dual battery set-up help

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Oct 4, 2003 | 05:42 PM

remmers

Thread Starter

Mountain Pass

Joined: Sep 2003

Posts: 188

Likes: 1

From: Michigan

dual battery set-up help

i have a 91 f-250 4 x 4 and i want to put in a dual battery set-up and the reason for the dual battery set-up is it is going to be a plow truck , so i am going to have a plow salt speader cb front lights plow lights rear lights and light bar all going at once, i posted on this site before under a diffrent question and they said to use a constant duty solenoid. ok great where do i get one and how do i hook every thing up? do i use a seperate fuse box and run that to the second battery, thats what i am kinda hoping to do.. any help would be great

thanks

rich

Oct 4, 2003 | 07:22 PM

mzimmers

Elder User

Joined: Jul 2003

Posts: 544

Likes: 0

From: Cupertino, CA

Take a look at the battery isolators at:

http://www.surepower.com/Products/batiso.asp

The right isolator and an Optima Yellow Top battery should work for you. If needed, you can add a second Optima...

Oct 4, 2003 | 07:41 PM

oldcarbuff

Junior User

Joined: Sep 2003

Posts: 61

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batteries are storage devices for temporary power. better beef up the alternator system so you will have adequate amps from it to run all the accessories. The batteries won't stay up with a constant drain and not enough power going back in.

Oct 5, 2003 | 12:13 AM

macguyver

Posting Guru

Joined: Aug 2002

Posts: 1,214

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From: Minneapolis, MN

oldcarbuff is right. If the electrical drain exceeds the alternator output, the only thing that more/bigger batteries will do is extend the time before they go dead. An isolated battery system is designed to allow the engine to start after a load (lights on a camper, for example) has drained one battery. On a system that's running, you're better off with a bigger alternator. Remember to upgrade the wiring from the alternator to handle the increased load.

Oct 5, 2003 | 12:20 AM

mzimmers

Elder User

Joined: Jul 2003

Posts: 544

Likes: 0

From: Cupertino, CA

The original poster didn't mention a "constant drain." What he said was that times will come when he's using everything at once. If those times are more often than not, I'd agree he'd need a bigger alternator (though I still think an isolator would be in order). If his full power needs are less than half the running time of the rig, though, the stock alternator might be fine.

When shopping for a new alternator, remember that the rated output is the maximum output, and often comes at an RPM that trucks rarely maintain. Plan accordingly.