Lets get serious

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnD3rew

OL have quoted me $1100 to supply and fit a dual battery system which includes the electronics to shut off the cranking battery to preserve it and also includes upgrading the wiring to the existing accessory sockets to allow them to draw ore amps and connect them directly to the aux battery.

I spoke with their electrician and he seemed very good. Other than price what is wrong with the OL system and why is Traxide better?

I have spoken to Tim and he should be along to help you shortly...

Basically, Traxide kits are designed to fit exactly into a D3 / D4 / RRS depending on what flavour you order...

They come with everything you need to D-I-Y and its EASY.....

They're also designed to work with modern charging systems (where alternators turn voltage up and down to their control) and give additional benefits of improved Aux capacity etc...

Drivesafe (Tim) will add more I'm sure...

In the meantime - Look here:

D3

Not to mention... D3 specific kit with 2 rear sockets... $340.00

Add a battery and a couple of hours and your done!

Thanks Mike ( Tombie ) and I lead you astray.

Hi Admiral and correct they have not approved my isolators but don’t blame Mike for his post, this was my blue.

A clarifying explanation.

When the D3 first came on the market, because it was the first vehicle ( so was Jag ) to have low operating voltages, most of the isolators on the market were causing incompatibility problems with the D3’s voltage monitoring.

This lead to things like Limp Home Mode being activated when there were no problems and so on.

At the time, there were a number of LRA people who were regulars on this form. They noticed my gear was being installed in D3s without any problems being reported.

Also at that time, I was NOT aware of the low operating voltage but even if I had know, they do not effect the way my isolators work ( different operating procedures to any other type of isolator ) and because of the way my isolators keep the cranking and auxiliary battery voltages at similar level, there were no incompatibility problems being caused with the D3s.

The then head of LRA’s Maintenance Training Section contacted me and explained the problems being caused by other isolators and asked if I could supply an isolator, set to their specs so they could test it in a D3.

LRA supplied me with the D3 operating info and the specs they wanted test with.

I supplied them with a couple of isolators set to their specs and waited.

Some three or so months later, I received an E-mail stating that my isolators worked with the D3’s operating system and caused no problems and that this information had been forwarded on to Solihull.

I WRONGLY took this E-mail to be an approval and posted such up on my web site. I was politely informed a short time after this that the E-mail was not an approval but simply confirmation that my isolator did NOT effect the operation of D3s.

Shortly after this, I bought my wife a D3 and needless to say, my dual battery system was installed soon there after.

I changed all my original setting to the LRA levels, primarily because other vehicles have now come on the market with low operating voltage levels and the lower cut-in level, as requested by LRA, works with these other vehicles.

As side benefit form using my isolators.

I have been manufacturing the SC80 for over 20 years and the way they work has had customers continually informing me that they not only get longer operating lives from their auxiliary/house batteries but the cranking batteries also last longer.

It was obvious that the longer cranking battery life span was a direct result of fitting my isolator, but I could never work out why.

That is until I started getting feed back from D3 customers who had the info screens and told me that before having one of my dual battery systems fitted, they were getting regular Low Battery Warnings but within 1 to 3 weeks of fitting my system, the messages stopped.

First time I heard this I didn’t give it much thought but then I started getting it from customer after customer and not just here in Australia.

Then the penny dropped and I did some testing.

What was happening is that the vehicle is started and then the cranking battery is recharged.

BUT, all batteries, while they can be “nearly” fully charge in a short time, it actually takes quite a long time to FULLY RECHARGE the battery.

With my system, because the isolator keeps the cranking battery and the auxiliary battery connected long after the ignition is turned off, ( all other brands of isolators disconnect when the ignition is turned off or shortly thereafter ) and because the auxiliary battery, when not being used to run accessories, is always in a higher state of charge, the auxiliary battery will back discharge into the cranking battery.

This has the effect that in as little as 1 week, the cranking batteries settled state of charge, would rise and this is why the messages stopped and because the cranking battery is kept in a higher state of charge, this is why cranking batteries last longer when one of my system is installed.

While this has been happening for the 20+ years I have been making the SC80, it is now more beneficial since the introduction of Calcium/Calcium batteries. As fitted to LRs.

While this works with any type of auxiliary battery, the results seem to be better and quicker when the auxiliary battery is an Optima ( or similar ).

Now as much as I would like to claim I designed my isolators to specifically give this benefit, it’s not so, the “FEATURE” is simply an unplanned beneficial spinoff from the way my isolators are designed to work.

But this “feature” is now one of the primary benefits of fitting one of my isolators, that is not available with any other brand of isolator.

Ok I am convinced. I will only go Traxide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnD3rew

Ok I am convinced. I will only go Traxide.

Good choice ;)

Cheers,

Gordon

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnD3rew

Ok I am convinced.

Hi Andrew and sorry for the long winded reply but Mike had posted up some misinformation but not misinformation of his own doing, misinformation of mine and I just wanted clear Mike’s “GOOD” name. :angel: :angel: :angel: :angel:

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnD3rew

Ok I am convinced. I will only go Traxide.

You won't regret it. With a D4 now on the way I'll soon be ordering my third one. I have always run them with an Optima yellow top and it has proved to be a very reliable set-up.

Cheers,
Jon

Quote:

Originally Posted by jon3950

You won't regret it. With a D4 now on the way I'll soon be ordering my third one. I have always run them with an Optima yellow top and it has proved to be a very reliable set-up.

Cheers,
Jon

I will agree with Jon,
I too have run them in most of my Disco's & this is my 3rd unit. Now using the USI160. (previously SC80 & before that the SC40) Never had any issues.
Optima Yellow top D34's are a great all round battery.

Cheers.

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