Hellroaring Dual Battery Install (1 Viewer)

[SF80]

First of all, I would like to thank everyone on Mud for the information in the forums, helping me with my Hellroaring dual battery install. Thanks to Romer for the FAQ and his remote idea. Special thanks goes to Cruiserdrew and his write-up (most of his install I've blatantly stolen pointers for my install).

I decided to start this project in anticipation of an ARB bumper and Warn 12k winch. I will also use this system for a future inverter and extra 12v accessory outlets.

Here are more higher res pictures of the install.

The parts:

• 2 Group 31 Optima Marine grade batteries (amazon.com)
• FJ80 PS Battery tray kit from CDan
• Hellroaring isolator/combiner
• 150 amp ground fuse block (from mike at hellroaring)
• Slee washer bottle relocation kit
• 10 ft 1/0 gauge marine grade cable (west marine)
• 4 ft 2 gauge marine grade cable (west marine)
• 4 ft 8 gauge marine grade cable (west marine)
• 4 marine grade terminal tops (west marine)
• bunch of 5/16, 3/8 & 1/4 lugs & shrink wrap from custombatterycables.com
• rattle can primer and black engine enamel paint
• various small electrical connections for the hellroaring remote

It took about two weeks to source all of the parts (had to order all of the lugs last to determine the size of all of the posts.)

 

[SF80]

The first step was to de-grease (brake cleaner) and lightly sand the two metal brackets from the Slee washer-bottle relocation kit. Then I applied 2 thin coats of rattle can primer followed by 2 coats of black engine enamel.

In between paint coats, I had a good opportunity to remove the air filter housing (3 12mm lower mounting bolts & 2 10mm hose clamp bolts). I also removed the washer bottle (3 10mm bolts) and disconnect the power harness. The Slee instructions recommended emptying out the washer bottle. I recommend just taping the hose up above the washer level (or you can just wrap the hose around the filler cap.)

You have to cut the 2 wires that feed the washer pump to extend the line back to the new washer bottle location. I cut the wire about 4" behind the plug. The slee kit comes with 2 new extension wires, and I used the shrink-wrap with solder center connections to join the 8 ends together.

By this time the Slee brackets were painted and dry. It is not obvious from the instructions what the orientation of the washer brackets should be, so it took about 5 minutes to figure out.

Picture 1 is the inner lower bracket that holds the left side of the washer bottle.
Picture 2 is the upper outer bracket that holds the right of the washer bottle.

 

[SF80]

The next step was to install the new battery tray kit from CDan.

This kit consisted of the battery tray, OEM battery tray bolts, j-hooks, hold down bar, hold-down nuts, and even battery cable hole rubber grommets. VERY complete.

Step 1 was to trim the battery tray so it would fit in the location. The front inner (right-side) has to be trimmed back about an inch and a half following the contour of the radiator. I used a jigsaw on slow speed to cut the tray, as CDan told me that there is fiberglass in the tray and had warned against grinding.

I then had to lower the high-pressure AC line to get the tray to fit height-wise. I simply removed the rubber bushing and that netted me enough height to position the tray.

I also had to use a step drill bit to "open up" the 2 lower mounting holes in the tray to get them to line up with the holes in the fender.

The new tray will dislocate another wire harness that I ended up mounting to the battery tray.

Picture 1 is the shifted AC line

Picture 2 is the trimmed battery tray

 

[SF80]

Ok, next I mounted the hellroaring and ground fuse block.

I chose the very outside of the back of the new battery tray to mount the hellroaring (same place as cruiserdrew). The location of the air filter forces this location taking into account cable lengths and ground location. I only used three nuts and bolts to mount the hellroaring because I could not find a position on the tray that had flat spots under all of the hellroaring mounting holes (the battery tray has many corrugations that makes it difficult to find a good flat spot.) It is still very secure with three bolts.

I mounted the 150A bussman ground fuse block to the other back side of the new battery tray.

I made sure I used washers behind the battery tray for the hellroaring and ground fuse mounts as it is fiberglass-embedded plastic.

Picture 1 is the mounted hellroaring (note the relocated unknown wire harness)

Picture 2 is the mounted bussman fuse

 

[SF80]

Ok, now on to the wiring!

I started with the new battery ground and ground fuse. I used 2 gauge wire and the heavy-duty lugs from custombatterycables.com for the engine ground. I used my buddies impact crimper to crimp the cables to the lugs. I found out that the shorter the cable run, the more important it was that the lugs were in the right orientation (spin) on the cable. Many of the lugs ended up being in a 90 degree orientation to achieve the right position.

I chose the upper-right boss on the engine block to make my ground connection as this kept it away from the exhaust manifold.

