kodiak issues...bflan, kingpin, need your input

[harper7]

I tested the batteries while at idle tonight and both are charging at 13.2 volts, and with 1200+/- RPMS the voltage never changed. As a benchmark, we checked the voltage on our 2500HD duramax, both batteries were charging at 14.2-14.4. What voltage are your batteries charging at? Also does anyone have and links for a high output alternator. Mean Green doesnt make one yet......

Thanks for the help

Well there was this one hearing impaired guy......... Yes, no, maybe so? First DIY 300amp H.O alternator install-details inside! - Toyota FJ Cruiser Forum

IMO.....I don't think the alternator charging output is your problem though.We have 130amp Nippondenso alternators that are really pretty good .They are the same ones used in FJ's,Tacos and 4Runners for years with dual battery set-ups running fridges,inverters and enough lights bright enough to shine to the moon without a problem.
I believe they have 14 volt regulators in them so you will never see it go over 14V. I have a dual battery set-up with gauges in my console and the highest I've seen it at is 13.9V and that's after running my aux battery half way down playing with my lights and stereo. I verified/calibrated the voltages on my gauges with a Fluke meter so it's pretty accurate.Normally the alternator puts out 13.4-13.7V at start up and drops to a constant 13.1V output about 5 mile down the road.

Bad battery,isolator, alternator or possibly something constantly drawing off it is more then likely your problem.Your dual battery set-up should still be under warranty thru Kodiak and I'd let them make the call.Either that or go back to your single battery oem set-up to troubleshoot/monitor it,to see if it is the alternator,which I doubt.

 

[harper7]

It sounds like your alternator may not be up to snuff for that set up. The fridge alone shouldn't draw your battery down that fast. Is the fridge kept mostly full? Cooling air in a mostly empty fridge seems to draw much more power than maintaining one cold that is mostly filled with solids and liquids. If you fill in the empty space in your fridge with more stuff (obviously beer would be ideal), it should help at least a little. A fridge cover that is insulated also should help quite a bit. Is there anything else in your vehicle other than the fridge that may be draining the battery? Have you considered adding a solar panel--I don't know if the Kodiak system is compatible with this but the National Luna and IBS systems can work with this to help extend your battery life while the vehicle is parked.

Reserve capacity is what you should look for in a AUX battery to run stuff like a fridge 24/7 and the pc1200's are a little bigger then half a regular battery with only 75 minutes RC a piece. Each one of my batteries are almost double that.IMO the Kodiak set up is more for having a back up starting system so you don't get stranded if one battery goes bad as each one does have enough cca to start the truck Might work fine to occasionally running a fridge on the week end but not for days on end without being charged.

The fact is, them with the most Reserve Capacity will run things the longest without completely draining the battery.Something like dual pc2150's or the big DH Platinums with over 400 minutes RC would be king!

 

[harper7]

I just went back to work and started thinking about something. I'm wondering if you have the fridge wired to run off the battery that is supposed to be your main one for starting instead of the one that's supposed to be your aux battery .
.
That would make sense on why you would have to jump it from the other one which is supposed to be your Aux one .It's supposed to be wired so that if the aux one went dead from being drained it would just shut off your fridge. Wouldn't affect your starting of the truck at all as the batteries should be isolated.

 

[ladywolf]

Well the whole kit and kaboodle died today. Main was dead before heading home, switched to my aux, that was dead. Ended up needing a jump. Outside temp today never got above 62 or so, drove a bunch today.

Seriously about ready to toss the whole dual battery setup in the trash. If i cant depend on it to be reliable for the things I want to run, its no good to me.

 

[BFLAN]

Well the whole kit and kaboodle died today. Main was dead before heading home, switched to my aux, that was dead. Ended up needing a jump. Outside temp today never got above 62 or so, drove a bunch today.

Seriously about ready to toss the whole dual battery setup in the trash. If i cant depend on it to be reliable for the things I want to run, its no good to me.

That sucks, wish I could help you out more. If you lived in Denver we already would have figured it out

 

[kingpin748]

Well the whole kit and kaboodle died today. Main was dead before heading home, switched to my aux, that was dead. Ended up needing a jump. Outside temp today never got above 62 or so, drove a bunch today.

Seriously about ready to toss the whole dual battery setup in the trash. If i cant depend on it to be reliable for the things I want to run, its no good to me.

Any luck with Kodiak? Are they helping at all?

 

[My 4R]

Maybe I missed something.................... even if you don't have the fridge in the truck, it still goes dead? Something is wired wrong, battery is bad, or you have some other electrical issue going on. Disconnect everything but your original battery (and the fridge) and see if it still drains.

