Thread: D2 Dual Battery in the Rear

I initially pondered installing a second battery in the engine bay using the ARB battery tray. After doing some research (mainly on this site) I ended up deciding to install the second battery in the cargo area of my D2. The cramped space in the front and the limitation on battery size and type that can be used steered me away from that option. Another consideration for me was the fact that most of the accessories that normally feed of the second battery are located in the back of the vehicle or connect to it from the back. It made sense to me to install it there.

I still have a few hours to to chuck at the project until total completion after which I will put together a bit of a summary on what I did. In the mean time I will post a few piccies with some commentary detailing some of the steps I followed.

1. Before I took anything apart I first decided on which battery would best fit my needs. This in turn dictated what size (dimensions) I had to consider.
2. After sizing a few different batteries I then designed the tray and had that made up at one of the metal shops in town. It is a very basic design and only took about and hour to weld up.
3. Next up I took the load bin out (passenger side) and mounted the tray using the existing bar (Pics 1 and 2).
4. Not wanting to cut away to much of the load bin I carefully marked out the position of the hole and then cut it out initially an inch or so to small. Rather safe than sorry. A few further cuts ensured a fairly snug fit in the end (Pic 3).
5. Connecting up was pretty easy and straight forward (Pic 4)
6. I decided to fit a heavy duty dual socket as a temporary measure until I have my wishlist sorted for all the goodies that I still want to install.
7. Pic 5 shows what it currently looks like.

Do you have any special electronics to separate / charge the batteries or this is simple parallel connection?