Second Battery installation

[Laurie 123]

Hi guy's .Where is the best place to install second Battery on Disco 3 ?

[loanrangie]

Hi guy's .Where is the best place to install second Battery on Disco 3 ?

2 places to chose from, the factory auxiliary position by he ABS pump or in front of the main battery. I put mine in the auxiliary tray but had to cut a hole in the lid as i used an 85ah AGM instead of a crappy yellow top 55ah.

[shanegtr]

Either the rhs near the brake booster/abs unit or buy a mount to put it straight behind the main battery

[Disco-tastic]

2 places to chose from, the factory auxiliary position by he ABS pump or in front of the main battery. I put mine in the auxiliary tray but had to cut a hole in the lid as i used an 85ah AGM instead of a crappy yellow top 55ah.Got a pick of that? I just put in a 55ah yellow top and while in happy with the neatness i do want a bigger battery. I was thinking of putting in a third but the additional cost is putting me off.

[loanrangie]

Got a pick of that? I just put in a 55ah yellow top and while in happy with the neatness i do want a bigger battery. I was thinking of putting in a third but the additional cost is putting me off.

Yep.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2018/02/95.jpg

[SeanC]

Just putting it out there. Behind the second row of seats. More initial set-up cost. But will fit 2 x100ah batteries if you need more capacity later. Will definitely last longer than in the engine bay and gets the weight low and central. Had my auxiliary behind the air filter but upgraded to 2 x100ah lithium’s behind the second row seats. Working well so far.

[Laurie 123]

2 places to chose from, the factory auxiliary position by he ABS pump or in front of the main battery. I put mine in the auxiliary tray but had to cut a hole in the lid as i used an 85ah AGM instead of a crappy yellow top 55ah.

Thanks for that mate .I thought about the aux spot but my battery is an 85ah same as yours .Here's me worried about looks but looks ok to me with how you've put yours.The battery i have is fairly big so i will have to do a few adjustment.Cheers.

[DiscoMick]

Another option would be to hide it in drawers in the back

[loanrangie]

A few options, for me I use the 3rd row seats occasionally and don't want drawers mounted so under bonnet suits me.

[drivesafe]

Hi Laurie, what are you planning on using the D3 dual battery system for?

[Ean Austral]

Or maybe have both.

148990148991148992

Yellow top in front of the main battery and the bigger 85ah on the other side. Both connected thru a traxide DBS from Tim and has performed faultless running a big fridge.

Cheers Ean

[Narangga]

Hi guy's .Where is the best place to install second Battery on Disco 3 ?

I'll show you mine when you get here to look at the Nanocom. :thumbsup:

[Narangga]

Or maybe have both.

148990148991148992

Yellow top in front of the main battery and the bigger 85ah on the other side. Both connected thru a traxide DBS from Tim and has performed faultless running a big fridge.

Cheers Ean

Skite [bigwhistle]

[Ean Austral]

Skite [bigwhistle]

Doesn't happen very often so im taking the opertunity whilst I can.[biggrin][bigrolf]

Cheers Ean

[Laurie 123]

I'll show you mine when you get here to look at the Nanocom. :thumbsup:
ok Cheers mate

[drivesafe]

Hi Laurie, have you had a chance to look at what you might set up yet.


If not, here are some comparisons that may be of help to you.


To set up a Lithium battery system, you will need a location other than the engine bay, you will need an appropriate DC/DC charger and heavy cabling.


I am now selling Lithium batteries and matched with a Sterling BB1260, a 60 amp battery to battery charger ( DC/DC ), I can supply the BB1260 and 2 x 100Ah 12v Lithium batteries for $2,460, delivered.


You will still need some 4B&S or 3B&S cabling, terminals and an 80 to 100 amp circuit breaker, a manual reseting type so that you can also use it as a switch to isolate the BB1260 when not in use. A guesstimate around $150.


So a twin Lithium battery setup will cost around $2,600.


NOTE, this does not include power to the rear for charging batteries in a caravan or camper trailer. You would need to run a separate power supply from your cranking battery to the rear bumper, and would most likely need some form of isolator for this power supply. Minimum cost of at least $150


I can supply you with one of my Triple Battery kits, the D3-TB5 for $875 and you can fit 2 x Optima D34 55Ah batteries which cost around $310 each. As the D3-TB5 kit has everything you need to fit a full system, except the 2 Optimus. So a twin Optima setup will cost around $1500.


