Thread: dual battery

the ARB trays used to only be about $60. may have gone up a bit tho since i bought mine.
could never work out why people paid so much for them on Fleabay

I bought one about a month ago from ARB Thomastown and I think it was about $69ish. Although I fitted it I never used it for a battery as its capacity is too small, so my air compressor and battery isolater live in there now.

Originally Posted by Cosmic Tourist

You can actually fit a 140 amp hour battery in the standard battery tray.
I use one like this

12v 140AH DEEP CYCLE/MARINE/4WD AGM BATTERY 2yr warr. (eBay item 290351422012 end time 12-Jan-11 14:59:13 AEDST) : Cars, Bikes, Boats

with 1350 CCA and 140 amp hours.

It should be enough to run the fridge and camp lights without the additional expense of a second battery, battery tray, battery charging system etc.
It worked for me because my old battery was on its last legs, whether its worth replacing a good battery I dont know.

It require a little modification, I cut out the bottom of the battery tray,
put thin rubber over the sharp bits that may abrade the battery.
I also wrapped the battery in a sheet of strong tarp I had.
The posts cant be fitted, so flat type battery starter cables connect the battery to the leads (supercheap auto, or repco)
The top wont fit back on, and its too high to clamp down, but it is a VERY tight fit as you can imagine, and I cant see it moving even in a serious prang.
The top doesnt fit back on, so its exposed in all its glory.
If you like I can post some pics, its one solution.

I would also be interested to see a picture of this set up. If you get a chance to post some up. It would certianly keep things simple not having to control 2 batteries.

Cheers.

After looking at Thumpers etc. i wanted a dual battery system that could leave the vehicle and power the fridge, lights etc in the tent. I went to the 12 volt shop and bought a 120 amp hour battery in a box and had it fitted with a fridge plug and 2 cigarette lighter plugs. This set up lives behind the single split rear seat. When I get to camp site it unplugs using anderson connectors and goes in the tent the solar cells keep it charged.
I used a marine grade automatic batery isolator all works great and the whole thing cost a lot less than a thumer or a arb set up plus its portable.

I've been pottering with a dual battery setup over the last couple of weeks, and in the end I went with the traxide 160 controller mounted in the jack cavity, and a battery in the back left storage bin. Not much point in showing pics of the controller, but while the battery is still coming, I attached a couple of pics of the bin. I'm still thinking of all the possibilities for aux power outlets, so at this stage I've put two in the rear, one on the top of the left seat belt cover, and one at the right rear. I have a idea about one on the rear side of the centre console for the kids DVD etc, but any other ideas welcome.

At this stage you can see the positive cable running from the main battery, and the fuse block for the aux outlets. The earth for the aux battery is still to be run. Any constructive thoughts welcome.


I should say once again it is so much easier doing these things standing on the shoulders of those who have done it before.

cheers
Nick

Aside from the dual carrier in the original position, does anyone know if the Piranha carrier handles a bigger battery than the ARB?

cheers

I know there is not much interesting about another dual battery setup, but this is the battery as it sits now.

The most interesting bit is the battery was off ebay from Regent Dynamics, a chap named Garry and he was excellent to deal with. Battery is good, he was happy to have a freight pick up, boxed it for me, and applied the freight label I emailed him. All up $51 for a 90 ah AGM deep cycle battery, $41 freight to Perth, Aulro price on the USI160 controller from Traxide (thnx Tim), and $100 worth of cabling. Still around the cost of a deep cycle AGM on its own.

All working good!

cheers
Nick

well after alot of thinking/planning and general time wasting i bit the bullet the other day and bought a 11a/h redarc isolator, and an arb tray that goes up on the firewall, and on payday im buying an optima yellow top d34 which is a 55a/h, this setup should be more than effeciant to run what i want,

i got the isolator on special for $100 and the try from arb in kilsyth for $68, for that price is sure as hell asnt worth the effort to build my own!

thanks alot for everyones replies and advice, greatly appreciated!