Battery Setup

[fridayman]

I am starting to look into building my battery/split charge/inverter setup.

The first question that I have is, why does my 90 already have 2 batteries i.e. are they different and what is each one used for and when, do they charge the same, etc..?

Second question is, why do people then fit a 3rd battery?

 

[Chris]

I really would try a search on this one FM. It has been covered SO many times. People might throw old socks at you if they have to go through it again. We'll see if we can dig out some links, but there is loads posted on this very question.

Chris

 

[fridayman]

OK, I'll take another look. I'm trying to understand what I have (a), what I need (b), and how I get from a to b. There seems to be quite a bit of info on upgrading, split charge systems etc, but I don't see much info on the std 2 battery setup (a) and how it works...?

 

[Chris]

You may find more over on TCOCK, it was certainly covered there. Two batteries in parallel. Just wired together. You only need one, but this is called the winter pack. It's like having one massive 12v battery. That's all there is to it. If one dies, it tends to drag the other with it so you should replace them in pairs. You could split them, keep the main for starting and the passenger side as a leisure type battery. As long as you look after your main battery you really don't need two on a Colorado. The SWBs tended to ONLY come with one anyway. But people fit a third deep cycle battery for fridges and things. If you split off the second battery, you still need some way to get charge into it, hence the split charge system.
You need a split between any batteries used separately so that you don't drain the main one for starting. Tricky getting it going if it's an auto.

OK. that's the basics. For the record - it is NOT a 24 volt start system on the Colorado.

Chris

 

[ignat]

I have a X-Eng type split charge system.

I replaced one of my batteries with a Numax leisure battery, and replaced the starting one with a much bigger battery than standard. (Varta 95Ah). Car will be living in warmer climates soon so not absolutely necessary.

I will be wiring all accessories to the leisure battery (fridge, rear cig lighter, lighting etc) to safeguard the starter battery.

If the starter battery dies I can jump start from the leisure battery

You can check it out during the field mechanics course

 

[fridayman]

Thanks guys. I'm about to pick up a Odyssey pc1700 to power my accessories. Initially I was planning on running it as a 3rd battery, but I might run it as a second battery and put in a really good starter battery too, like Kevin's - lets have a chat at the course next weekend.

 

[Andy Harvey]

On the winter pack ones, just put in a decent sized battery on the drivers side and then a leisure battery on the passenger side and the split charge between them - do away with the parallel connectoins. Saves space in the long run. Basically for the 1KZ engine you need better than 700CCA starter battery and you will be OK. If you go for one of those mega 1200CCA Gel batteries for the starter battery then you will have absolutely no problems.