dual battery system

crazysccrmd

Observer
I went with the Offgrid Engineering dual battery setup, one on each side of the engine bay. With the engine running they are tied together and the Blue Sea ML-ACR automatically isolates the batteries after the engine is turned off. I left my lights on one day at work, killed the starting battery and self jumped with the house battery. The batteries are completely isolated when the engine is not running so there is no worry about not being able to start the truck later when drawing down the house battery.

I never winch without the engine running but if you had to you can manually connect the two batteries if the extra power is needed.

The OGE kit might not be the cheapest option but it is high quality and put together so well it is stupid simple to install in the truck.
 

sargeek

Adventurer
Most of the winch manufactures recommend connecting the winch to the vehicles primary battery. It is generally located closer to winch, and is a starting battery also recommended by winch manufactures. Winches draw large amounts of current over short period of times (what starting batteries are designed opposed to small currents over longer periods of time. For extended winching - then consider paralleling the batteries.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Agreed on using the starting battery for winching. That's the way I've always wired them. Winches are just big motors so in terms of load type so you want to use starting type batteries to drive them.

I run Matt's tray in my truck, the rest of the junk is mine.

IMG_4430_mid.jpg
 

Zemiller

New member
The OGE kit is well put together and worth the price for the convenience to me. The relay is the heart of the system and if you want to save money, there are other tray options and you can do your own wiring, but buy a good relay. The auto sensing feature is wonderful, especially if you add solar. I like my Off Grid kit.
 

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