Thread: Traxide D4 dual battery kit

I also have had a similar experience in my D4 with the Traxide system while travelling all over Australia.

I think one of the key things is to use an Optima battery, which can accept a much higher rate of charge than conventional AGM batteries and the D4 has a high capacity alternator which charges it quickly. I measured the amps going into the Optima when using my ARB dual compressor connected to the second battery and with the engine idling it was receiving the full 65A that the compressor draws, so no problems with capacity to charge.


Bob

Hi Tim,

I'd like add my support to the traxide as well. Mine has been in for 12 months and has been great.

However, I just started to have some starter problems with a "transmission fault" coming up after starting. Last Sunday, the car wouldn't start at all, which I attributed to a low battery. That seems strange because i do 35k's to and from work each day in relatively free flowing traffic (leave really early in the morning and try to beat the traffic in the afternoon). Later in the day it started OK.

I bought a multi-meter so I could keep an eye on things. After disconnecting the 2nd battery all night, the cranking battery was at 12.69. It then goes up to 14.5 after starting. I double checked on a couple of subsequent mornings after some good long trips and get a similar result.
Question: Is that OK?

If the battery needs replacing, I'd rather do it now as we have a couple of weeks of camping/touring coming up.

While fiddling about in the engine bay, I noticed the positive lead from the cranking battery was a little loose. Once I tightened it I have not had a repeat of starting problems. So I can put that fault down to my own error when installing the traxide I guess.

lpj: I have a traxide kit in my MY11 D4, and have installed a voltmeter via the OEM cig plug, for constant readout.
Observations over several years of long and short trips suggest that a full charge in the cranking battery (via the cig plug) is 12.7, and readings of 14.7 (up to 14.8) occur regularly during first running after overnight stop. Normally this just reduces (as crank charges up) towards about 13V while engine is running (can take several hours to get below 13.5V).
But, I recently noticed very unusual fluctuations - cycling from 13 to 14.5 over 5 to 10 minutes or so while driving - dealer diagnosed a bad cell in the yellow optima (1 month over 3 years warranty!) so replaced, and now happy camper and back to the normal pattern. One more happy tick for traxide system.

Originally Posted by trevorj

lpj: I have a traxide kit in my MY11 D4, and have installed a voltmeter via the OEM cig plug, for constant readout. Observations over several years of long and short trips suggest that a full charge in the cranking battery (via the cig plug) is 12.7, and readings of 14.7 (up to 14.8) occur regularly during first running after overnight stop. Normally this just reduces (as crank charges up) towards about 13V while engine is running (can take several hours to get below 13.5V). But, I recently noticed very unusual fluctuations - cycling from 13 to 14.5 over 5 to 10 minutes or so while driving - dealer diagnosed a bad cell in the yellow optima (1 month over 3 years warranty!) so replaced, and now happy camper and back to the normal pattern. One more happy tick for traxide system.

Seems like I'm pretty normal then. Thanks for the feedback. Must have been the loose terminal.

Will,
Thanks for the response it was my first on Aulro !!
With the D4 the ECU is connected to the alternator and I am concerned about the impact on the auxiliary battery as the ECU turns the alternator into "sleep mode" at 12.4V once the starter battery is charged . If you get any data on charging timing to full charge I would be interested .

Thanks for your input.

Cheers
Peter

Agree with the standard of service from Traxide. Our system goes in Monday to complete the fittest along with the LED black box so we can tow our Utlimate. Fitout has been; RedArc TowPro, Traxide system, Rhino Pioneer roof platform and some window tinting. Looking forward to getting it dirty over Christmas

RobA

Im looking forward to fitting my Traxide system.
Im wiring "everything" at once (UHF,spotties,trailer brakes).Hoping to fit all the hardware this weekend then doing the electrical whilst on holidays(next friday onwards)
Andrew

My traxide system has been in three years and has been fantastic as well.
We have used it a lot,travelled all over the countryside.it is mainly used for the Engle but I also use it while spotlighting so keeps the load off the main starting battery.
Couple of things though.I find if camping for longer than a couple of days,particularly in hot weather the fridge will run the battery down and will need to be charged with a solar panel or whatever.I often take another 120 AH battery(borrowed from my son) with me as well which I fully charge before leaving home ,which suits our needs.
And as I have said previously merit plugs work much better than standard cig plugs.