Thread: DBS (Dual) battery locations and advise please

most helpful ! thank you

Hello everybody. Many tks to Rofosixone for his setup. I am a bit concerned to get my cable thru the firewall. Any pictures?
mail frpinto@free.fr
Have a nice night

no no no ,do not drill through firewall unless you want water ,dust to enter. i ran red positive cable from battery along the top side of drivers mud guard in engine bay than through the top gap back top mudguard ,now cable when you open drivers door is hanging inbetween top and bottom door hinges (in the middle ) than undo trim by pushing it out and than run cable through than reattach trim and cable goes in cabin under door sill /carpet in cabin .all hidden and you are still sealed to go through deep water .to dark now for pic but will send .dont forget to change neg earth cable if you want back battery to get full charge.or isolater will devert most charge to frount starting battery if cable not earthing 100%.to check put one end volt meter behind altinator back positive conection (which goes to battery) other end to chasis .should show av 14.3 volts .than now put one on red battery post /other on black battery post if around high 13 /low 14 ok but if 12.30/12.70 volts ,than change neg cable

Originally Posted by Remy

pic 018 (were put), pic 122 (box with cables rear), pic 150 (box with battery), 145 (internals under box lid), pic 160 (front positive connection), pic 173 (rear negative connection).

Cheers,
Remy

Hi guys - just found site and bought p39 4.0 hse

Looking at getting a second battery with split charge in rear - like the set up shown here - Any further links with pics of box - full install

I am considering putting the battery in spare wheel compartment - advice / thoughts please -

I know this one is in the engine bay but here's another take on mounting. I like this one as even though I know the engine bay heat is not ideal I do not like batteries sitting inside nor do I personally like the look of a battery sitting on the floor in the cargo area. If putting in the rear use the heaviest cable you can and if necessary run a full negative wire rather than relying on the chassis earth (given it appears the RR earthing is a little average).

Also my understanding from past battery research is that although batteries like the Delco shown are called "sealed maintence free" they are still wet cell batteries and do in fact gas when charged. I personally would not use one in that scenario. I do use 2 of them inside my Jayco camper but they are in a sealed aluminium box which is fulled vented to the outside. It has a floor vent for air in and wall vent for hydrogen out (hydrogen is lighter than air or course). Also AGM batteries are supposed to be able to withstand greater discharge rates and even if a wet battery can run a fridge for a week it must be gettiny very close to using up all it's reserve and runs the risk of shortening it's life considerably.

Keeping the battery out of the car when not in use is OK as long as you have suitablemeans to keep it charged with a proper 3 stage charger or again it's life will be severly limited.

Me i would still be mounting int he engine bay but would make a holder similar to the one pictured except I would make it in a insulated aluminium box or at leasst heat shield the engine sides and plumb a small fresh air feed from the grill if possible.

hi fester/i see you every week on ch 31 on 4wd tv commercial doing the thumbs up in the cabin ,can i have a autograph ,geeze i am a stiraaaaaaaaaa,love your rockcrawling /stunt driveing .i am surprised you didnt use uncle fester as username but its cool ,nice to know your on aulro , by the way i can relate to your last line above about cooling /cheers ralph.

Originally Posted by rofosixone

hi fester/i see you every week on ch 31 on 4wd tv commercial doing the thumbs up in the cabin ,can i have a autograph ,geeze i am a stiraaaaaaaaaa,love your rockcrawling /stunt driveing .i am surprised you didnt use uncle fester as username but its cool ,nice to know your on aulro , by the way i can relate to your last line above about cooling /cheers ralph.

hahaha. Wrong Fester, I thought he went by Festa but who cares. You would be surprised how many forums do not have Fester let alone Uncle Fester available these days and it's a pain to remember multiple log ins with my diminished brain capacity these days.

My "Gunna" thoughts on this subject,

I am aiming at doing something similar to whats in the pic's (previous page), but was thinking of using external path for leads to rear (via solenoid and perhaps an over ride switch) into an anderson plug mounted near the towbar at the rear of the vehicle.

Then I thought I could just run a lead from the battery box out to it (squashed) under the rear door seal. A second anderson plug on our camper should also then be able to connect the "portable battery unit" (forget dual fixed I reckon!) straight to it and enable the car to be used away from the camp site... Not a mechanic or auto elec, so some tech requirements will definetly still be required. But I also then want to hook up a smallish "trickle feed" solar panel on the camper side so the "PBU" can stand alone all day whilst still maintaining battery.

Big advantage once it is worked out and set up properly is that the second battery can alternate between our 2 4wd's and be left with the camper as a stand alone when wanting to do day drives from a camp site. Other wise, I would be up for 2 DBS's and still have to cart the fridge and/or camper around to keep things cold, or warm, or lit, or entertained (like SWMBO watching days of our lives or whatever!).

Have already purchased an 80 AH AGM battery to use. Apparently, I just need to be sure not to let it completely discharge... apparently most deep cycles need to stay at least half full to avoid damage/shortened life.