Thread: Help! Dual battery setup.

Yes... Just dont put it where it can spark (arc) against anything.

Cheers mate. I have a plastic cover to put over it. It covers the threaded screws and the cable eyelets. What sort of distance is safe to prevent arcing?

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5mm would be enough, just beware of flexing metal when offroad...

More is (often) better as far as clearance for electrical goes

Originally Posted by damo_s

Hey all.

I am currently in the process of setting up a dual battery in my D2.

I have an ARB tray which mounts to the firewall and wheel arch on the passengers side. I plan to earth the aux battery to the bolt that holds the tray to the wheel arch.

My question is.. can i mount the circuit breaker on the tray, right near where i plan to earth the battery? I have no idea about electronics, so i don't know if this is wise or not. There is a segment on the ARB tray which allows it to be bolted to the wheel arch but also allows for it to hold a redarc isolator. This area has plenty of room for me to mount the circuit breaker.

Any help would be appreciated.

Damo

Damo, don't use the mounting bolt to solely earth the aux battery, better off running a decent earth to the engine block itself or a bracket on the cylinder head. Then run a seperate earth to the body, there are some decent earth points on the D2 inner guards. Engine first, then body.

JC

Hi Justic but in this case, it is far better to get a good body earth.

This is for a dual battery set up and the primary intention is to get a decent return to the cranking battery.

If you have a decent return to the cranking battery, you cover both the power being used when powering accessories while the motor is off and as the cranking battery should already have a decent earth to the chassis, the auxiliary battery will also charge via the cranking battery ‘IF’ there is only one decent earth between the cranking battery and the alternator ( via the block )

If there is no decent earth return for the cranking battery then the whole electrical system is not worth a cracker.

I'd go for the engine earth, power is going to come from the alternator and the return needs to go to the alternator. The cranking battery will have its own earth yes but why rely on the one link going back to the engine/alternator?

Hi Slug burner, the auxiliary battery is never going to carry high currents, with 40 amps being the the most likely maximum.

As the primary objective it to power accessories, and with the way my isolators shares the load with the cranking battery, therefore there is no need or advantage in running an earth lead to the block.

So there is no need to complicate a simple wiring set up.