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

Mine cracked at all 3 studs.

 

Doing a cost writeup. Not including my labor costs, because I have no idea what those would be.

6061 1/8" aluminum sheet ordered from here. Also got one for my tailgate.
https://www.midweststeelsupply.com/store/6061aluminumsheet
(2x) 55x17.5 - $140 shipped

CTEK D250SE - $341 shipped

$347 CTEK D250SE, 20A, 12V Battery Charger For Starter And Service Batteries In RV, Truck And Overlanding Vehicles, Solar Battery Maintainer, 12V Lithium Ion Battery Charger And Smart Alternator Compatible

https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-Overlan...&qid=1653697180&sprefix=ctek+d,aps,159&sr=8-1

Newapowa 100w solar panel kit, 2pcs - $159 shipped

Newpowa 100 Watts Monocrystalline 100W 12V Solar Panel High Efficiency Mono Module RV Marine Boat Off Grid(2 pcs)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JX61QJ5?ie=UTF8&th=1

BougeRV 10ft 12ga solar wires - $18 shipped

$20 BougeRV 10 Feet 12AWG Solar Extension Cable with Female and Male Connector with Extra Pair of Connectors Solar Panel Adaptor Kit Tool (10FT Red + 10FT Black)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DCS662P?ie=UTF8&th=1

8 gauge 25ft Red/Black wire - $22 shipped

$22 ROCKRIX 8 Gauge 25ft Black and 25ft RED Car Audio Power Ground Soft Touch Wire Cable Set

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0895LKB2L?ie=UTF8

various terminal connectors/heat shrink/braided loom - $40 shipped

various nuts/bolts/washers - $10 shipped

Total ~$650. Note, these are the prices that are listed today. When I started buying things around September 2021, things were less.
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I also have a blue sea 6 fuse panel and a 60a breaker. Not necessarily needed, but its going to allow me to add accessories like fridge, bed lighting, and diesel heater in the future.

 

I have my ARB dual compressor there, but nothings cracked or broken..

 

Hello all,

Im getting my dual battery set up in the bed. Do I have to run both positive and negative cables back to the starter battery? My current plan is to run the positive to the starter battery and negative to a bus bar in the back near the house battery... Is this sufficient?

 

I grounded my battery to the frame, under the cab. I used a bolt for the parking brake cable routing

 

So the bus bar should be sufficient?

 

I think so, but i am also new at this..

a bus bar is essentially an extension.

 

Need more information. How are you charging your auxiliary battery? Are they identical batteries? If you’re using a DC-DC charger, then it would depend upon what type you have: non-isolated or isolated model. Non-isolated uses a chassis ground. Isolated uses a floating ground. In the latter case, you need both cables. Since this would double your circuit length, you would also need to increase the wire size.

 

Charging via a ml-acr

 

ML-ACR

My house battery is grounded to the frame and to the body (only because it’s under the hood).

I had it grounded to the starter battery for a while, but I wanted to completely isolate the circuit.

 

When I ran an ML-ACR on my Ranger, I grounded my 2nd battery to the frame. And, on my Tacoma with a CTEK DC-DC, I also ground my 2nd battery to the frame.

 

And also widening a few lugs. But here’s the AGM battery setup:

 

All right folks, I’ve got an interesting problem going on here.

I’ve got a Blue Sea ML-ACR (500 amp, on off on switch in cab) connected to two Odyssey PC 1200 batteries.

it’s worked flawlessly for as long as I’ve had it in, several years now.

Been doing a lot of welding on my truck, always disconnect both negative battery terminals and place a rubber insulator between them and the post.

I went back and hooked up the batteries and now the MLACR switch in the cab doesn’t seem to work at all.

I can force it to connect under the hood by pushing the latch and I know that they’re connected because the voltmeter in my truck has equal voltage for both when I do so including jumping up to over 14V when the truck is running, then the second battery goes back down when I unlatch under the hood.

Wonder if anyone has had an issue similar, and if maybe I’ll get lucky and it’s just I fried the switch when I was welding?

I ordered a new switch so will determine if that’s the issue pretty quick, but to be safe I’ll just disconnect all the battery terminals going forward

 

If the positive posts on the batteries were disconnected during welding, the ML-ACR would have been effectively isolated. I don't see how it could have been effected by the welding. I would look elsewhere.

Are you running this switch:

 

Will the batteries automatically latch after the truck runs for 90 seconds?

Use the wiring diagram on Blue Sea’s website and check for continuity in the switch at different positions.

Check continuity in the wiring between the switch and the ML-ACR plug.

Did you wire a fuse anywhere between the switch and ML-ACR/battery?

I had an ML-ACR go bad and it would only latch if you manually forced it to via the switch or under the hood. It’s possible the whole unit is bad/damaged/defective.

Blue Sea has a pretty good warranty program.

 

I'm just now getting into the power side of things and trying to figure out where to set things up. Any issue with all of this being exposed? Or are you covering it in some way?

 

I haven't had any issues with it being exposed. But i also dont have anything flopping around in the bed. When i camp, things are pretty much secured

 

Well I really like the idea of that mounting location. As you can see from my picture, I do have a cap, but it's not impenetrable. So just curious - thanks for the respone!

 

A few pages back I posted my build costs. I was copying from a few other, but with what i need the power for. I havent had any issues with water intrusion either. I also have a cap, or well GFC, but also not impenetrable.

my inspiration:




maybe later I'll build an enclosure, but for now its good

 

Wow........ Nice work!