100 series Batteries

Hi Leonore F,

Yes they can be separated, I would suggest you visit the LCOOL forum
as this has been discussed in great length there.

Cheers

Congrats on your new purchase.
Our batteries remain as per factory installation and we haven't had any problems. Ours is a 2006, same as your model. Awesome vehicle :).
Yes, both cranking batteries, however one battery alone will crank the car by itself if the other has "died"

We have had ours from new.

My husband is mechanically minded and was also concerned by the pairing of the batteries the way they are.
The only time we ran out of battery power was before we had portable solar panels. We were stuck on a dune for 5 nights, after it rained for 24 hours. We charged the car each day, by running it for a while...not ideal. But it did work. LOL..you should have seen the black plume of smoke that came out of the exhaust when we eventually moved off the dune when the roads opened again!

All the accessories etc.... still run fine on the one battery too, should you only have the use of one...we have done it after 1 battery "died" on a recent trip away.

Yes..you can isolate them with a manual switch.

We do carry a battery pack which is fixed (removable if you want to).. to the inside (back) of the car and has several plugs(merit)which we use for the fridge, phone chargers, laptop chargers as well.
It is charged by both/ either when driving, or charged by solar panels when we are stopped for an extended period.
It can be used to crank the car in the event of something disastrous happening and your cranking batteries just won't do it :(.
It is very useful as it is portable and a multi purpose unit. It is like carrying a 3rd battery around and is heavy. We also use it to power an air compressor for inflating either the car or TVan & caravan.
Merit plugs(especially for your fridge) are very good as they will not work their way out, like a cigarette lighter plug will. It has happened to us. The connections are an easy change over.
We also have Anderson plug connections in the battery pack to both charge the batteries by solar panels and connect to the caravan too.

Home of 12 Volt..portable battery packs

Here's the link to their site.

They are expensive, however can be a lifesaver too.

It gives you so many more charging options too. We have ours in the car whenever we go camping or caravanning as it gives us another power source.

You don't have to have such a big one, but as long as it will crank the car...it is a very worthwhile investment.

Hope that helps/ gives you an idea for a different option.

Cheers
Robyn

I have a 2004 GXL TD auto which I am sure would have a similar under bonnet layout. If so separating the batteries is quite easy. I will take a picture of what I did rather than use words but it will be a day or so.

Toyota put in 2 batteries for cold climate. The 100 has a very hungry "toaster" type air heater In the air intake which will load things if the weather is v. Chilly. In normal Aus one good starter does fine. When I first separated my batteries I installed an AGM as the second one to run the fridge etc. it did not last well a in less than a year got the classic bulges indicating it had got too hot under the bonnet. Since then I have used 'Allrounders' for both and had very good results with the fridge battery lasting about 4 years. Others will say they have no problem with Agms but my experience is different.

I suggest that you look on lcool for info re shutting off the EGR valve, disabling the toaster and the pin 7 mod for the centre dif lock. I am sure you will be very happy with your new tug. We are.

Nothing wrong with have 2 x crank batteries. Thats what I use and run for the last 11 years in my 105 with winch and fridge.

You can install a third battery in the engine bay on the left hand side close to the fire wall. The 3rd battery tray is available for roughly $190 on fleabay,BUT it only holds a 10 inch sized battery which should be considered.

Very much the same as Tim above but we have a third full sized battery in the same spot. All three batteries are 105 AH Allrounders.

Our local workshop got the carrier from ARB. It has a bracket on the side for a Redarc solenoid and the fuel filter. We also added a small 100 AMP fuse box and run all accessories except the winch through it. There is allowance for our driving lights if we ever get any. The system has one battery as crank and two for the accessories. We also run two fridges. It's hard to see the Redarc solenoid. It is on the side of the battery box back behind the sterring fluid reservoir. Just near that small blue wire. The blue wire goes to a switch inside the cabin so that I can switch all three batteries together for starting (not used as yet) or for winching.

Yes it can be done and very successfully.

Phil

Recently sold my 2003 100 series. I had put in a 270 amp alternator and had altered the 2nd battery so that it was wired to the main battery with heavier gauge cable and I reefed-out the whole "toaster" arrangement from the air intake. That toaster is the main reason Toyota installed the 2nd battery the way they did. It (ie: the toaster element) only fires up AFTER the engine has started and from what I have read it creates a massive draw on the electrical system and has been put down as the cause for alternator failure.

I left the 2 batteries permanently connected, but installed a 3rd (AGM) battery behind the cargo barrier. It was hooked up via a Redarc DC-DC charger and I decided the cargo bay was the ideal place for that 3rd battery as that is where the stuff resided for which the battery was required. The cargo area is a MUCH better environment for a AGM battery.....I don't care what anybody else says; I'm sticking with that theory. The AGM battery that was in the cruiser when I sold it was purchased new in 2002 and is still keeping its state of charge even after 13 years!!!

Roachie