Thread: Dual Battery D2...a Stevo Tutorial :-)

We done Steve, I did an almost identical install except for how it connects up at the rear. The ARB tray is what I used as I find their stuff very good quality and good value for money, unlike Pirannah which is grossly overpriced.

The ARB tray comes with a heat shield built in as part of the hold down mechanism. The problem as observed is that one can only fit in a 55Ah battery (both Piranha and AR under the bonnet using the standard fitment. There are only a limited range of batteries which will fit. An Exide 4DR (or a number like that), a Century and, the one I have an AMPTECH. Bought it online and the delivered cost was cheapest and it has good specs. These batteries are all liquid lead/acid.

When I first installed I wanted a larger battery. Trawled the battery makers on line. It is possible to fit in a RemCo 60Ah but you can't use the standard holddown clamp it comes with. I made up a hold down like Stevo. This battery is an AGM battery but my experience was it didn't like the heat under the bonnet and died after a few months. The AMPTECH has been in for a year without problems.

As far as supplying power, I find the 55Ah a little small. My battery supplies a Waeco CF50, camp lighting and occasionaly an electric shower pump. In cooler climates and in winter I can get up to 2 days only out of a fully charged battery but in hot climates (eg Lawnhill NP, 35deg) it lasted only barely a day. If you do standing camping, and don't go out driving each day, it won't be big enought unless you have a solar panel.

That was my solution. I made a 60W solar panel from 2 x 30W panels as a top up device. The result is 3 days from the battery. In summer its hotter but the hours of sunshine is longer. In winter, the heat load is lower but the sun hours are shorter and sun angle lower.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Mundy

G'day All,

Am back from first trip with new dual battery set up. Cuppla things...and I am assuming here.....is do not try to run your fridge and charge a portable battery...when the battery you are using was previously flattened.

For most of the drive and I was on the road a good 4+ hrs....the error light on the Waeco kept flashing. When I pulled into camp..Harry tested it with one of those thingamajigs that tells you voltage and it was reading only 9.8 volts. Various reasons were offered...heat....battery dead....possibly not getting enough charge because of above reason.

Anyway...for that night...I ran it off my portable battery which was showing 11.5 volts..so enough to keep temp at 3 degrees ( even though I normally have it at -2...I like my beer very cold ). Next day I decided to keep the fridge plugged into the portable...and plug the portable into my front socket that still runs of the main battery and give the spare a break.

Drove around for a couple of hrs, got back into camp around 4ish and thought would plug fridge into dual battery sockets...and voila. Error light stopped flashing.....fridge dropped down to a nice cool -2......and I reckon it ran ( without error light) for close to 20 hrs before I started up car to go home. So a bit of a hiccup....but now running as good as gold. Looking forward to next trip away already,


Regards

Stevo