<span class="highlight">battery</span> dual <span class="highlight">battery</span> kit??

Chucky, do you want a portable battery like the Thumper or are you interested in putting an Aux Battery under the bonnet to run all your gear. Two very different solutions. Have you assessed your actual needs. ie; how often are you out bush, what else do you run besides lights and fridge. Do you want to hook in solar, how long do you stop in a camp spot for etc.

My personal choice is a 2nd battery in your vehicle. Gives a few more options as far as charging is concerned. Then it gets down to the type of battery you want to use (I'm using AGM's but a hybrid is great also) and this will help you determine the best way to charge. You can use isolators, smart solenoids, dual battery systems or DC-DC chargers.

Could I reccomend you have a look at John & Vals "Electricity for Camping" blog on this site. It'll outline some of the basics for you. DC power is something you can waste a lot of money on so take the time to research and ask questions. I've explained what I've done with DC power in my blog on the building of my ute. A search of the forum and articles on the E/O site will also produce volumes of info for you. Go to it ;-)


Cheers Mick.

Hi Chucky,

I run a 105AH second battery in the back of my Wagon and it runs a Waeco 50 for at least 2 days. I tend to use the car every few days so I have never drained the battery enough for the fridge to cut out.

Just idle the the car the for an hour to charge the battery, cheaper than buying a gen set.

I think I paid about $180 for the battery on e-bay. Dodgy maybe, but it has done a trip to the Cape and numerous camping trips around SEQ over the last 12 months.

Regards
Geoff

chucky,

get an AGM Deep Cycle battery, reasoning they charge much faster than wetcell batteries, sit it in a $30 black plastic battery box, connect to the existing Cranking battery via an electronic battery isolator with *THICK* battery cable to avoid voltage loss.

You can then leave the AGM Battery sitting behind the front seats on the floor and the kids can put their feet on top of it with no problems and no dramas with gas emission either.

Connect the battery cable to the battery with an Anderson plug so you can remove it and take it anywhere you want.

You can set-up amp and voltage gauges to see what is happening with your battery and see when it needs charging and what rate it is discharging.

These photo's are an *example* only Image Could Not Be Found

Image Could Not Be FoundMaîneÿ . . .

If your thumper is anything like the 1000amp battery pack I have, it probably will not work. As an experiment one night I hooked it up to my waeco,40litre, to see how long it would last. Before I woke the next morning the Waeco had turned itself off with the error light blinking. This is a safety feature on the waeco, so that you don't completly drain your battery, leaving you enough to be able to start your engine.

I got a under bonnet battery instead, paid extra for the waeco wiring kit to run the power to the back of the vehicle. Normal in car cig lighters are usually to weak. From this I can also run another lead out back window to power waeco outside of vehicle if I want to.

On another note the portable battery will run the waeco for a couple of hours if you wish to go for a drive and leave it behind. It will also run a portable dvd player for the kids. I only allow one movie per day, just before bed, and they get to watch about 7 or 8 movies. Never tried lights.

thanks for all replies sounds like have been doing it for quite a while.



that's the battery i was thinking of, it doesn't say AGM on it but in the description it does.

i will be mainly doing small camping trips but on the occasion i do wanna go for a big trip i'll be thinking ahh crap i should have gone the bigger battery, so i'm just gonna do it.

mainly to run a 60l waeco coupla lights maybe the kids gadgets, was just planning to charge off 4wd alt (no solar setup).

also would this isolator be ok with the setup i'm planning???
its 140 amp.



thanks guys.

You didn't say if you were using (towing) a caravan or a camper???????
I tow a caravan with my 80ser. L/C. My secondary batteries are installed in the caravan. That way I have 12v in the caravan when not hitched to the car.

no camper or caravan.

just tent camping at the moment.
hopefully that will change down the track.

Just bought the Matson duel battery kit for $99, includes isolater, good thick cables, 2 red 1 black with connections already on the end of them so no crimping or anything involved. cable ties etc all in a kit, got it from the show at Eastern Creek here in Sydney (not sure where your at) Battery world had them on the shelf for $220, when I went to enquire about buying second battery he asked me did I have the electrical side set up, showed him the kit I bought and he said was an absolute bargain, he said even though his shelf price was $220 he normally sells them for $170, I asked him of their quality and any issue's he said been selling them for ages and hasnt had any problems. May I say extremely easy to wire up, longest part was finding some where under the bonnet, he said they are also totally water proof...............

Definitely go with an AGM battery - something like the Fullriver which are around the $335 mark for a 120Ah