Mad Dog (Victoria) replied:

I've got a similiar setup with a battery in the tray of my ute and a moderate sized cable running underneath the vehicle inside some kind of armoured conduit that fell off a truck. Fuse both end of the cable.

Member - Jimbo (VIC) replied:

Matt,

I've got a great setup. It was installed by Chris at Battery World, Wantirna, Vic. He put a smart solenoid under the bonnet, ran 140 amp cable along the chassis and popped it back into the car attached to an Anderson plug. He then put a 100 amp Lifeline "AGM" battery into a battery box. The battery box has cable running out of it to another Anderson plug so the battery can be removed when not needed or to be used as a mobile power supply. Inside the box he fitted a circuit breaker and two female waeco plugs to the box. He also added a three way cig socket plug with a male Waeco plug on the end to give me three power outlets if needed. The other female plug on the box is used to power my fridge, an Engel which I got him to fit a Waeco plug to as they clip in and stay in. Total cost $700.

AGM batteries have the advantage that they are completely sealed and will accept an extremely high recharge rate, basically whatever you can throw at them. A normal deep cycle will only take about 5 amps, so takes a lot of driving to get them back to full. AGM's of this size are reported to fully charge from near flay in 2-3 hours.

The other big advantage is the portability. Went away two weeks ago to some unpowered cabins up the bush and was able to take the battery into the cabin to power the fridge, lights and laptop to fiddle with my photography.

I can't speak highly enough of the setup.

mattieharding replied:

thanks for your opinions, any more would be much appreciated

Baz (NSW) replied:

We have almost the same set up as Jimbo only diff is our second batt is in our camper and it's a 75ah deep cycle, our cable is 6mm to the anderson plug and then to Arrid twin charger dual batt system. We were told that 6mm should be the min gauge you should use due to voltage drop in anything thinner.

Nick replied:

I also have almost the exact same setup as Jimbo, including a LIfeline AGM (except its an 80 a/hr). I self-installed mine using a Redarc isolator and 10mm2 cable to the rear of my Prado. I can back up all of what Jimbo said, particularly the high charge rate, which in my opinion justifies paying double for the AGM battery. I put an ammeter in my battery box (because I had one hanging around) and can see the battery charging at between 20-40 amps after it has been run down a bit. (so make sure the cable is 6mm2 or more and the circuit breaker or fuse is of sufficient size). When you are travelling only short distances while camped this charge rate is really useful.

Other good things about AGMs (absorbed glass mat batteries) is that they hold charge very well when not in use, and they can crank in an emergency (using jumper leads), as well as deep cycle. Having experienced the performance of mine on a Kimberly trip this year, I wouldn't change to any other system.

Nick

mattieharding replied:

anyone tell me where I can buy anderson plugs for a good price? even online

mattieharding replied:

Yeah i did get some, have you got some? I might need more soon
What size have you got and how much are they?