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

@BirfMark It’s a safety issue, you want the pos terminal as far away from the chassis/firewall in the event of a collision.

 

Haven't found the answers quite yet:

1. Group 35 pretty much the largest size (capacity?) that can fit in the engine bay passenger area?
2. Looking to DIY and go budget tray + DCDC/fuse mount (HDPE); how do you mount/fab a piece to be secured to the body?

Thanks!

 

You can buy a premade generic battery tray for the size of your choice, then its just figuring out what spacers, bolts and holes need to be drilled to mount it where you want it.

 

Sure; any examples/where to mount/materials/templates available/come to mind? Thanks!

 

There was one or two here showing that.

But I would just get the dimensions of the tray and cut out a piece of cardboard to see how it would fit.

 

My search is terrible; any search terms I may get better hits on? Anyone recall the user/are you one of those awesome people that fabbed a mount?

 

@jsackspot Depends on component arrangement on the passenger side. You can probably fit a group 24 battery, but I played it safe and got a 34; it is one inch shorter, but one inch wider than the 35. I got the Wirthco 21085 tray for the 34. I had a metal hold-down, but the end rubbed on the fender wall, so I went with two web straps. I think I only had to drill one hole; the others were pre-drilled, but had to cut up metal straps to level and bolt-in the tray. I went low-cost and am using a

$83 Cole Hersee 24213 12V 200A Continuous Solenoid

Cole Hersee 24213 200 amp solenoid relay with a manual switch to connect the 2nd battery to the charging system.

 

Group 27

 

Left Hand Nitro, yum!

 

What Chuy said, depending on your build each engine compartment will have different configurations so you will need to find a space for what you can fit.

My trd off road should have a space on the passenger side according to everyone but since I dont have atrac the abs pump is there.

I ended up mounting my battery behind the rear seat storage.

 

Thanks everyone! I’ll have to look in my engine bay, but it’s a ‘20 OR.

Which tray is that?

 

Looks like a Wirthco; they make one for BCI 24/34 and one for 27/31 batteries.

 

Thanks again; so you recall the hole threads?

 

This

 

I ended up with a Rago auxiliary tray, a BCDC1225, and Redarc 40A fuses. At this point, I'll add an AGM battery, and have a third LiFePO in the bed at some later date.

For now, what AGM battery has been working well (with the stock battery) in group 34 or 35 sizes? I imagine a) Cascadia solar hood panel, and b) an onboard compressor (probably can't fit the ARB one with that tray?) are in the farther future, but mostly just running evening house lights, fridge (with a 700Ah solar gen backup too). Thanks!

 

I came across a sweet deal for a fridge and pulled the trigger. I did a quick googling of how to run it and decided to buy another battery to toss in the bed to run it off of so my starter battery doesn't die. I had planned to use a battery isolator to keep it charged up at all times because I plan on using the fridge just about all summer...but I am now reading that charging a deep cycle from the trucks alternator isn't good. Is this going to cause any serious issues or will it just decrease the batteries life? Is there any easy solution to put inline with a voltage isolator so that the deep cycle charges 'properly'? Apologizes if this has been gone over a bunch in this thread...too many pages of information to skim through.

 

A DC to DC charger is what you're looking for. It'll charge the house battery properly and you don't have to match the two batteries (starter and house) like is suggested with isolators. The nicer DC chargers will even have integrated solar controllers and can be set to charge a variety of battery chemistries.

I'm running a

$465 Redarc BCDC1225D REDARC 25A in-Vehicle DC to DC Charger with MPPT — Dual Input for Solar & Alternator Charging, Green Power Priority - 12 or 24V Battery Charger Suitable with AGM, Gel, Lithium LiFePO4 Batteries

Redarc BCDC1225D for my set up. Started out with it charging an aux AGM under the hood, later added a 100w solar panel very easily. Recently decided to reduce/redistribute some weight by replacing the AGM aux with a lithium battery and relocated all of the house electric stuff behind the rear passenger seat. The Redarc is kinda spendy but is super flexible for changes down the road.

 

Yeah, I came across that but sheesh...$410. I was hoping there was a cheaper option. That brings me to my other point...if I run my isolator and it gets charged up all the time when I am driving around...how bad is that for the battery? Seems like a lot of people do it. Maybe put in a switch to disconnect it on road trips or something...idk.

 

https://www.renogy.com/12v-20a-dc-to-dc-on-board-battery-charger/

Here's a lower priced option, like the Redarc it goes into float charge after the battery tops off. You can't hook solar directly into it, but Renogy is a decent trusted brand. Running an isolator wont fully charge an AGM in a 3rd gen.

 

Renogy, Victron, and Redarc are arguably the most popular DC-DC chargers. They come at different price points:

• 20A Renogy is $115,
• 30A Victron is $227, and
  
• 25A Redarc is $410.

Obviously, the Renogy is the most basic of the three. If your main amp draw will be to run the fridge, then this may be all you need. On Amazon, it is currently selling for just under $100, which is about the same price as an decent isolator kit.

I’m using the Victron non-isolated 30A charger because I wanted the added features. The Redarc would have been nice, but I couldn’t justify the price.

There’s a lot of reviews and comparisons of these chargers. Do some research and get the one that fits your needs.