Traxide D4 dual battery kit

[samandfee]

Hi Guys
Just installed the dual battery kit i purchased from Traxide for the new D4...........
AKA Drivesafe...Tim has been great with concise fitting instructions and any help reqd ...just ring and he's available....The kit fitted perfectly and was not that hard if you have a little patience and are good with your hands.
......now i can utilise more toys on 12v than before and hopefully wont have any flat battery probs down the road if i dont go too mad.:D
love his knowledge on this sublect, like me he's a tradesman who knows his stuff, albeit my expertise is in another field.

I have no shares or finacial interest in this company , ..but just another satisfied customer who likes to promote a good product when he has purchased one.

Regards to all

Sam and Fee

[herrBlick]

I agree Tim is a great lad. Always there if you need him

[jammers]

Which kit did you get? Just wondering how hard it is to get the wiring to the back of the car for the extra 12v outlet?

[samandfee]

Hi Jammers
The kit i fitted was the D4-5S......fitting the near side 12V socket wiring was a doddle..just a matter of sqeezing your hand into the back and changing the original ignition wired cable with Tim's kit wiring.All in all fairly easy job all round.

Samandfee

[samandfee]

Oh by the way the new 12V socket i fitted on top of the off side plastic facia so my plug will go in vertically....easy job again.

[ozetim]

Which kit did you get? Just wondering how hard it is to get the wiring to the back of the car for the extra 12v outlet?

I did it and I have 'L' size hands. put it directly opposite the original and you should just be able to get your hand in the tighten the 'O' ring nut.

edit: wiring to back wasn't too difficult if you follow the instructions and use the wire coat hanger with the hook. Feeding it under the trim over the rear arch was a pain especially with the extra cable for the anderson plug. If it's only for a 12v you shouldn't have too much drama. Oh, and if you break a clip on the B pillar they are about $5 to replace.

[samandfee]

Hi again
Yes i broke 2 yellow clips on inside of B pillar panel ....flimsy i think......bought 2 replacements in Perth $7.50 RRP....got 2 for $10

Cheers

[scarry]

I fitted the kit and also wired a merit plug(sometimes called hella plug) in the rear area as well.These plugs are way better than the cigarette lighter style.

I always use merit plugs where possible as the have a firm fit/connection and will never rattle out,even on corrugated roads.

At the end of a long day,it is not much fun finding the beers are hot because the plug for the fridge has rattled out:(

[PeterRM]

I am new to Aulro and about to start setting up a new D4 SDV6. Could anyone tell me if the Traxide Dual Batt system for the D4 does actually fully charge the auxiliary battery and about how long it takes ? I have concerns over the smart alternator interfering !!

Regards
Peter

[winaje]

Yes is does fully charge the secondary battery. I'm not sure how long it takes, but have got the kit in my D3 and running tests on battery usage at the moment, very happy so far.

[drivesafe]

I am new to Aulro and about to start setting up a new D4 SDV6. Could anyone tell me if the Traxide Dual Batt system for the D4 does actually fully charge the auxiliary battery and about how long it takes ? I have concerns over the smart alternator interfering !!

Regards
Peter

Hi Peter, this is an E-mail I received a few weeks ago and should give you some idea of what my kits achieve

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Tim

Sorry for the long email ? in the second half of the email my mate with a 200 series wants to know if you can help him

It seems like only yesterday that we installed your dual battery kits in 4 vehicles (D3, 2 x D4, D2) ready for a big trip. We've been back a while so I just wanted to give you an update on how the battery kits went.

In short, they were brilliant. We installed all 4 kits you sent us in one day. Aside from the fiddly process of removing trim pieces and working in the tight confines of a Land Rover engine bay the installation was straightforward with your instructions.*
Throughout the trip the kits never missed a beat ? and others on the trip had lots of electrical issues.

On a few occasions the battery guard did it's job cutting out the fridges, but this was usually when we were camped in one spot for a few day (very little or no driving) in very hot weather (making the fridges run almost non-stop). It took surprisingly little driving to provide a good bulk charge back into the batteries.

We travelled the Tanami Track, Gibb River Rd, Kalumburu Rd, Mitchell Falls NP Road and the Great Central Road and nothing rattled loose or played up in any way.

Our friends in a 200 series Land Cruiser, on the other hand, did not fare so well when it came to electrics. Following local advice he had a Ctek DC-DC charger installed professionally by a very large and well known auto electrician here in Newcastle. They also installed an auxiliary circuit for his fridges and accessories etc connected to the aux battery.

