Dual Battery Dilema !

I have had dual battery set ups in Hilux's for years, (with a winch)....have done the following to 3 of my Hilux's over the years......the lesson is to keep it simple

you are limited in battery size under the bonnet..I installed an oddessy and made that the cranking battery (not ideal but if your engine is in good nick and starts easy then you should get at least 2 years out of the oddessy........past experience with that battery is that every now and again it will be below the voltage to start the car .....no logical explanation just happens.....I simply used one jumper lead to connect the positive from the aux. and off you go...might never happen .......might happen half a dozen times a year

use a VSR to join the now main battery (new little one) to the now aux. battery (originally the main one) in parallel.....connect the winch to the now aux. battery via a relay to the control box........use a low voltage disconnect between the now aux. battery and your accessories......via bus bar to stop a whole lot of leads hanging off the aux. battery terminals

essential you calculate the draw of the accessories (plus some you might choose to add later).............get advice or use the tables available to calculate cable size.......and as a precaution add spike protection (Matson make a good one) in case winch is an issue

To save some $....probably easier to by a kit or at least part of it from someone like Derek an advertiser on this site ABR..... and use their expertise in the design and fit yourself......learn as you go and if you installed it then helps understanding the system if your tracing faults at some time

no affliation with ABR etc...purchased some gear off him from time to time ...prices fair and he knows his stuff

Fit it yourself. It's easy. I bought a redarc isolator and did it myself in half a day and I'm no auto leccy, it really is easy. I had quotes for around $600 with no battery and i did it for under $180 myself.
Redarc are easy to buy and any auto leccy shop will have the necessary parts.

Running power points to the back of the car is as simple as laying down wires and maybe using some sort of low battery cut out.

As for the winch, I don't have an electric winch but i thought it wasn't a good idea to run them off second battery as it will destroy it? the best way was to run off cranking batt whilst engine was running.

The redarc has the option of combining the second and crank batteries to start the car in case the crank goes flat. It has saved me a couple of times out bush.

Barnesy

I also have used the Redarc unit - in a Patrol and now in my 4Runner, and they seem to be pretty good. I went to a 4WD shop and when they said how much I said WTF? You can buy a battery tray, or make one. As far as wiring goes, work out what you want/need and draw it on paper, plugs, wire, fuses, etc. Jaycar electronics have some simple panels with switches and fuses. You could mount something like that in there. Just make sure your wire and fuse sizes are correct. Use wiring grommets when going thru panel work.

Pretty easy really. Be patient when removing interior trim panels as the Toyota panel clips can be a bit ordinary.

"Thanks guys for all your (indepth ) response's "

Will look into it..


Cheers