My dual battery setup - 2006 Tacoma
- Thread starter Jacket
- Start date
Jacket
2008 Expedition Trophy Champion
Yes it does (with no kill switch unfortunately....). That explains it - I forgot about the different brake configurations.
CanuckMariner/Nomad
Love having fun 😊 in the 🌞 by the ⛵ and the ⏳
Just a thought...I have heard from my local battery supplier (Interstate) that when you do a dual battery install, it is a good idea to have the same types, manufacturer and age of batteries for both as when they are connected together one (the lower voltage one) tends to thieve from the other (higher voltage one) as well as other factors. This tends to shorten the life of both batteries.
I went with 2 x blue tops group 31 as they have a bit more CCA and AH. I realize they are a bit bigger and heavier, but to crack over a 1HZ in the dead of winter one must have power! Also got the blue tops as opposed to the yellow tops, as the blues have the extra posts for accessories.
Another thing to note about Optimas is that they have a dark grey and light grey bottoms. One is for deep cycle and the other is for starter applications. You want the deep cycle as it can start and deep cycle. I have had them for two years already, no problems many cycles already.
I went with 2 x blue tops group 31 as they have a bit more CCA and AH. I realize they are a bit bigger and heavier, but to crack over a 1HZ in the dead of winter one must have power! Also got the blue tops as opposed to the yellow tops, as the blues have the extra posts for accessories.
Another thing to note about Optimas is that they have a dark grey and light grey bottoms. One is for deep cycle and the other is for starter applications. You want the deep cycle as it can start and deep cycle. I have had them for two years already, no problems many cycles already.
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
That is particularly important with batteries that are going to be connected together all of the time, like in a battery bank of some sort. It is probably important with series wired 12 VDC batteries in a 24 VDC vehicle, but I've no experience there.
I'm not convinced that it is so critical with batteries that are only connected together when the engine is running and the alternator is charging. Though it certainly won't harm anything if they are the same.
I'm not convinced that it is so critical with batteries that are only connected together when the engine is running and the alternator is charging. Though it certainly won't harm anything if they are the same.
Jacket
2008 Expedition Trophy Champion
That was the hard part; the rest is easy…. Actually, the hardest part is finding time to finish.
Working with large diameter wiring is interesting if you're not used to it, and don't have the proper tools. There were occasions where I felt like I was wrestling a komodo dragon for a piece of meat. If you have a relatively strong set of cutting shears, something sharp to strip the ends (without cutting copper), and a good imagination for pulling off these ends it'll work out even without proper tools. I used a bench vise to aid in crimping, and of course heat shrink tubing to tidy up the ends.
The National Luna kit comes with everything else necessary to wire the system together. They supply a generous amount of 16mm2 (~5 AWG) wiring, which must be cut to the needed lengths. NL also supplies a variety of lug sizes to terminate each end of the wiring, and two new battery terminals with multiple accessory posts. After considering my setup, and consulting with a few folks here on Expo, I decided to upgrade to 2 gauge wire for all the connection points. This was primarily because of the winch, and the potential for large current draws if I string the batteries together. This may never become necessary, but it certainly gives me piece of mind.
Three new battery wires are necessary, all cut to fit my implementation; a red lead from the primary battery to the NL solenoid, another red lead from the solenoid to the auxiliary battery, and a ground wire between the two batteries. In my case, about 28", 78" and 80" for each wire.
(exciting picture of wires...)
The beauty of the NL design is that you don't have to touch any of the factory wiring; no cutting, no splicing, no rewiring (except for mods already added), and no fuss. The instructions do a nice job of laying out different options and ideas for implementation depending on the specifics of your system. I took the NL recommendation to keep the winch wired directly to the primary battery. This will keep 99% of the winch duty on the primary battery and alternator, reserving the auxillary battery for everything else and backup starting duties.
With everything ready to go, I roughed in the system.
So far, so good.