 

[ladywolf]

Kodiak helped, got my in touch with some dude who will warrantee the batteries, but guess what? he still hasnt gotten to my part of TN. The last time I talked to him he was still waiting on an "oddysey battery tester" to be shipped, so I've basically given up. Set the fridge to medium, turned up the degrees a couple, and it has lasted ok. The fridge will kill itself now, before the batteries do. Have also taken to running it in dual mode basically all the time to charge the aux battery. It doesnt exactly fix my issue, but it works in the meantime.

 

[libido]

That defeats the whole purpose of running a dual battery set up. It should not be necessary to recharge the batteries daily either--that makes it a very impractical system if you go camping off the grid. The battery specs should give you the charging amps that will allow you to compare the various choices. While the Odysseys are great batteries for many purposes, they don't have a magical way of packing much more power into a smaller size--they quite simply cannot compare to a larger battery using the same technology. You may have ended up with a bad battery or two duds, but it may be that you have maxed out their capabilities too. People running the IBS and National Luna systems with standard size gel batteries such as Optimas don't seem to complain as much as those running the Kodiak/Odysseys--there may be a good reason for this. My fridge will run for several days with my auxiliary Optima yellow top without starting the vehicle. It depends of course on the weather and how well I packed the fridge. A completely packed fridge that is pre-cooled to the set temp will go a lot longer than one that is mostly empty or one that needs to be cooled from room temp. If you haven't been filling your fridge, add more insulating items to it to eliminate dead space.

Cheers,
Greg

 

[1000MPH]

Well I'm no expert...but...just a few suggestions...
What is the fridge rated and what are the batts?
With a good hobby charger you could rig up a test to charge and cycle the batts and see if you are getting at least close to their rating. Add a wattmeter and you can test the draw on your system. Are these batts deep cycle? Did the batts come with, or can you ask the mfg for a charge/discharge graph?

 

[ladywolf]

That defeats the whole purpose of running a dual battery set up. It should not be necessary to recharge the batteries daily either--that makes it a very impractical system if you go camping off the grid. The battery specs should give you the charging amps that will allow you to compare the various choices. While the Odysseys are great batteries for many purposes, they don't have a magical way of packing much more power into a smaller size--they quite simply cannot compare to a larger battery using the same technology. You may have ended up with a bad battery or two duds, but it may be that you have maxed out their capabilities too. People running the IBS and National Luna systems with standard size gel batteries such as Optimas don't seem to complain as much as those running the Kodiak/Odysseys--there may be a good reason for this. My fridge will run for several days with my auxiliary Optima yellow top without starting the vehicle. It depends of course on the weather and how well I packed the fridge. A completely packed fridge that is pre-cooled to the set temp will go a lot longer than one that is mostly empty or one that needs to be cooled from room temp. If you haven't been filling your fridge, add more insulating items to it to eliminate dead space.

Cheers,
Greg

Libido/Bflan/Harper/Kingpin
Here is what I've decided: I'm going to keep the Kodiak setup (the switch and solonoid) and either run two stock yota batteries or a set of cat batteries (as close to stock size, will fit in a BTF battery box). CCA's is about 575-600, but reserve capacity is 135. May go with some DH or a set of Optima's, but going to ditch the odysseys for certain. I"m gonna frankenmix the battery cables by fabbing some up to run across and over to the passenger side. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[limamike]

Libido/Bflan/Harper/Kingpin
Here is what I've decided: I'm going to keep the Kodiak setup (the switch and solonoid) and either run two stock yota batteries or a set of cat batteries (as close to stock size, will fit in a BTF battery box). CCA's is about 575-600, but reserve capacity is 135. May go with some DH or a set of Optima's, but going to ditch the odysseys for certain. I"m gonna frankenmix the battery cables by fabbing some up to run across and over to the passenger side. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

This doesn't sound too great. I was close to buying the Kodiak system until this thread came-up...

 

[ladywolf]

I'm the only person who has had issues with the kit out of everyone. And there's several people who have this kit.

 

[Reata]

Move the stuff on the passenger side of the engine bay and get two 2150's. I have been running mine alone (one 2150) crammed into the driver's side with no issues. Ran same setup on my Land Rover for years. It will last 36 hours with fridge at 37 degrees and still start the truck...I think this is the same setup as Jonessey is running too.

Someday, when I get some $$$, my plan is to run the dual 2150's with the National Luna system. Until then, it's a single 2150 world!!

