Thread: Aux battery sugestions

Yellow Top Optima

It partly depends on what uses it is going to be put to, for a mere 2nd battery to be used on road trips and as a emergency backup for your main it is hard to beat doubling up with what you have.

For remote travel it is far more economical, it will keep a frig going for a couple of days layup without being stressed and it can be used instead of your main fails or gets damaged.

As has been said, depends on you're intended use. I agree with Redback I use a Yellow top Optima
Cheers
Tony

Originally Posted by 87County

It partly depends on what uses it is going to be put to, for a mere 2nd battery to be used on road trips and as a emergency backup for your main it is hard to beat doubling up with what you have.

For remote travel it is far more economical, it will keep a frig going for a couple of days layup without being stressed and it can be used instead of your main fails or gets damaged.

Should have wrote what I wanted to use it for, it will be for travel use camping etc could be out up to a week. Wanting to run fridge winch inverter air compressor water pump all that sort of stuff.
Also looking at getting the ctek dual battery system as I would want to get solar at one point.
I want to be able to stay out as long as the boss (wife) let's us .

I'm using the old battery out of my P38 - replaced battery kept old one ( don't ask )
It's in a super cheap battery box , which I made a pigtail harness with Anderson connection .
Have just been away for a week camping , ran the engel ( 45l) , the shower pump , never dropped below 11.9v .
120 solar panels , which I use to charge battery's in camper and the box .
Drove home with the battery in car running fridge , forget about it ,went to pick up the dogs from kennels 2 hr return , battery @12.5 v

So , if you already have a battery spare ...try before buying a super expensive fancy one - they are still batteries at the end of the day .

In my shed I use a 40w panel to keep my batteries charged , one in my camper would be almost 12 years old lead acid often drops to around 9 volts , quick burst with the solar and it runs led lights for a week away .

Yes , my wallet is full of moths !
One day I will buy new batteries , after I buy a new roof rack , Maxtrax and a new uhf radio !

Hi lars, and could you explain your reasoning behind getting a Ctek?

The reason I ask is if you are planning on doing all the above, using any Land Rover as you transport, then using any form of DC/DC device would be a huge step backwards.

All recent model Land Rovers. are capable of charging and maintaining banks of batteries, and will do so far better than any DC/DC device could ever hope to do.

As for your solar, there are far better solar regulators out there than anything you will get with a DC/DC device.

Furthermore, a separate solar regulator means you can, if your solar panels are on top of your camper trailer or caravan, recharging your house batteries by solar and your alternator, at the same time, which means far, FAR quicker recharging than any DC/DC device can do. And this means it is better for your batteries!

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi lars, and could you explain your reasoning behind getting a Ctek?

The reason I ask is if you are planning on doing all the above, using any Land Rover as you transport, then using any form of DC/DC device would be a huge step backwards.

All recent model Land Rovers. are capable of charging and maintaining banks of batteries, and will do so far better than any DC/DC device could ever hope to do.

As for your solar, there are far better solar regulators out there than anything you will get with a DC/DC device.

Furthermore, a separate solar regulator means you can, if your solar panels are on top of your camper trailer or caravan, recharging your house batteries by solar and 7your alternator, at the same time, which means far, FAR quicker recharging than any DC/DC device can do. And this means it is better for your batteries!

More because of the hype in magazines and the TV the seemed like a good little unit, do you have any suggestions I'd really appreciate the input.
Cheers
Lars

The dual battery systems that drivesafe makes and sells would be the best idea. He has designed a really good product that has many benefits over a cheaper dual battery isolator or DC-DC unit.

I have no financial or business connections with drivesafe.

Aaron