the point of failure for you & your friends. Did it fail in the same place for all of you?

 

I was looking at the 8kw diesel ones on Amazon. Do you have one? What kind of draw does it use? I have a -25 sleeping bag i use in the box so im pretty warm. its just the moisture im trying to control. Ive got a dry air dehumidifier thing. The pellet ones. And i have a candle lantern puts out 5000btu fully enclosed. Uco candle lantern. Uses 3 9hr survival candles. Havnt tried it overnight yet but they advertise the ability to boil water on it lol it puts off a good amount of heat.

 

It was a few years ago now, but all of these kits want you to attach 140lbs of battery to thin sheet metal with little nuts/bolts, self tappers and rivnuts. The sheet metal just rips out and you end up with a 140lb brick loose in the engine bay.

The weight will also end up cracking your wheel well in a few common spots.



This is a pic right after I moved my batteries. You can see all the sheet metal is ripped and cracked where the batteries were bolted down. Especially in the corners.

And here's a link to what I did: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/another-copy-paste-build.447519/page-8#post-19978680

 

I would recommend doing the math on how many amp hours you actually need. It isn’t hard and may be very enlightening. Might just need to upgrade that starting battery and be done.