Dual battery set up for less

[landshark23]

Ok so i have been looking at getting a duel battery set up for a wile now and have always been thrown by the cost. I was looking at just making one from scratch and trying to save some cash, but i wanted to be a able to still monitor my batteries. The kits that did all this were upwards of 300 to 400 dollars, to much for me. Until one day i was looking on ebay for the umpteenth time and found this kit ( http://cgi.ebay.com/VORTEX-12V-DUAL...ltDomain_0?hash=item2559b02539#ht_4967wt_1137 ) its is the same kit from national luna but for less than half the price. So i jumped on it and bought it for 155.00. The kit came to day it has every thing u need and then some.
pic of the kit are be low and the install is to fallow.

 

[JKDetonator]

Perfect!

Just ordered mine! Thanks for the link, thats about 1/2 price from the others I've been looking at. :victory:

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Nice find. I like the deal, and it's idiot-proof...mandatory in my case! :sombrero:

 

[HenryJ]

I am watching closely your install and review. Mine is a manual separation right now, but I would love to automate it.
Take lots of pictures! Thanks in advance.

 

[Cabrito]

This set has been discussed a little bit before here on Expo
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39031

Be sure to post a follow up so we know how it holds performs and holds up.

 

[landshark23]

ok so for now here are some pics of the install i will fallow up with a review tomorrow but every thing works great.

blue sea fuse block 15$ on ebay what a steal

4awg cable

fuse block and inline 60 amp fuse

pic of my old fuse block and relays

pic of my crowded engine bay not to many places to put stuff

spot for my blue sea fuse block found and utilized by a peace of free still from class

pic of 60amp inline fuse running to the blue sea fuse block

pic of mounted blue sea fuse block

pic of the inline fuse for the intelligent solenoid came with kit

intelligent solenoid mounted

 

[landshark23]

pics continued

a cautionary note about mounting any thing here you need to make sure you leave enough clearence for the hood to close

battery box

battery of choice 75 buck at walmart

cable routing through the engine bay

a trickle charger will be mounted in the engine bay to help keep up the charge on my batteries more on this later

battery controller cable routing into the cab

Duel battery controller with both batteries connected

 

[ryguy]

Nice install!

 

[Equipt]

I would like to let you know that while this kit looks like the National Luna product, it in fact is not. This is a replication of their product. Duplicated stickers, foam packaging and all. The National Luna products are all manufactured in house and are not re-badged for any other brand. It may look like it, but it is not National Luna. Equipt is the sole importer, and National Luna products are only available through authorized dealers.

Thanks,

Ok so i have been looking at getting a duel battery set up for a wile now and have always been thrown by the cost. I was looking at just making one from scratch and trying to save some cash, but i wanted to be a able to still monitor my batteries. The kits that did all this were upwards of 300 to 400 dollars, to much for me. Until one day i was looking on ebay for the umpteenth time and found this kit ( http://cgi.ebay.com/VORTEX-12V-DUAL...ltDomain_0?hash=item2559b02539#ht_4967wt_1137 ) its is the same kit from national luna but for less than half the price. So i jumped on it and bought it for 155.00. The kit came to day it has every thing u need and then some.
pic of the kit are be low and the install is to fallow.

 

[landshark23]

never really said that it was the same but it does the exact same thing that the national luna kit does for less than half the price all the components in this kit are good quality and work well. its not that hard to make a set up like this and with a little time and some money you can backwards engineer anything but that not what this is about this is simply another option for competing a duel battery set up for less than half the cost of others. If the solenoid goes out i can replace it with another one for 50 bucks and move on. Will it happen not likely but if it dose it not a big deal.

 

[Rando]

I will hold my judgment on this particular device until it has been installed and tested, but at this point I don't see anything wrong with it.

However, I have to agree that the National Luna system and in particular their 'intelligent solenoid' is a bit on the expensive side without offering any extra functionality. You can either buy the one in this thread, or if you want to stick with a name brand, get the Blue Sea Systems version for half the price:
http://www.amazon.com/7610-120-Automatic-Charging-Relay/dp/B000OTIPDQ

Or you can make your own

 

[landshark23]

cost and analysis

Fist off here is a break down of the cost of my set up

• intelligent soleniod 155$
• 20ft of fine strand 4awg copper wire 10$ on ebay
• blue sea fuse box 12$ normaly retail for 45$ :yikes:
• soderless conections (kit) 300pc 9.99 harbor frieght
• batterie box 15$ on ebay
• marien batterie 75$ at walmart (the evil company )
• other mislanios part 15$

Total 291.99

now the reason for all of this i work out of my truck and use it for every thing so i am installing a fridge that runs on 12 volts and an inverter for running my laptop and some other stuff and i needed the extra power of a second battery to make it all work. Also liked the security of knowing that if i drain a battery i can still start my truck up without having to jump start it. i also wanted to be able to charge the batteries in my boat wile driving. and run some lights in camp.... Basically i had a high demand for power wile out on a daily basis wether it be studying at school or out camping for a weekend. my other option was a small generator or some solar panels with a battery system but these were two expensive to work for me at this point. maybe some time down the road i will ad some solar power for longer stationary trips and such.

the install

the install was fairly strait forward and went well. the hardest part of the hole thing was finding a place for the blue sea fuse box. i used 4awg wire to connect blue sea fuse block to the starting battery as i will be running all my auxiliary light, CB, and ARB air pump off it. As well as a transmission cooler fan. i may end up changing the fuse out from 60amp fuse to an 80amp fuse if it goes out any time soon but i wont ever be running every thing at once so it should be ok. now onto the duel battery set up there is a 80amp fuse on the starting battery side and a 65amp resettable breaker on the auxiliary battery side. Also tide into the blue sea fuse box is a trickle charger with 110v plug in to help keep the charge over night when i can plug in at the house and so forth.

more to come on the install tomarrow

 

[ryguy]

I look foreward to it. Just to add, I've passed on this kit before but ordered one yesterday because of this thread. Thanks for the detail of your install.

 

[Rattler]

In for the updates. I would like to definitely do this in the future.

 

[pray4surf]

:lurk:

I'm watching this closely also....

One question, where are you placing the second battery?