Off-Grid Engineering Dual Battery System Q&A

Sounds like a plan. Give me a shout whenever youre ready!

 

I really appreciate that! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

I'm still debating between a dual battery setup or a 31M battery in the stock location. With 1150 CCA and 100AH rating it should be fine for my relatively limited electrical needs but the added security blanket of a second, separate battery would be nice.

 

That is an absolutely viable option for a lot of folks. Its much cheaper and has a high level of simplicity. The biggest advantage of dual batteries is redundancy. Having that second battery that you know will get you home is very nice.

 

This is great. I hope to sell my other brand battery tray & replace it with yours. My current tray won't work with the side by side yellow tops. Love the mlacr mount!

 

Glad you like it! Email me when you're ready. The 2nd Gen side by side tray is NOT on my website, yet...

 

would the 1st gen Tacoma battery tray with the MLACR bracket fit 3rd gen 4runners?

 

I don't have a battery mounting solution for the 1st Gen Tacoma or 3rd Gen 4Runners at the moment... but it is the next item to be designed. I have a prototype vehicle stopping by in about 2 weeks. The production tray and full systems should be available shortly after that.

 

id be interested in a tray w a side bracket to use for a winch solenoid.. if you can fit a MLACR i can retro fit it to mount a solonoid

 

Very cool. I'll PM you to better understand what youre looking for.

 

Just wanted to thank Matt at O.G.E. his system is absolutely flawless and could not be more clean. He was very helpful along the whole way answering any questions I had and it here is how it turned out!

 

Great work Grant! Very clean install job.

And thanks for the good word!

 

FAQ section added to post #2

 

What size gauge are the battery cables and is there a benefit from going bigger?

 

Slightly off topic but can you use the Frame rail as a common Ground instead of running a long cable? More for people putting the 2nd battery in the bed of the truck.

 

Most dual battery "kits" on the market supply 4 AWG cable. In an effort to build a superior system, all of my kits come with 2 AWG cable with the option to upgrade to 1/0 AWG cable.

I personally run 2 AWG on my truck and do not feel that it is necessary to go much larger. The 1/0 upgrade is simply for those that want to know that their system is overbuilt. The primary purpose of the cable will be to supply alternator power for charging purposes and to share amperage with the main battery in the event of a self jump start scenario or high amperage load, such as winching. 2 AWG is plenty for both of these situations.

 

This is somewhat of a debated topic. Lots of different opinions floating around the internet.

When relocating a single starting battery to another location, the answer is yes, you would use a chassis ground and run one positive cable to the starter. Because we're talking about running a second battery in parallel, my opinion is that they should be directly attached to each other via equal length positive and negative cables.

 

I just wanted to jump in here and add from my experience that Matt and Off-Grid Engineering were great to work with. Matt helped me through many questions via emails and phone calls and all very timely. I ordered a custom cable kit from Matt, which included the ML-ACR/voltage meter pre-wire, jumper cables and an ML-ACR/battery tray. The quality, packaging and labeling were all excellent for my Optima dual setup with one in the bed and the other under the hood. I can't say enough good things about Matt and his company, so everyone please take advantage of this great resource here on TW.

 

Thanks so much for the good word! It means a lot.

It looks like you did a great job of getting everything put together. I hope it treats you well. Please give me a shout if I can do anything else for you.

 

Hi! So, I have lots of dumb questions for you @HeliMedic

I have a trd sport, so unfortunately I guess I can't get a split mount set up due to the brake booster thinger thats in the way? I wish there was a way to put the second battery over there, as it would be much preferable.

Alas, if that is the case, I would need the side by side (universal) set up on your website correct?

Now, I have an Odyssey 34R-PC1500 battery currently. Would I be able to fit two of those with your universal mount? I don't really want to buy 2 new batteries... I do know that weight might be a problem.

@ramonortiz55 mentioned earlier that you can't change oil filters without removing a battery with the side by side setup. Is that correct?

Lastly, do you also include a "Big 3" upgrade with your kit, or sell a kit for that separately? I am thinking it would be a good plan to upgrade that at the same time.

Thanks so much for your time!

Edit: One more thing, I have made my own aux fuse panel with the blue sea fuse block and a breaker. Would it be possible to have cables made to reach it as well? I could grab some measurements. I could reuse mine, but it would be nice to have everything matching.