In short the system never worked properly. Initially the DC-DC was installed in a very hot part of the engine bay making it cut out once the engine warmed up. We repositioned it behind his grill but even then he only got a useful charge on big driving days. On days were we did short trips around camp he was always having problems with a flat aux battery (including the extra aux battery on the trailer). To further add to his woes the auto elec did NOT install any form of low voltage protection on the circuit for his fridges and accessories. He ran his batteries far too low a few times and it didn't take long for the aux in the engine bay and the aux on the trailer to both die completely.

He couldn't believe how well our systems worked. So he was wanting to find out a little more:
***?***Would one of your dual battery isolators be suitable for his vehicle (VX 200 series Land Cruiser)?
***?***All three of his batteries (starter, aux car, aux trailer) are deep cycle sealed lead acids. Would this be a problem (we understand they won't charge as fast as an Optima for example)?
***?***Can the battery types be mixed (if he added an AGM under the bonnet for example)?
***?***He does not have a winch at the moment but may install one in the future. Would this mean the 160 is his best choice?
***?***Can one of your battery guards be added to his fridge and accessories circuit for low voltage protection?

Thanks again for your excellent kit and thanks in advance for your advice.*
Feel free to use my feedback as a testimonial if you wish.

Thanks

[BobD]

I also have had a similar experience in my D4 with the Traxide system while travelling all over Australia.

I think one of the key things is to use an Optima battery, which can accept a much higher rate of charge than conventional AGM batteries and the D4 has a high capacity alternator which charges it quickly. I measured the amps going into the Optima when using my ARB dual compressor connected to the second battery and with the engine idling it was receiving the full 65A that the compressor draws, so no problems with capacity to charge.


Bob

[lpj]

Hi Tim,

I'd like add my support to the traxide as well. Mine has been in for 12 months and has been great.

However, I just started to have some starter problems with a "transmission fault" coming up after starting. Last Sunday, the car wouldn't start at all, which I attributed to a low battery. That seems strange because i do 35k's to and from work each day in relatively free flowing traffic (leave really early in the morning and try to beat the traffic in the afternoon). Later in the day it started OK.

I bought a multi-meter so I could keep an eye on things. After disconnecting the 2nd battery all night, the cranking battery was at 12.69. It then goes up to 14.5 after starting. I double checked on a couple of subsequent mornings after some good long trips and get a similar result.
Question: Is that OK?

If the battery needs replacing, I'd rather do it now as we have a couple of weeks of camping/touring coming up.

While fiddling about in the engine bay, I noticed the positive lead from the cranking battery was a little loose. Once I tightened it I have not had a repeat of starting problems. So I can put that fault down to my own error when installing the traxide I guess.

[trevorj]

lpj: I have a traxide kit in my MY11 D4, and have installed a voltmeter via the OEM cig plug, for constant readout.
Observations over several years of long and short trips suggest that a full charge in the cranking battery (via the cig plug) is 12.7, and readings of 14.7 (up to 14.8) occur regularly during first running after overnight stop. Normally this just reduces (as crank charges up) towards about 13V while engine is running (can take several hours to get below 13.5V).
But, I recently noticed very unusual fluctuations - cycling from 13 to 14.5 over 5 to 10 minutes or so while driving - dealer diagnosed a bad cell in the yellow optima (1 month over 3 years warranty!) so replaced, and now happy camper and back to the normal pattern. One more happy tick for traxide system.

[lpj]

lpj: I have a traxide kit in my MY11 D4, and have installed a voltmeter via the OEM cig plug, for constant readout. Observations over several years of long and short trips suggest that a full charge in the cranking battery (via the cig plug) is 12.7, and readings of 14.7 (up to 14.8) occur regularly during first running after overnight stop. Normally this just reduces (as crank charges up) towards about 13V while engine is running (can take several hours to get below 13.5V). But, I recently noticed very unusual fluctuations - cycling from 13 to 14.5 over 5 to 10 minutes or so while driving - dealer diagnosed a bad cell in the yellow optima (1 month over 3 years warranty!) so replaced, and now happy camper and back to the normal pattern. One more happy tick for traxide system. Seems like I'm pretty normal then. Thanks for the feedback. Must have been the loose terminal.

[PeterRM]

Will,
Thanks for the response it was my first on Aulro !!
With the D4 the ECU is connected to the alternator and I am concerned about the impact on the auxiliary battery as the ECU turns the alternator into "sleep mode" at 12.4V once the starter battery is charged . If you get any data on charging timing to full charge I would be interested .

Thanks for your input.

