playwithit
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Fairfield, CA
Had an idea to add a second battery for some time now. The planning and collecting bits and pieces began last fall.
I knew I wanted the second battery under the hood for many obvious reasons. This meant getting rid of that huge air box. I opted for the cowl air filter. Here's a picture with it about done.
Now the air box gone.
I lucked out and found a Mean Green battery tray. Thing mounted beautifully. Only had to drill one hole and this thing is solid.
The rats nest of wires created by adding accessories over time was an untidy eyesore and down right dangerous.
The work really began with rerouting and cleaning up the wiring. All of the accessories including the front and rear winch power, auxiliary lighting, rock lights, compressor, inverter, fridge, amplifier and 12 volt utility all had to be rerouted to the drivers side.
The original plan to control the batteries was to us voltage sensing relay which closes at 13.7V and opens at 12.8V. This will make sure I have good voltage on the starting battery before the axillary battery is tied in. Then a 200A solenoid would be used in conjunction to assure batteries are isolated when the key is off.
After thinking this through, I decided not to use the vsr and use a three way switch in the cab to allow isolation, combined key on and combined always. Isolation will be used for normal operation, combined key on is to charge axillary battery with alternator (136A) and combined always for battery charger/jump.
Unfortunately it started raining and this is as far as I made it today.
Stay tuned and I will provide updates.
I knew I wanted the second battery under the hood for many obvious reasons. This meant getting rid of that huge air box. I opted for the cowl air filter. Here's a picture with it about done.
Now the air box gone.
I lucked out and found a Mean Green battery tray. Thing mounted beautifully. Only had to drill one hole and this thing is solid.
The rats nest of wires created by adding accessories over time was an untidy eyesore and down right dangerous.
The work really began with rerouting and cleaning up the wiring. All of the accessories including the front and rear winch power, auxiliary lighting, rock lights, compressor, inverter, fridge, amplifier and 12 volt utility all had to be rerouted to the drivers side.
The original plan to control the batteries was to us voltage sensing relay which closes at 13.7V and opens at 12.8V. This will make sure I have good voltage on the starting battery before the axillary battery is tied in. Then a 200A solenoid would be used in conjunction to assure batteries are isolated when the key is off.
After thinking this through, I decided not to use the vsr and use a three way switch in the cab to allow isolation, combined key on and combined always. Isolation will be used for normal operation, combined key on is to charge axillary battery with alternator (136A) and combined always for battery charger/jump.
Unfortunately it started raining and this is as far as I made it today.
Stay tuned and I will provide updates.
