My Dual Battery Setup

airbur

airbur

New member
Hello all. After many months of reading all the dual-battery posts on this forum and others, I finally did my install over the weekend. Here's my parts list...pictures follow.

1 - 200A GOLD PLATED WAFER FUSE
6’ - 4 GA BLACK POWER WIRE
1 - WAFER FUSE HOLDER
1 - P3 PLATINUM POSITIVE (+) BATTERY TERMINAL
1 - P3 PLATINUM NEGATIVE (-) BATTTTERY TERMINAL
4 - P3 PLATINUM 1/0 GA POWER TERMINAL CONNECTOR
2 - P3 PLATINUM 4 GA POWER TERMINAL CONNECTOR
10’ - P3 1/0 GA RED POWER WIRE
10’ - P3 1/0 GA CLEAR POWER WIRE
1 - STREETWIRES GT14 GROUND TERM
2 - STREETWIRES FBO 1/0 AWG FIREWALL GROMMETS
1 - Optima (D34/78) Auxiliary Battery
1 - SurePower Battery Separator 200A
25’ - TECHFLEX CHROME XC 1 1/2" 25' CLAM SHELL
1 - P3 PLATINUM POSITIVE (+) BATTERY TERMINAL
1 - P3 PLATINUM NEGATIVE (-) BATTTTERY TERMINAL
1 – Rocker Type Switch w/LEDs
44 – PLATINUM 4 GA POWER TERMINAL CONNECTOR
15’ - 4 GA Wire for Grounds
10 - PLATINUM 2 GA POWER TERMINAL CONNECTOR
10’ - P3 2 GA RED POWER WIRE
10’ - P3 2 GA CLEAR POWER WIRE
 

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Rocker Switch/1ga Amp Power Block
 

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And mine was from studying Bulldog's work. Nice to have each other's experience to keep us moving along on the mods. :bigok:
 
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Tucson..did you happen to install voltmeters for your system? I'd like to have an LCD or other display that I could toggle from one battery to the other.
 
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That would be nice to have but no, I did not install any monitoring meters. I have checked the system with hand held volt meters but nothing installed.
 
Tucson T4R said:
Just curiousity but what do you plan to primarily drive off your inverter?
Click to expand...

Haha....can you say overkill? We're going to use it primarily for laptops etc...but will also use it for overnight stays and running a small refrigerator etc.
 
Makes sense. I have a portable inverter I use for laptops and now that I have an offorad camping trailer I like to be able to just move it into the trailer when we set up base camp. Not sure of the fridge you have. A lot of us have moved to the 12V fridges like the Engel which don't need 110V. My trailer came with an 85 Qt Waeco that seems to work great. :biggrin2:

In theory I could lift it off the trailer mounting and carry it in the back of my 4Runner if I wasn't taking the trailer on a day trip. I haven't tried that yet, but it should work fine.
 
switch

Can someone tell me what the job of the power toggle switch? I want to add this setup to my vehicle. I would like to know that if my car is not running but the key is turned half way will i be using the secondary battery or primary? I am only trying to use a sound system while the vehicle is not running but i do not want to try and start my vehicle and be $#!7 out of luck. Any help will be appriciated.
 
Re: switch

gusred said:
Can someone tell me what the job of the power toggle switch? I want to add this setup to my vehicle. I would like to know that if my car is not running but the key is turned half way will i be using the secondary battery or primary? I am only trying to use a sound system while the vehicle is not running but i do not want to try and start my vehicle and be $#!7 out of luck. Any help will be appriciated.
Click to expand...

Hi gusred,

The only point of the toggle switch in my installation is to manually connect the second battery to the system (ie. if I had a dead primary it would be like jumping from the secondary). This won't help you much if you are running your audio system from the second battery. If you have the engine on when you are running your system, the Battery Separator will make sure that the voltage in each battery remains equal. It does this by automatically connecting and disconnecting the 2nd battery from the charging system. Since it automatically separates the batteries (expect when charging), if you power your audio system from the 2nd battery you should be good. If, on the other hand, you power it through standard channels and use the ignition key's ACC position most of the time, you'll be pulling from the primary.

Hope that helps.
 
THANKS

Thank you. It definately helps me. Can you tell me how to set up the switch just in case my primary goes dead? I do not need the inverter but i would like to know how to set it up your way. The dagram you have helps but im not that good at this stuff. Thanks
 
Re: THANKS

gusred said:
Thank you. It definately helps me. Can you tell me how to set up the switch just in case my primary goes dead? I do not need the inverter but i would like to know how to set it up your way. The dagram you have helps but im not that good at this stuff. Thanks
Click to expand...

There are 2 switches in my install. One for the battery separator and the other is just a power switch for the Inverter. They are completely separate from each other. The switch I used for the secondary battery is a momentary-on type where it is only on when you hold it down. This allows me to momentarily connect the secondary battery to the charging system if I need to jump the vehicle due do a dead primary. This is detailed in the instructions that come with the battery separator.

If I were going to setup a system as you are, I would probably connect the power lines to the secondary battery (as I did with the inverter in the diagram). That way it would be completely separated from the primary battery when you had the ignition turned off. If the secondary is a deep-cycle (like the yellow top Optima) you could run it down pretty far then turn the vehicle on and the battery separator would charge it back up again
 
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