Dual Battery?

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waddellw

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Interested to hear why you want a second battery? What would the benefits be?

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wheelman55

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Interested to hear why you want a second battery? What would the benefits be?

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I'm wondering the same thing. Where has anyone installed the second battery?

Some reasons are: Spending lots of time in the outback. You can set the system up to run a fridge and lights for camping on the second battery, or set it up so you've got a second starting battery for either winching or to help get you out of the outback if your alternator fails. Think of it as a spare tire for your alternator.

I've got one of these setup as an isolator in my 93 F250 gasser to run an ARB fridge. It lets me camp out for a long weekend without draining my starting battery or having to run the Honda inventor/generator.

Hellroaring Battery Isolator/Combiner notes for 4 Wheel Drive dual battery applications
 
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WhatExit?

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I've got one of these setup as an isolator in my 93 F250 gasser to run an ARB fridge. It lets me camp out for a long weekend without draining my starting battery or having to run the Honda inventor/generator.

Eggsactly!

I've got a fridge/freezer that we take on our camping trips ("overlanding"). I'll soon do the Forscan tweak to keep the power on to the outlets in the backseat 24/7 but I'm thinking of putting a 12v outlet in the bed and maybe an inverter back there too.

I'd like to have a dual battery setup. I had one before and it was great. You can rock the tunes, run electrical stuff including lights and the fridge, and never worry about starting power.

I hoped there was room under the hood for a second battery - and there might be...here's how Jeepers are doing a 2nd battery - here's the Genesis kit that puts the batteries side-by-side and has the isolator, etc. on top:

jk-wrangler-dual-battery-system
 

ovrlnd

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I'll be doing a dual battery setup at some point after mine comes in. I assume that the battery will go in the back. I've got to run heavy cable anyway for a rear winch setup and to charge the trailer battery. I've got a spare 200W portable solar panel with a charge controller and I hope to put that on a frontrunner rack over the cab.

It's all just an idea at this point but it shouldn't be too difficult of a job, just time consuming.
 

AndysLog

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ive looked into it a few times for my gen1 rap, i think what i may eventually do is run the second battery to a box in the bed.
 

wheelman55

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Eggsactly!

I've got a fridge/freezer that we take on our camping trips ("overlanding"). I'll soon do the Forscan tweak to keep the power on to the outlets in the backseat 24/7 but I'm thinking of putting a 12v outlet in the bed and maybe an inverter back there too.

I'd like to have a dual battery setup. I had one before and it was great. You can rock the tunes, run electrical stuff including lights and the fridge, and never worry about starting power.

I hoped there was room under the hood for a second battery - and there might be...here's how Jeepers are doing a 2nd battery - here's the Genesis kit that puts the batteries side-by-side and has the isolator, etc. on top:

jk-wrangler-dual-battery-system

Cool. I live out of the F250 in the West TX outback for two months a year for the last two years. I end up running the generator every other day to keep up the charge.

I shoehorned the two batteries by going north/south where the original batteries went. Sourced the dual battery tray from Wrangler Power Products and the isolator from Hell Roaring.

Here's a pic:
 

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wheelman55

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WhatExit? Said: I've got a fridge/freezer that we take on our camping trips ("overlanding"). I'll soon do the Forscan tweak to keep the power on to the outlets in the backseat 24/7 but I'm thinking of putting a 12v outlet in the bed and maybe an inverter back there too.

From the second battery I installed another fuse box. From there I hard wired an ARB fridge lead into the back seat. Also put outlets in the bed. The outlets in the bed turned out to not be useful due to the box getting way too hot. The ARB fridge worked much better inside the cab. Same deal with charging my Makita batteries. Too hot for the charger.
 

soulsea

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Looking into doing this ...

Did anyone ever figure this out?

Thanks
 
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WhatExit?

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What's there to figure out? Running a dual battery setup is easy the only question is where will you put the 2nd battery. Right now the obvious location is in the bed of the truck.
 
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