Cheers
Peter

[RobA]

Agree with the standard of service from Traxide. Our system goes in Monday to complete the fittest along with the LED black box so we can tow our Utlimate. Fitout has been; RedArc TowPro, Traxide system, Rhino Pioneer roof platform and some window tinting. Looking forward to getting it dirty over Christmas

RobA

[LandyAndy]

Im looking forward to fitting my Traxide system.
Im wiring "everything" at once (UHF,spotties,trailer brakes).Hoping to fit all the hardware this weekend then doing the electrical whilst on holidays(next friday onwards)
Andrew

[scarry]

My traxide system has been in three years and has been fantastic as well.
We have used it a lot,travelled all over the countryside.it is mainly used for the Engle but I also use it while spotlighting so keeps the load off the main starting battery.
Couple of things though.I find if camping for longer than a couple of days,particularly in hot weather the fridge will run the battery down and will need to be charged with a solar panel or whatever.I often take another 120 AH battery(borrowed from my son) with me as well which I fully charge before leaving home ,which suits our needs.
And as I have said previously merit plugs work much better than standard cig plugs.

[LGM]

Like a number of the others I installed my Traxide System in my MY11 D4 around three years back. Easy enough to do following the very detailed instructions provided. Since that time I have travelled over 100,000kms and spent time in the scrub with the camper trailer etc. The Traxide system works as advertised and is excellent in both its quality and performance. The only electrical issue I have had was a main battery failure (replaced by LR under warranty) and that was no fault of the Traxide system. I really like the ability to plug my battery charger into the D4 via the andersen plug at the rear and charge / recondition the batteries without fuss or mucking around under the bonnet.

In summary Top gear, Top Service ,Top Result:D

[LRD414]

I'd like to add my positive experience with a Traxide install. I am not confident with auto electrics and car trim panels and even considered getting someone else to install. However, Tim was right and I am very happy to have successfully installed it myself.:D

The instructions are detailed and excellent. Photo shows me closely reading them for the rear Andersen plug!

Slow and steady is the key for a beginner. I didn't break any trim clips or plugs but a flexible magnet tool saved the day for the door sill metal clips.

Similar to others, I added an extra lead for the fridge c/w Andersen plug. The lead is kept in the LHS storage compartment when not in use. Just spliced in to the 12v socket cable supplied with the kit.

Now I'm looking forward to using it on trips.

Cheers,
Scott

[LandyAndy]

Just completed mine yesterday.Daunting task at first,as you say,slow and steady and all goes well.
Andrew

[RobA]

Ours went in a treat and after a quick condition of the yellow top all is working perfectly. Merit plug paired with cigarette lighter outlet now. We installed two Anderson plugs one replaces the white round plug and only operates from the starting battery and the other is part of the Traxide system. When hooked up to the Ulti it was very pleasing to see the BMS30 telling me there was 14.7 volts coming in from the car so an excellent outcome all round

Rob

[LRD414]

Rob,

Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by "quick condition" of the yellowtop? Also, what do you use the replacement Andersen for? (the white plug one on starter battery)

Cheers,
Scott

[RobA]

Almost every battery sold has been sitting on the shelf discharging for a while. So we condition our batteries using a RedArc smart charger when a new one goes in to any of our 4WD's and at least every three months depending on the duty cycle of each vehicle.

We replaced the white round plug with a second anderson plug for the simple reason I can charge the starting battery or second battery directly from our amorphous solar panels

I hope that explains it in more detail

Regards

Rob

[LRD414]

Perfect thanks Rob. Looking in to getting the charger now. That's a good idea for starter battery charging but I thought the starter would be getting charged anyway via the SC80 from the yellowtop. This is based off my reading of Traxide instructions, which I could have misunderstood.

Cheers,
Scott

[drivesafe]

Hi Scott and as long as the common voltage of the batteries has not dropped to 12.0v, depending on what kit you have, you can charger both batteries via the Anderson plug at the rear of your D3 or D4.

You can also charge both batteries via the White trailer plug at the rear.

For all late model D4 owners, Rob's suggestion of getting into a habit of giving your cranking battery a conditional charge, but not every 3 months, once a month.

There are some strange happenings with the way the alternators work in late model D4s and it is causing quite a few problems in the UK and I have had quite a few reports of similar problems here.

[siper]

Sorry if this is the wrong thread. Newbie.

I have a dt90-l322 installed about 6 months ago, all seems ok.
Left the car for a month at airport while overseas.
Came back and both batteries flat as a fluke. So it seemed that the cranking battery lost power, to be expected maybe, but it dragged the 2 battery done as well.
Maybe I need a manual switch to really disconnect 2nd battery in instances like this where it is the reverse of what is the norm, ie 2nd battery under load and dropping and traxide disconnecting cranking battery.

Any thoughts please
That is on my12 L322 tdv8

Cheers

Ron