Working with large diameter wiring is interesting if you're not used to it, and don't have the proper tools. There were occasions where I felt like I was wrestling a komodo dragon for a piece of meat. If you have a relatively strong set of cutting shears, something sharp to strip the ends (without cutting copper), and a good imagination for pulling off these ends it'll work out even without proper tools. I used a bench vise to aid in crimping, and of course heat shrink tubing to tidy up the ends.
The National Luna kit comes with everything else necessary to wire the system together. They supply a generous amount of 16mm2 (~5 AWG) wiring, which must be cut to the needed lengths. NL also supplies a variety of lug sizes to terminate each end of the wiring, and two new battery terminals with multiple accessory posts. After considering my setup, and consulting with a few folks here on Expo, I decided to upgrade to 2 gauge wire for all the connection points. This was primarily because of the winch, and the potential for large current draws if I string the batteries together. This may never become necessary, but it certainly gives me piece of mind.
Three new battery wires are necessary, all cut to fit my implementation; a red lead from the primary battery to the NL solenoid, another red lead from the solenoid to the auxiliary battery, and a ground wire between the two batteries. In my case, about 28", 78" and 80" for each wire.
(exciting picture of wires...)
The beauty of the NL design is that you don't have to touch any of the factory wiring; no cutting, no splicing, no rewiring (except for mods already added), and no fuss. The instructions do a nice job of laying out different options and ideas for implementation depending on the specifics of your system. I took the NL recommendation to keep the winch wired directly to the primary battery. This will keep 99% of the winch duty on the primary battery and alternator, reserving the auxillary battery for everything else and backup starting duties.
With everything ready to go, I roughed in the system.
So far, so good.
Switch
Observer
That was the hard part; the rest is easy…. Actually, the hardest part is finding time to finish.
Working with large diameter wiring is interesting if you’re not used to it, and don’t have the proper tools. There were occasions where I felt like I was wrestling a komodo dragon for a piece of meat. If you have a relatively strong set of cutting shears, something sharp to strip the ends (without cutting copper), and a good imagination for pulling off these ends it’ll work out even without proper tools. I used a bench vise to aid in crimping, and of course heat shrink tubing to tidy up the ends.
The National Luna kit comes with everything else necessary to wire the system together. They supply a generous amount of 16mm2 (~5 AWG) wiring, which must be cut to the needed lengths. NL also supplies a variety of lug sizes to terminate each end of the wiring, and two new battery terminals with multiple accessory posts. After considering my setup, and consulting with a few folks here on Expo, I decided to upgrade to 2 gauge wire for all the connection points. This was primarily because of the winch, and the potential for large current draws if I string the batteries together. This may never become necessary, but it certainly gives me piece of mind.
Three new battery wires are necessary, all cut to fit my implementation; a red lead from the primary battery to the NL solenoid, another red lead from the solenoid to the auxiliary battery, and a ground wire between the two batteries. In my case, about 28", 78" and 80" for each wire.
(exciting picture of wires...)
The beauty of the NL design is that you don’t have to touch any of the factory wiring; no cutting, no splicing, no rewiring (except for mods already added), and no fuss. The instructions do a nice job of laying out different options and ideas for implementation depending on the specifics of your system. I took the NL recommendation to keep the winch wired directly to the primary battery. This will keep 99% of the winch duty on the primary battery and alternator, reserving the auxillary battery for everything else and backup starting duties.
With everything ready to go, I roughed in the system.
So far, so good.
First off nice work! It is great to see another write up on this board with new technologies and configurations.
Looking at my own crowded battery terminals, now I realize I can clean that up.
If you don't mind some constructive suggestions.
I'd suggest putting some split conduit over those wires (Think about the endless vibrations of zip ties on insulation). The split conduit is cheaper and easire to replace than the wires. Did you notice that every factory wire is protected by conduit? In hind sight I wish I'd used black tape at friction points as well. Think 250,000 miles!!
Also, sometimes it is better to use two zip ties instead of one so the abrasion is between the zip ties instead of between the zip tie and the wire. Like this:
Again, it is great to see another write up with new options for folks to consider.
Jacket
2008 Expedition Trophy Champion
Thanks Switch. I read through your threads a few times as I went into this project, so I appreciate your feedback.
