Daul Battery system in a 2001 Prado

Prado01,
Please see ( PostID: 8601 ) and read my comments. With respect to pictures, there are some within the Prado Group Website found at the following,

Prado Group"

Access to the pictures requires membership, but it's a good place to ask Prado specific questions.

Cheers,
Mal58

Tanks Mal58 I did going searching before I posted this but couldn't find anything. Maybe I should have looked a little harder.

HI

You must have a petrol as the diesels have a dual battery system; start with looking at a diesel in terms of gear & layout.

As Mal suggests, the past posts and photos at the prado group will help.

But briefly, I'm assuming you have a V6, because diesel owners don't need to ask that question.

Several options:
(1) Fit a bigger starting battery (say Yuasa Overlander 700cca or similar). The battery will hang over the edge of the guard, which is fine (thats the way they sit on the diesels anyway). You'll be able to run the later series Engels or Waecos overnight without any chance of flattening the battery. A low voltage cutout is built into the Waeco (set it at the higher setting of 11.9 volts). Fit an aftermarket cutout to the others, to be sure that you'll always be able to start the vehicle. If you want it for 2 nights, then you'll need a second battery.

(2) Fit a second battery - usually fit an extra tray where your charcoal canister sits, and the canister moves, and the air cond pipes are bent slightly. Need an isolator with surge protection (Rotronics MH10 or equivalent). Costs a few bucks all up because the trays, isolators, batteries, wiring and labour are not cheap.

(3) Fit two batteries into the present position - one goes sideways to the other - not ideal because the batteries are both a bit small.

For my 4wding, option 1 would do - its dead simple and cheap. If you stay put for longer than a night, go for option 2.

I have never seen a turbo diesel aust spec prado with 2 batterys as standard

The comment stating this is incorrect

Regards Don

Hi,

As Phil suggested, fitting a battery saver (low voltage cutout) is recommended, if you don't have a fridge that includes one. I just bought a "Projecta" brand "Sure Start", which cuts the power off once it drops below 11.2V and re-connects above 12.5V. The unit is rated at 10 amps, which seemed sufficient for my needs.

However the price of the unit is interesting and will repay some checking if you plan on buying one. Repco had these on display at $46, but my local K-Mart had exactly the same unit for $16, marked down from the usual price of $18!!

I've just gone through adding a second (deep cycle) battery to my 2002 Prado by adding the tray etc as Phil and Mal outlined. No problems.

Richard