Pros and Cons.


A Twin Lithium battery setup would give you 200Ah of usable power and would be about 10Kg ( only about 5Kg lighter if you add the caravan power supply ) lighter than the Twin Optima setup. But would need to take up cabin space.


The lithium batteries would have a MUCH longer life span.


A Twin Optima setup would give you 155Ah of usable power and while two Optima D34 batteries would be slightly heavier, they would be under the bonnet, so no cabin space lost.


If you discharged the two lithiums down to 20% ( using about 160Ah ) you would need to drive for roughly 3.5 hours to charge them back to over 95% using the 60 amp BB1260, or if you used say a 40 amp DC/DC device, you would need more than 5 hours of driving.


Charging the two Optimas from flat to over 95% will take less than 2 hours driving.


Just some food for thought!

[DeanoH]

Thinking a bit 'out of the box', would it be feasible to re locate the main vehicle battery (say a red top optima or whatever fits) to the 85 ah aux. battery position and use the original location plus extra space to fit a large single aux. battery ?

Deano :)

[Ean Austral]

Thinking a bit 'out of the box', would it be feasible to re locate the main vehicle battery (say a red top optima or whatever fits) to the 85 ah aux. battery position and use the original location plus extra space to fit a large single aux. battery ?

Deano :)

I looked at this but you would need to re-run the start cable and try and fit the 400amp fuse that hangs off the positive into an area where either the air cleaner restricts or the brake ABS restricts depending on which end you want the pos + terminal. it would be a very small start battery . Plus you need to run the pos + from the fuse box to the other side of the engine bay

Cheers Ean

[drivesafe]

Thinking a bit 'out of the box', would it be feasible to re locate the main vehicle battery (say a red top optima or whatever fits) to the 85 ah aux. battery position and use the original location plus extra space to fit a large single aux. battery ?

Deano :)
Hi Delano, when you fit one of my isolators, first off, you will have use of half the cranking battery’s capacity to run your accessories, and that amounts to an additional 45Ah added to the 55Ah of a single auxiliary battery ( 100Ah total ) or as in Ean’s Setup, with two 55Ah auxiliary batteries, giving a total usable capacity of 155Ah.

Plus, when you start your motor, you will be drawing energy from from the auxiliary battery to assist the cranking battery while starting the motor.

This is actually a far better way to achieve what you are suggesting, and it is far simpler to set up.

[Markus1]

Tim. Just like to say thanks. The sc80 plus yellowtop combo is amazing. 2 weeks in Tassie running the 60l fridge and I was laughing, had some warm weather too. Provided I did some driving every couple of days it was gold. Even 1 hour was enough. That yellowtop accepts a killer charge rate. I remember monitoring it still pulling in excess of 45 amps after 30min! Ha....hope the D3 alternator is up to the task. :) Never needed solar for that trip....but I can see it would be necessary if planning on lobbing up for much longer than 2days.

[drivesafe]

Tim. Just like to say thanks. The sc80 plus yellowtop combo is amazing. 2 weeks in Tassie running the 60l fridge and I was laughing, had some warm weather too. Provided I did some driving every couple of days it was gold. Even 1 hour was enough. That yellowtop accepts a killer charge rate. I remember monitoring it still pulling in excess of 45 amps after 30min! Ha....hope the D3 alternator is up to the task. :) Never needed solar for that trip....but I can see it would be necessary if planning on lobbing up for much longer than 2days.
Hi Mark, you can not harm your alternator ( or any other alternator ) if you have a large battery capacity and it's in a low state.

I have a large number of D3 and D4 owners with an auxiliary battery under the bonnet and 3 large house batteries in their caravans, and they have no issues with recharging all their batteries while on the move.

All alternators, by their very design, are self-protected against current overloads.

PS, thanks for the thumbs up.

[Laurie 123]

Hi Laurie, what are you planning on using the D3 dual battery system for?
Hi mate its to run my fridge and have an ac/dc outlet connected to an inverter