The next step was to wire up the positive leads from the new battery to the hellroaring. This was particularly difficult due to the 1/0 gauge wire I chose. The close-quarter bends to make the short distance to the helroaring took a bit of time and wire wrangling. Componding this was the wire lug size and the close position of the hellroaring posts to each other. I had to grind down the lugs to make sure they did not contact each other when the are mounted on the hellroaring. This is not ideal, but I will monitor and make sure there is no touching issues in the future.

I then ran the cable lead from the hellroaring to the positive buss of the existing system. I chose to wire the hellroaring output directly to the positive post of the main battery. I know many people have run this lead to the positive terminal of the starter or alternator, but for me the main battery was the most obvious.

I also temporarily ran the cable on top of the radiator core, but I would like to route it under the core support where I ran the Slee headlight harness.

Picture 1 is the hellroaring wired
Picture 2 is the front view of the two batteries installed and wired
Picture 3 is the side-view of the two batteries installed and wired

 

[SF80]

Lastly, I installed the hellroaring remote.

There is an existing grommet from the engine bay to the cab up and to the left of the pedals on the driver's side. I fished the three remote wires through this grommet and ran the cables along the back of the engine bay around the new washer bottle location and then over the top of the PS wheel well.

The hellroaring kit comes with two 3A fuses for the positive and ground leads. I decided to shorten the length of the wire between the hellroaring and the fuses for accessibility reasons. This was easy as the helroaring comes with clip-in fuse holders that makes it a breeze to customize the length.

I ran the hellroaring engine bay ground to the chassis ground that is used to for the engine ground. I uses the ECU mounting bolt in the driver's footwell to ground the in-cab remote ground.

I used Romer's idea to re-use one of the dash blanks to mount the three-way hellroaring toggle and indicator LED. All that is need is to cut open the hellroaring remote box (to not have to discconnect the remote leads) and drill out the dash blank for the toggle and LED. I found it best to use the original remote box to determine the best bit size for the blank. I did up-size the hole for the LED as the blank plastic is a bit thicker than the remote box was. This helped to bring the LED further forward in the blank.

The remote toggle and LED are easily fished with a coat hanger from below if you use the same location that I did.

Picture 1 is the opened hellroaring remote
Picture 2 is the assembled blank
Picture 3 is the installed blank

 

[alvarorb]

Brian,

Very impressive. Good pics too.
Congrats


Alvaro

 

[Romer]

Excellent write-up. I am going to add the link to the dual setups FAQ

 

[locrwln1]

Very nice. I need to get mine done. I have the battery tray and second battery, just haven't wired anything yet.

Jack

 

[Angel?]

Sweet. Great job!

 

[dfmorse]

Nice work!

...

 

[Polak]

Ooooo La La!!

What were your resaons for going w/ the marine grade batteries besides the extra posts?

Very nice work!

Polak

 

[LockedLX]

Thanks for the detailed write-up!

 

[reffug]

guess this is a start for my reading on how hellroaring works................

since I need to increase my knowledge in this area.

 

[Darwood]

Any reason you painted the brackets from Slee? Are you just into black?

 

[SF80]

What were your resaons for going w/ the marine grade batteries besides the extra posts?

They were cheaper than the optima yellow top by @ $20 each (in the same group size.) These are great batteries since they are "dual-mode" deep cycles -- they are both good at cranking and deep cycle.

Actually the closeness of the accessory posts to the main posts gets in the way and limits the orientation of the main post terminals. It took me a little while to get the wires in the position I wanted.

 

[SF80]

Any reason you painted the brackets from Slee? Are you just into black?

The Slee brackets come in the anti-corrosion yellow. I just wanted to make it a neater-looking install by matching the black in the engine bay, no real "functional" purpose.

 

[4x4CPOSEADOG]

Just like Romer said, it is an excellent write up. Totally cool. Which Battery Isolator/Combiner did you use? I did not see that on the list. Also, how come the ground wire has the fuse but not the positive wire?

Can't wait to install mine too and this thread will be useful in installing mine, specially the clear pictures. Thanks for a very detailed write up.

 

[Beowulf]

"The parts:
* Group 31 Optima Marine grade batteries (amazon.com)
* FJ80 PS Battery tray kit from CDan
* Hellroaring isolator/combiner
* 150 amp ground fuse block (from mike at hellroaring)
* Slee washer bottle relocation kit
..."

Which Battery Isolator/Combiner did you use? I did not see that on the list.

Title of the thread is "Hellroaring Dual Battery Install". 3rd item in the list. Post 3 has discussion and pictures of the Hellroaring isolator and where he installed it.

-B-

 

[SF80]

Specifically it was the Hellroaring BIC-95300B

The product is great, and Mike @ Hellroaring is very helpful, but his site is a little difficult to navigate.

The fuse on the ground is intended to avoid "catastrophic" failures, instead of trying to fuse the positive load side.