what battery ?

Hi Scott,
I assume you're using it to run your fridge, lights, etc, in which case get a deep cycle rather than a starting battery.
I ran a cheap Exide ED5 for over 2 years hard work, and it only died prematurely coz someone flattened it for me while I was away OS. I don't reckon the expensive ones are worth it - I now have a Trojan, cost over $200, and it's not looking good after only 9 months of light work.
Gerry

I bought a Desert King 17 plater N70ZZL about 15 months ago as my main battery and transferred my 3yo Yuasa Overlander 17 plater N70ZZL to be my aux battery. I do a trip a month when I can and my Yuasa is holding up well at 4years and 3months. I run all the accesories off it including fridge and winch and inverter etc. I have a Rotronics Battery management system. Can't complain. When out camping I run the fridge for up to 24 hours without charging the aux battery.
Cheers

Willem

Always going somewhere

it will depend on what you want to use it for
deep cycles are good for running a fridge as you may flatten it
they will charge up ok after being dead
wear as a normal battery will not like being total discharged
you cant run a winch or start the car off a deep cycle iether as they are low CCA
personely i prefer the standard battery

Gday
If you are using the second battery for winching, get another starter battery and have them joined together for the long pull, however, if it is for running camp/accessories, consider either a marine battery ( cheap alterative 50/50) or a deep cycle.
Andrewwheredayathinkwer mike?

Scott,
I have a deep cycle as the aux battery, mines a Delkor, I would watch the weight, the mounting bolts on the inner guard may start to crack, if you can put bigger washers or even a plate on the inner guard to add a bit of strength it helps. My deep cycle always performs better when i'm on a trip, the performance improves as the trip goes on. I suspect this is something to do with lack of use whilst at home. I was going to connect a small manual clock into the ciggy connection to have a constant drain on the battery seeing as this is apparently good for the battery. My opinion.Keep the shiny side up

Hi Scott,

I currently have a deep cycle to run fridge/inverter/gps/palm pilot/camping lights etc. however, I recently had trouble with my alternator a couple of hundred kms north of Coober Pedy recently, and only just made it into Coober Pedy when the vehicle died - main battery flat! The auto elec who fixed the alternator pointed out to me that had I a battery with higher CCA, ie a normal battery as my auxillary, I would not have had to go through the stress that I had, as I could have either swapped the batteries, or connected them up, and therefore keep the vehicle running. It certainly made me think.Just Do It!

I run a Torjan deep cycle as a 2nd battery for fridge/lights, etc. I have never had a problem. I don't run a fancy electronic isolation system, just a cheap battery isolator, that you have to manually operate. When we pull up, I lift the bonnet isolate to 2nd battery, camp, run it down, then start the car on the normal battery, once the car is started I re-connect the batteries and head off. They both charge OK. This system was suggested to me by a popular auto-elec. No electronics to let you down.

Hi we build the outback battery charger, but im not trying to sell you one
Our phones run red hot every day, so we know a bit about batteries.
It really depends on what your doing with it and how your travelling.
if your travelling every day, then a deep cycle battery is fine, but if you want to stop in the one spot for 2 days you will require a solar panel or an eu10i to trickle charge the battery and keep it up.
If you fall in love with a spot and want to stay for a week then your in big trouble as recharging this deep cycle battery is a problem.
Deep cycle batteries cannot recharge like a cranking battery.
with your fridge running over a 24 hour period in the tropics it will normally drag about 40 amps. To recharge a cranking battery with our charger it can be done in around 1 hour, but a deep cycle, no matter what charging system (including ours)you have may take 6-8 hours, as your fridge is also still running and dragging power out while you charge it. This is because of the internal structure of the battery.
If you need some technical help give us a call at Christie Eng on 02 9620 1208.
We should be able to help you out, or put you on to somebody close to you that will.