Dual batteries: Fancy kit or regular kit?

[Viggen]

I have dual batteries in my Disco right now but whatever the dumb previous owner had in there isnt working anymore and I have 8 external lights, a winch and a fridge in it and I would like to get the duals working again. The cabling is all there but I am trying to decide between the fancy, computerized set up or the tried and true relay/ isolator set up. One battery has the trucks basic functions and the lamps hooked up to it and the other has the winch (not hooked up at the moment). So something like the Luna Split Charge system or something like the Painless Performance dual kit which has an in cab switch for the batteries and a solenoid. The PO put dual batteries in the truck to power some sort of gigantic stereo system which is no longer there so I want the dual batteries to be up and functioning again with a proper system.

 

[WoldD90]

If the batteries are the same type and nearly the same age, I would wire them together. My 90 is wired this way and has been flawless for years. My other trucks have the Wrangler NW systems and it works really well, and I have only had to use the jump function once in one truck.

 

[sapper]

I would just use a regular solinoid and be done with it. Most I have done in the past were just wired in parallel with nothing to isolate them but you have to make sure that both batteries are new or you will get cross current and the weaker battery with drain the good one down and they will both be dead.

 

[rezdiver]

Hey Sapper,

Big CHIMO from out west.

 

[flyingwil]

I would go with an isolator kit. Keep all your factory items running off the main, and swap all aftermarket items such as lights, fridge off the aux battery.

Since all the wiring is there, you can just get the kit components separately (with out the wires) and save some money by tapping the isolator combiner into the existing wiring.

 

[Viggen]

I think I am going to go for the isolator set up. I have an Optima Deep Cycle as the aux battery and a regular battery running the truck, the lamps and the fridge without issue right now. I think an isolator with a switch to switch back and forth between batteries would probably work? Maybe something like this?
http://www.quadratec.com/products/17004_201.htm

Im not that good with electrical stuff. I can do it but would prefer mechanical work over electrical all day long. Switching the lamps and winch over to the aux deep cycle would give me a chance to clean up the previous owners ridiculousness.

 

[truck mechanic]

What sapper said! Ive had a bunch of trucks with isolaters, seems no mater what I did with the trucks, or what brand of isolater I used I would replace them once a year. I started using a cont. duty solinoid it would last for years and keep the batterys seperated when the truck was off.
just my .02
Paul

 

[ddog45]

I have a hellroaring dual battery setup it works perfecrly and is fool proof. Any offroad rig that I build in the future will have the same setup.

 

[Viggen]

Hellroaring? Source?

 

[thecarman]

Hellroaring? Source?

http://www.hellroaring.com/

 

[Casper]

I have the National Luna and love it. VERY simple install, and works flawlessly. The only thing I would change would be not to buy the kit. I end up not using the wire since it was undersized, but then it sounds like you don't need the kit, so you are good to go.

One word of caution. While researching my setup, and then again in the instructions I came across a warning out wiring up the winch. Everything I have found says to wire up the winch to the main/factory battery and NOT the aux battery. They suggest this because the power the winch pulls can severely damage or distroy the battery isolator/sillinoid switch. Not sure if that is true or not, but the explination makes sense from an "electrical" standpoint.

Hope that helps, and good luck with your setup.

Cheers,
Josh
&
Porthos

 

[esh]

I have a Marine-grade VSR. All the features of the kits in one device, at 1/3 the cost and capable of well over twice the amperage the kits can handle. They are on EBay for about $135.

I couple this with a gauge I found on Aus Ebay. Simple digital dual volt gauge.

 

[nater]

I have a Marine-grade VSR. All the features of the kits in one device, at 1/3 the cost and capable of well over twice the amperage the kits can handle. They are on EBay for about $135.

I couple this with a gauge I found on Aus Ebay. Simple digital dual volt gauge.

Can you self jump with a vsr (ie, start off a combo of the aux and main battery)?

 

[esh]

Yep. It has a switch on the unit and sealed wiring to wire up in-cab. Positions are Auto (when main reaches 13.7V charging is allowed to Aux) / Off (Isolated) / On (Combine/Jump).

Look for BEP Marine on Ebay. It is the 300A continuous unit.

Writeup on Rising Sun 4x4- http://www.risingsun4x4club.org/forum2/showthread.php?t=11009

 

[Viggen]

One word of caution. While researching my setup, and then again in the instructions I came across a warning out wiring up the winch. Everything I have found says to wire up the winch to the main/factory battery and NOT the aux battery. They suggest this because the power the winch pulls can severely damage or distroy the battery isolator/sillinoid switch. Not sure if that is true or not, but the explination makes sense from an "electrical" standpoint.

Hmmm, never heard of that. Maybe thats why so many of the solenoids are failing then?