Thread: D2 Dual Battery Setup

You can mount it wherever you want really, just ensure you have secured it well and minimised the risk of it shorting on any body parts, cables etc. (particularly if it comes loose) The current is between the two poles/studs not through the body.
I like to have the CB or fuse close to the power source as possible so as to provide as much protection over the wiring circuit as possible. But it isnt always possible or practical.

cheers

Strangy, i ended up mounting it to the heat shield. Much easier access.

By the way, the bottom bolt hole (to the wheel arch) didnt line up just like you said happened with yours. very annoying! Had to drill a new hole. It was 20mm away from the original hole, on an angle. Pretty poor design if you ask me!

Bump! Haha.

So here is the pic of my setup.



Since this pic was taken I have gotten rid of the terminal wingnuts and replaced them with nyloc nuts, as the wingnuts were fouling on the bonnet. The aluminium strip has also been covered in copious amounts of duct tape in case of accidental contact. The battery is wrapped in 6mm 'formshield' foam which i got from clark rubber.

Here is where i mounted my SC-80. I used a 90 degree chuck attachment and it was pretty easy.



Thanks to everyone who helped in any way (and there were a lot of you!)

Damo

Nice job damo.

IMO, I would not recommend wrapping the battery in a protective film. It does indeed insulate but also prevents and cooling effect achieved by airflow. I made a metal shield and covered that in the same material - result - 1 dead Exide orbital within 16 months. Conclusion - too much pretection and not enough airflow.

I have since removed the engine bay setup and relocated my AGM to the RHR storage bin and will hopefully have many years of heat free service from it. I persevered with the engine bay setup for 8 years and have lost count of how many batteries I have gone through.

Hope yours lasts longer than mine.

Cheers,

Franz

Originally Posted by Fluids

Damo ... pic's as promised.

I basically did what UP shows on his web site.

Flip the ARB heat sheild 180 degrees, and slot the bolt holes to allow the heat sheild to move all the way to the left. (The D34 is 16mm wider than the standard battery that fits).



The lip on the heat sheild for holding down the battery now fouls the battery tray edge ... took it off with a grinder, and the slot that's left is used for the new battery tie down rod to hook into (you can see in the pic' it's been bent a little so it runs parallel to the side of the battery)

.

The other side of the battery trays metal hold down lip has metal taken out to allow the battery to move to the right so it's not sitting on the heat sheild bolts. Took a carbide burr in a power drill and perserverance.



Drill a second hole for the rhs battery tie down rod. You might notice the tie down strip across the top of the battery has slotted holes for the tie down rods ... the rhs one needs to be hard up against the battery or the top of it fouls the rolled section of the underside of the bonnet and stops the bonnet from closing.



You can just see the heat sheild bolt head in the bottom of the tray in the picture above, and below.



Here's a shot from the drivers side of the engine bay ...



... and a shot showing the alarm horn ... it's mounting bracket needs to be flattened then rebolted back to the tray ... this takes a little bit of tricky manouvering.



The isolator is on the drivers side, on a steel bracket mounted to the two studs already existing in the inside guard skin. Earth is to the earth stud just next to that. See http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-t...overy-2-a.html



Hope all that helps a bit. It's a tight fit, like a finger in a bum so to speak, but it's a good fit if you take the time. I added the Thermo-Tec battery heat sheild as an extra insurance for heat. The battery is sitting on a sheet of the stuff, plus it's been wrapped with the overlapped part of the sheilding wrap at the turbo side of the battery tray. Was about $30 off Ebay for the kit.

Kev,

Very nicely done but beware the heat shield wrap around the battery.

I had an Exide Orbital that died in less than 18 months. I built a full heat shield with additional insulation like you used. I know of others using the same battery with just a heat shield close to the turbo and having very good life and therefore came to the conclusion that the extra shielding was the culprit in the early demise of my Exide Orbital. IMO this extra shielding wrap stopped airflow and killed the battery prematurely. Wrapping the battery in foil does shield it from heat but also from cooling air.

I've since moved away from having a second battery in the engine bay and hope to have better battery life after fitting a AGM in the RH rear bin. (fingers crossed).

Cheers,

Franz

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Kev and while your batteries are probably charging properly, you have fallen for one of the major drawbacks of trying to monitor battery State of Charge ( SoC ) using a volt meter.

With a continuos operating voltage of 14.2+v you will have no problems charging your batteries BUT, the 13.5-13.8v reading you got is no indication as to whether the battery is OK.

A battery’s fully charged voltage is 12.75.

This high voltage reading is actually the surface voltage not the battery’s SoC and this surface voltage can be found on good and bad batteries.

You could have a stuffed battery and after a drive of just a few minutes, you could get voltage readings like you have.

The best way to get a rough idea of whether your batteries are good or on their way out, before testing the batteries, turn your headlights on and measure the voltage at the battery terminals for a minute or two.

When you first turn the headlights on, the voltage at the batteries should drop but after a minute or two, the voltage should stabilise, around 12.5 or above for a fully charged battery.

If the voltage continues to fall and does not stabilise, your battery is either low and in need of a full charge or it’s stuffed.

This is still not a sure fired way to test batteries and there is NO simple way to test batteries but it can show up a battery thats in a bad way.

I know my 2nd battery's knackered because it reads 12.8v with no load, but turn the engel on and it immediately drops to 11.9v. Time for a new one, definitely

Originally Posted by damo_s

Hi all,


Another question: What are the best kind of plugs to use for accessories? The main reason for the setup is to run a fridge. I understand most of the fridges use a cigarette lighter connection. What about stuff like inverters? Are they the same?

Cheers,

Damo

I use 2-pin plugs for all my accessories (old 32v plugs, pins in a T arrangment). Gives a much better more positive (sorry about the pun) connection. I've got 2 in the loadspace and 1 under the bonnet for an inspection light.
Cheers,
Alex

Originally Posted by Franz

Kev,

Very nicely done but beware the heat shield wrap around the battery.

I had an Exide Orbital that died in less than 18 months. I built a full heat shield with additional insulation like you used. I know of others using the same battery with just a heat shield close to the turbo and having very good life and therefore came to the conclusion that the extra shielding was the culprit in the early demise of my Exide Orbital. IMO this extra shielding wrap stopped airflow and killed the battery prematurely. Wrapping the battery in foil does shield it from heat but also from cooling air.

Cheers,

Franz

Thanks Franz ... I will look into that ... these batteries are to exxxy to be destroying on a regular basis. I can see your reasoning ... the sheild does protect the battery from the radiant heat of the turbo, but, after the battery eventually heats up, it's insulated and takes much longer to cool down ... and the lack of air flow issue is noted.

Might get a temperature probe into the space between the sheild and the battery and do some measurements.

... I'll post the results up.