HI All, Just after a bit of advice. I currently have the wiring and Anderson plug on my vehicle to send power to a battery in my van. I now wish to also put a secondary battery in my car. Must I run a new wire to the car battery or can i just splice in to the existing Anderson wire and be able to charge all batteries whilst driving. Cheers David
Hi Dryland
You will probably have to give some more info eg year and make of vehicle ,is your battery running a fridge ,are you running DC DC charger in van.
My current setup
65 litre fridge in canopy run of a separate wire from start battery via a redarc 25 amp dcdc charger
2 separate wires running to two separate Anderson plugs at rear of vehicle.One is running ESC and the other is running a 40 amp dcdc charger in van topping up batteries while driving or can be used to charge if you can't use a geny .
If your not using a dcdc charger on certain tow vehicles your duel or van battery will not be getting fully charged I'm sure you will get plenty of advice on this subject
Cheers
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John
2017 dmax lovells upgrade full CSM trade aluminium canopy,3.5 m quintrex tinny and rear boat loader mangrove jack aluminium trailer
It is inadvisable to add another new battery to your loom (will kill first battery), best buying two new batteries and running in parallel sitting side by side.
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Possum; AKA:- Ali El-Aziz Mohamed Gundawiathan
Sent from my imperial66 typewriter using carrier pigeon, message sticks and smoke signals.
Not quite sure what is going on. I think you are saying you already have 1 auxiliary battery which I hope is isolated from the starter battery when the engine is not running.
You would like to add a second auxiliary battery to the first auxiliary battery.
You can do this. But. Make sure the positive from the car goes to one battery & the negative to the other battery. Then bridge the batteries.
Do not simply wire in the second battery to the first otherwise it will charge slower & discharge slower as this battery is down the line for both + & - & will ultimately shorten the life of both batteries.
If you have 4 batteries like I do it gets more complex but it is actually easy to do once you are aware of the issue.
If the first auxiliary battery is already more than a year old I would think seriously about getting 2 new batteries. It is better to have batteries the same age.
Ideally it is good to have fuses between batteries if one fails.
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
Hi David,
Welcome to the forum if you snuck in unannounced!
There is quite a bit of info in the Techies patch - just go to "Search", then "Advanced Search" & type in Dual batteries, etc.
If you have a Toyota LC or Prado, they are ideally set up with both batteries located (or with space to put the second) right up the front of the car where it can get plenty of air. If you have a Nissan Patrol, I feel sorry for you as the available space is on the LHS (if you don't want to put it in the back) - above the exhaust/turbo - where the maximum heat is! With most batteries working at a maximum of 26 degrees, they don't cope well with 80! Been there, done that!
Some other cars - the only room is in the back but you need a DC-DC converter somewhere in the cable run - as close to the van battery as possible. There are several brands available - none of them like heat but some eg the Redarc have a higher range than CTEC, etc.
Consulting an auto-electrician is a good idea.
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
