Thread: serries 2 disco, dual batteries

Hi Gidget, where are you thinking of putting the battery, I had the same model disco and the tray went against the fire wall on the passenger side. I made my own up out of stainless but you can get one from one of the 4X4 stores.

Also if you get an auxiliary battery charge controller that uses the surplus power from your main battery, you can add an extra day of operations on you backup battery.

Cheers.

PS a little tip, if you buy a tray, after you install it, get a stainless steel reflector made and fit it between the battery and the engine. The reflector will help reduce the heat the battery would normally cop from the engine and thus extend the battery’s life.

Forget what will fit under the bonnet - what ever you can put under there is absolutely useless. Suggest you go for a top of the line smart regulator (say, a Rotronics RDC12M) and proper wiring to an Anderson plug in the cargo area. Box up an AGM battery (around 105 A/Hr min) with appropriate input and output connectors and run your fridge etc from that when not travelling. While travelling, plug the fridge into the outlet in the cargo area and switch it to you installation when stopped. Do this to ensure the AGM is fully charged and ready for use when stopped. Use only AGM batteries for this installation as they and gel cells are the only ones safe to use inside the vehicle cabin area. AGM means "absorbed glass mat" technology - check it on the net. Remember, use only AGM technology in this kind of installation - standard lead acid batteries (sealed or not) "gas" and can be dangerous.

Hi again Gidget, if you are handy with a bit of metal work, you can fit a much bigger battery up under the rear guard on the drivers side. I have seen a couple done that way and considered doing it to my disco but was going to be a bit of work.

Point is though if you want the larger battery capacity, because the battery is not in the cab you can use a standard deep cycle which means you can save money by not having to get a non gassing type that you will have to get if you install in the cab and if you don’t want to loose load area, this might be the answer.
Cheers

AGM batteries are not nearly as costly as they once were - about $100 more than a good quality lead acid for the same capacity. They have many advantages over the conventional battery aside from being essentially non-gassing. They charge much faster, a real plus for recreational use, will accept whatever amps your charging system can throw at it without damage and will stand in excess of 250 full deep discharge/recharge cycles. A friend of mine has had a 48 A/Hr Odyssey since 1998. It has been treated fearfully with start battery use on his work truck, powering an electric outboard, and so on. It has been through in excess of 100 full deep discharge cycles that are known of in its life and it still starts his work truck each day at present. This same friend now has two AGMs in his 100 Series Cruiser. The 90 A/Hr units he has cost him around $260 each about 12 months ago. A word about conventional deep cycle batteries: they are right "Bs" to recharge from full discharge which is frustrating for recreational vehicle users and will suffer through repeated full discharges. Go the extra $s for an AGM and you will not be disappointed wherever you install it.

Hi MylesC, I was not running down AGMs and the likes, I was just putting forward a cost effective idea. As for deep cycle batteries being hard to recharge from a full discharge, they should never be fully discharged in the first place.

As for time required to charge them, this too depends on the use intended.

From experiences learnt while supplying the trade, I have found most uses will only be using them for weekend recreation and because the battery is usually in the vehicle all the time, no matter what type of battery is being used, by the time the user arrives at the weekend destination, the battery will fully charged.

I do not know Gidget’s requirements as he has not post how he intends to use the battery, but for most, where room permits and on a basis of stored capacity verses dollars spent, the use of deep cycle batteries makes far more sense.

If the user arrives at there destination with a fully charged battery and this is a deep cycle battery of a size that will see them over the weekend, then there is every chance that they will see the weekend out without having to charge the battery. Whereas if it is an AGM or whatever, they would need a battery at least 30% larger than a deep cycle to do the same weekend work or they will have to take the vehicle for a spin to recharge a smaller AGM battery. Either way it is still costing more than the deep cycle would for the same job.

That just doesn’t make sense.

There are times when an AGM is more suited, like when having to mount the battery inside the vehicle. But these situations are nowhere as common as engine bay or trailer mounting of the auxiliary battery.

Further to the point of battery capacity, you can increase the available amount of power by around 30% by using the surplus power from the vehicles cranking battery.

Cheers

Thank you for your input, a bit of debat always brings out a bit more info, so thanks & I will be looking into both inside the cargo area with a gell cell & allso under the rear gaurd.
Will try & talk to as many people as possible on this, as there are alot of serries 2 disco's out there now.
But the 2 suggestion's here seam to be the most commonly suggested ones I have heard so far.
So once again THANK YOU very much.

Glad the debate has been of assistance. And, yes, do ask a few more opinions. By the way, don't confuse AGM with gel cells. Gel cells from those I have spoken with are more delicate with respect to input voltage and are not particularly suited to auto charging systems. Great for solar as are AGMs. They (gel cells) are considerably more expensive too. All the best on the path to your solution.

Hi again Gidget, there is another possible location and this time you will need to fit an AGM type battery.
Some discos have a large mounting area underneath, about centre way along the passenger side. On some Discos this is used something, don't know what, but on many, it is just a void. Less work is involved in fitting a battery there but the size of the battery may be limited. Might be worth a look.
Cheers.