Thread: Defender dual battery - what will fit

Originally Posted by travelrover

Thanks so much.

I will be in touch in a few weeks then.

Why do I want an isolation switch? In 1985 I had a Range Rover catch fire between Packsaddle and Tibooburra and had I had a isolation switch I could have killed the source of the fire and it could have been contained! It was a wire from an AMP meter to the battery where the insulation had worn through and it earthed on the firewall and thus starting the fire. So I have been very wary of electrics ever since. However since then I have covered many ten of thousands of kilometres in Range Rovers and since the early 90's Defenders and fortunately only minor electrical problems

Cheers - Simon

Traxide are easy to fit.
There is just room for 2 batteries but it's very tight.
I went a different way with the starting battery and Traxide under the front passenger seat linked with wire and twin 60 amp fuses to an AGM under the rear of my drawers in the back. This has worked very well.
If your solar panel has a regulator you can connect it anywhere. I have an Anderson plug on the rear battery. The front battery is connected to an 80 watt panel fixed flat to the roof rack. This means I can charge both batteries separately.
If you have plenty of fuses I don't see why you would need a kill switch.
Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Traxide are easy to fit.
There is just room for 2 batteries but it's very tight.
I went a different way with the starting battery and Traxide under the front passenger seat linked with wire and twin 60 amp fuses to an AGM under the rear of my drawers in the back. This has worked very well.
If your solar panel has a regulator you can connect it anywhere. I have an Anderson plug on the rear battery. The front battery is connected to an 80 watt panel fixed flat to the roof rack. This means I can charge both batteries separately.
If you have plenty of fuses I don't see why you would need a kill switch.
Hope that helps.

Thanks DiscoMick

Yes there is just enough room for two batteries. I have had number of Defenders over the years and all have had different dual battery configurations. My current Td5 is configured to have both batteries permanently get charge equally. That’s how the dealer had it installed when I bought it in 2000.

In this project vehicle, 300Tdi there are some relays (for roof mounted lights which I have removed) a small fuse box and some other stuff that will need to be removed or relocated to make room for a second battery. I think this is where my challenge will be.

IMG_2467.jpgIMG_2468.jpg

The battery is as far to the left as it can go.

So there is a bit of a tidy up to do.

Mine also has the Traxide unit and a solar regulator in there, plus some wiring and fuses, so I decided one battery was enough in there.