Everything is just roughed in at the moment - I still need to rewire a few accessories to the auxiliary battery, find a permanent location for the controller, run new wire for some 12v plugs, redo some of my winch wiring, etc. I agree about encasing the wires in conduit - definitely something critical to long term durability.
Everything is just roughed in at the moment - I still need to rewire a few accessories to the auxiliary battery, find a permanent location for the controller, run new wire for some 12v plugs, redo some of my winch wiring, etc. I agree about encasing the wires in conduit - definitely something critical to long term durability.
Jacket
2008 Expedition Trophy Champion
mostly done...
I guess I'm 98% done at this point. I pulled all the wiring for the aux lights and the HAM, rerouted them to the aux battery, and put them in their own loom. I cleaned up and ran a loom for the + and - cables between the batteries (along the back of the engine bay). I pulled the front grill for clear access to the winch wiring, and put the two wires into a loom and added some grommets where they pass through to the main battery.
I still want to put some red conduit around the short leads from the primary battery to the winch and solenoid, but I'm not too worried about them at this point.
For the controller, I decided to run the wires under the dash and through the center console. I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the console box, and I'm using some industrial velcro to hold the controller against the side of the box. So I can pull it out as needed to check the battery levels, but its not always out and on display and cluttering the dash.
The major remaining item in this setup is to run one large lead from the aux battery to the back of the cab into a fuse block, where I can then add accessories as needed. With that setup, I'll add some 12 volt outlets in the cab, and at least one in the bed - finally laying the infrastructure to install everyone's favorite Expo accessory....
I guess I'm 98% done at this point. I pulled all the wiring for the aux lights and the HAM, rerouted them to the aux battery, and put them in their own loom. I cleaned up and ran a loom for the + and - cables between the batteries (along the back of the engine bay). I pulled the front grill for clear access to the winch wiring, and put the two wires into a loom and added some grommets where they pass through to the main battery.
I still want to put some red conduit around the short leads from the primary battery to the winch and solenoid, but I'm not too worried about them at this point.
For the controller, I decided to run the wires under the dash and through the center console. I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the console box, and I'm using some industrial velcro to hold the controller against the side of the box. So I can pull it out as needed to check the battery levels, but its not always out and on display and cluttering the dash.
The major remaining item in this setup is to run one large lead from the aux battery to the back of the cab into a fuse block, where I can then add accessories as needed. With that setup, I'll add some 12 volt outlets in the cab, and at least one in the bed - finally laying the infrastructure to install everyone's favorite Expo accessory....
DarkHelmet
Adventurer
SOLD! I am soooo doing this to my truck. I've been looking for just the right set-up and I think you nailed it. Nice work.
- DH
- DH
Switch
Observer
I guess I'm 98% done at this point. I pulled all the wiring for the aux lights and the HAM, rerouted them to the aux battery, and put them in their own loom. I cleaned up and ran a loom for the + and - cables between the batteries (along the back of the engine bay). I pulled the front grill for clear access to the winch wiring, and put the two wires into a loom and added some grommets where they pass through to the main battery.
I still want to put some red conduit around the short leads from the primary battery to the winch and solenoid, but I'm not too worried about them at this point.
For the controller, I decided to run the wires under the dash and through the center console. I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the console box, and I'm using some industrial velcro to hold the controller against the side of the box. So I can pull it out as needed to check the battery levels, but its not always out and on display and cluttering the dash.
The major remaining item in this setup is to run one large lead from the aux battery to the back of the cab into a fuse block, where I can then add accessories as needed. With that setup, I'll add some 12 volt outlets in the cab, and at least one in the bed - finally laying the infrastructure to install everyone's favorite Expo accessory....
Looking good, I like the location for the voltage meter. I've never installed one because of limited options on the dash. Not something you need to see all the time but there when you need it.
For 12V outlets in the bed, I put some in the useless side cubies - this way they won't get abused by stuff going in/out of the bed. If I were to do it again, I'd also put switched lights in there too.
