I have a 2001 XLT Expedition and I deperately need a 2nd battery, my best friend has a tahoe and he has a space under his hood for a 2nd batt. He runs all his auxillary lights and stereo equip. off the second batt. which is great beacuse if he has the truck turned off with the stereo (or video) euip. on, he doesn't have to worry about being stranded if the batt. dies. I can't seem to find a gap to put a 2nd batt. under my hood but I would sure appriciate any ideas.

 

There is no room under the hood for a second battery in the 01 Xped, believe me, ive tried every spot. I've decided when i get around to fully integrating my (6) 10's into one box, im going to build a compartment for the battery......thats the only option i see for ya, your going to have to bild a place for it.

Hope this helps!!

 

Thanks for the advice

 

Ford puts the second batery in the vans underneath on the frame. Its an option for gas engines. And is standard on diesels. If I had one sitting in my driveway I'd take a picture. You could check with ford for the setup.

 

WOW!!!

 

 

you can fit a sealed motor cycle under the rear seat laying on its side

 

the motorcycle battery is a good idea but i would get some brackets welded in the engine bay maybe near the bottom of the truck.

 

I saw an Expy at a car show 2 weeks ago, and the owner took out the factory batter box, (holder), and put 2 Optima Yellow Tops sideways, and fabbed an alluminum box around them. It looked like he had relocated some hoses, but he said he didn't.

 

Go for a bigger alternator instead. You can get a 200amp alt. on ebay for $175. I have had mine for a year, and I have aux. lights, air horns, amps, video, etc., with no problem. An aux battery is nice, but you only have 130 amps on the OEM alt. to charge them. Just imagine trying to charge 2 batts..........

 

I have no facts to support my comment but I've read on other forums that the Optima batteries are not ideal for your vehicle starter battery. Something to do with the poor recovery of the battery in startup situations especially if the power is low. Deep cycle takes too long to charge?

 

Optimas are the battery to go with for everything. You just have to get the right kind, and charge them properly. See their website for information. I have them in dual sets of blue top marine for starting and house batteries in my crusiing sailboat and my travel trailer. I have a single red top starter in my Expedition. It's worth the money to get the best if your life depends on it.
I went with the red top for my Ford for it's extreme reliability under vibration and fast come back when completely dead because I'm often off roading far from any help via regular cellphones or vhf or cb radios. Optima proved itself to me once. I had a highpowered spotlight plugged in and forgot about it. After a week of camping there was no indication of power in the Ford at all. The multimeter indicated the battery had 9.5 volts. I used a trailer battery to get started, and drove on home. That was four years ago, it still delivers 12.5 volts under usual loads of headlights, radio, phone, gps, trailer etc. With the 130 amp alternator on the Expedition, it only takes an hour of driving or fast idle to fully charge the battery. Regular lead acid batteries cannot charge that fast.

There is room under the hood for two batteries if you remove the window washer tank and put it somewhere else. Also there is room in the left rear quarter panel for a battery or the window washer tank if you don't have rear heat and air like I do.

If I had to have a second battery for my Expediton I would mount an Optima on it's side, behind the front bumper, with posts toward the bumper opening for easy maintenance. I"d fuse it to prevent fire danger in case of a head on collision. Under the car, is another option, behind the right rear wheel between the fender and the spare tire, hanging the battery box from the frame. In any case, I'd get a West Marine battery combiner (www.westmarine.com) so both batteries would charge together when the engine was running, but would not be drawn down together when loads were applied to either battery. The West Marine combiner is the ONLY product that works that way. Operates with minimal heat, minimal current loss. I'ts solid state, ignition proof, and completly weatherproof. Check it out.
Hope this helps.
This is what I have on my boat and travel trailer and it works great.

 

I thought that Expy's with the tow package had the high output alternators? I'm my alternator acks like a trickle charger for my camper when I'm towing. If this is true about the 130amp alternator, what gives?


Big Mick