Good Luck!!

 

[ladywolf]

I'm the only person who has had issues with the kit out of everyone. And there's several people who have this kit.

 

[joneseyyy]

Yep, running the 2150 with similar results as Reata. No complaints! Like him I may go dual battery with another 2150 at some point in the future.

 

[BFLAN]

Libido/Bflan/Harper/Kingpin
Here is what I've decided: I'm going to keep the Kodiak setup (the switch and solonoid) and either run two stock yota batteries or a set of cat batteries (as close to stock size, will fit in a BTF battery box). CCA's is about 575-600, but reserve capacity is 135. May go with some DH or a set of Optima's, but going to ditch the odysseys for certain. I"m gonna frankenmix the battery cables by fabbing some up to run across and over to the passenger side. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

That sounds good. My only concern is that the Kodiak setup will function properly with different batteries (I dont know why it would not). If you checked with them and they say that it will all work great regardless of batteries used, I say go for it.

I run two yellow top Optima's and love them, and I know that there is one Die Hard Battery out there that is basically an odyssey and is supposed to be great, I know TitanPat is running it.

Good luck and let us know how it all shakes out when you get it put together.

 

[ladywolf]

That sounds good. My only concern is that the Kodiak setup will function properly with different batteries (I dont know why it would not). If you checked with them and they say that it will all work great regardless of batteries used, I say go for it.

I run two yellow top Optima's and love them, and I know that there is one Die Hard Battery out there that is basically an odyssey and is supposed to be great, I know TitanPat is running it.

Good luck and let us know how it all shakes out when you get it put together.

When I talked to the guys at Kodiak, they said I can run any battery I chose, just to make sure they were the same size, so one wont drain the other. I've got some franken cobbling to do. It's not gonna happen right away.....but the plans are in the works. It'll be a combo libido/harper/kodiak kit.

 

[GrantK]

Ladywolf,

I’m more than a little concerned about what would kill 2 batteries. Automotive batteries last their longest when they are NOT deep cycled, even deep cycle batteries will last longer when not pushed, but even with deep cycling they should handle quite a few deep cycles as long as they aren't totally discharged which your post imply hasn't happened. So the question is what killed the batteries? Did you get unlucky and get two ‘soft’ batteries, did the combiner/isolator thrash-n-trash killing them or is the alternator going bad? You really need to find the cause of the problem or it could happen again.

I would expect the voltage at the main battery to be 14V or even higher when the engine is running (1K RPM or higher), a low voltage when running is usually a sign of alternator problems but I don’t think the alternator is the problem. Personally, I’m a little suspicious of the combiner/isolator.

Some things to check and keep an I eye on:
*) Most auto parts stores will check your alternator for free. Give it a check to make sure it’s good.
*) After you replace the batteries and do your “franken cobbling”, leave the fridge out for awhile and keep a close eye on the battery voltages, if they start showing signs on not holding voltage, the problem is probably the combiner/isolator.

Good Luck and please keep us advised on what you find out and how things are going.

 

[ladywolf]

Ladywolf,

I’m more than a little concerned about what would kill 2 batteries. Automotive batteries last their longest when they are NOT deep cycled, even deep cycle batteries will last longer when not pushed, but even with deep cycling they should handle quite a few deep cycles as long as they aren't totally discharged which your post imply hasn't happened. So the question is what killed the batteries? Did you get unlucky and get two ‘soft’ batteries, did the combiner/isolator thrash-n-trash killing them or is the alternator going bad? You really need to find the cause of the problem or it could happen again.

I would expect the voltage at the main battery to be 14V or even higher when the engine is running (1K RPM or higher), a low voltage when running is usually a sign of alternator problems but I don’t think the alternator is the problem. Personally, I’m a little suspicious of the combiner/isolator.

Some things to check and keep an I eye on:
*) Most auto parts stores will check your alternator for free. Give it a check to make sure it’s good.
*) After you replace the batteries and do your “franken cobbling”, leave the fridge out for awhile and keep a close eye on the battery voltages, if they start showing signs on not holding voltage, the problem is probably the combiner/isolator.

Good Luck and please keep us advised on what you find out and how things are going.

The fridge has been out for a couple of weeks now, due to me not working and being on crutches. no change in voltages. truck has been fine, but it also hasnt been pushed at all either. Before that I changed the temp on the fridge up to 37-38 and set the battery minder on it to medium so the fridge would kill itself before the batteries. When I did all the testing with Kodiak, the isolator and switches worked as advertised.