Vanillion's dual batteries/power distro install

Been meaning to post this for a while but work and other mods keep eating all my time

So I wanted a secondary battery to run fun stuff like the stereo and lights while the truck is off. It had to be a deep cycle of course. I ran the batteries in parallel using #2 welding cable I got from Princess Auto. They are isolated with a voltage sensitive battery isolator I picked up from PA for $20 on sale.
http://www.princessauto.com/mobile/...p?name=12V+Battery+Isolator&productID=8437394

I used an old road sign to make a bracket to hold it in front of the stock battery. It is fused at 150 amps right before the isolator.


Next I used more of the road sign to make a battery tray. I relocated my air compressor to make room for the new tray.
From here


To here


The battery tray is a tight fit in the engine bay, and sized to exactly fit the battery. The group 24 sized batteries are a perfect fit for beside the air intake. The battery I used can be found here: http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/group-24-agm-deep-cycle-battery-0102498p.html.

The battery tray is bolted to the fender with 4 bolts. I cut an additional piece of aluminum plate to put inside the tray so the battery is sitting on a smooth surface rather than the mounting bolts. Here's the battery and tray installed. Sorry no pics of the tray itself

The finished product:


I'm just waiting for some fuse blocks that I ordered off eBay. I'll update the battery/power distortion build once I get them installed.

 

I like the use of road signs. Stop signs make the best skid plates.

 

I don't think I'd trust a stop sign as a skid plate.. Surely an upgrade over the stock tinfoil-inspired front skid though

 

Finally got some time to work on the fuse blocks. Received these in the mail this week


I started by making a plate to hold the 3 cct block out of aluminum sign


That was easy enough. I wanted to enclose the 10 cct to prevent mud and dust from getting in to all those tiny blade fuses. I found a sandwich container for a couple bucks at Canadian Tire that would fit perfectly. I made another plate to hold the box beside the battery.

I added wires and closed er up. All pretty simple stuff.

Next step will be to power the stereo off the auxiliary battery and use relays to completely isolate it from the starter battery to prevent current from backfeeding through the stereo from one battery to the other. The relays will control inputs such as the dimmer and ignition. Stay tuned for more on this hopefully tomorrow.

 

Subd

 

The bigger ones fit perfect under the trans/tcase. They slide good on the snow, not great for rocks I suppose.

Nice install!

 

can you give the wiring schematic , i would love to try on my 07 i have some 24 volt led's from Iraq and Afghan id like to put on it i am in the wounded warrior and i have a little time not so much ability as i used to but still got the will and thx in advance for any help

 

I don't think you will be able to use your 24 volt LEDs on your tacoma. The dual batteries in this set up are parallel so they still only put out 12 volts. You would need to series (inline ) them to produce 24 volts, this however would also backfeed 24 volts to your truck. I think your best bet is to sell them and try and get some 12 volt LEDs.

 

I would not recommend using 24 volt in your truck because you will need a 24v alternator and dual batteries connected in series. You could separate the batteries and have only one of them powering the electronics in your truck and both of them combined powering your lights but that's a LOT of work and wasted space just for some lights.


Here is a drawing of how the power is currently distributed in my truck.


I used relays to electrically isolate the batteries to prevent the chance of backfeeding due to voltage variations. Everything works well. I can now enjoy the stereo and dvd player for hours and never have to worry about needing a jump start