Dual battery setup done! (1 Viewer)

[superjuice]

Well after months of aquiring parts i finally finished it tonite! sorry for the lack of details at this time but what the heck, gotta start somewhere right! The bezel is from Gamiviti - freshly grated parmesan for your Land Cruiser check out his cupholders as well, just for us 80 folks. The isolator is a hellroaring unit, the BIC-95300B Hellroaring Technologies, inc., Manufacturer of Solid State Dual Battery Isolator / Combiners
..Here's some pics!
The finished product form the cab, the silver switch controlls the volt meter, main batt. off or aux. batt.

the wiring of the bezel

the BIC on the back of the battery tray

I'm running dual sears platinum PM-1's with a 150amp sequoia alternator, the alternator was installed with the help of PHOTOMAN and his brilliant bracket, info here https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/206807-upgrading-stock-alternator-130-150-amp.html
I'm currently working on getting a led behind the switch to work the same way at the hellroaring remote module, only with no "off" position. Normally runs in auto mode but when i press the "hazard" switch it combines the batteries. Currently it has a led installed in the switch and it works but it is hard to see. I will definatly find a brighter solution but i need to order some parts. As i said i know im missing a bunch of details but stay tuned!

 

[superjuice]

Ok how about a night shot

the ground for the aux battery

the breaker for the Positive side, also runs to the back for my inverter

it is setup as a backup battery, so all power is fed from the main battery.

 

[NLXTACY]

Right on, looking pretty good. Now you just need to change out that switch graphic

 

[superjuice]

i thought you might say that, i forgot to give you props NL, i got a lot of my ideas from you. I have printed out your lables on a few different media. I think i need some translucent red laminate/contact paper, and to figue out how to mirror your labels. I tried using photoshop but it made the PDF all grainy. I guess i need to hone my skills buddy

 

[96r50]

Ok how about a night shot

One of your clocks is wrong

 

[superjuice]

Current draw at idle

Just some info on idling with a large current draw. I have the above setup feeding a 1750watt inverter. I was using it for the first time the other night on a skating pond and kept an eye on the indicator for the dual battery as well as the voltage. Pulling 1000 watts (roughtly 100 amps DC) it would not keep up at idle(the voltage dropped below 13.2 and the indicator turned off). Using the hand throttle (sourced from slee) i increased the rpm's untill the voltage started to increase. It ended up taking about 1200 rpms to keep the main battery charging above 13.2volts. Not wanting to wait for the unit to auto combine i manually switched on the combiner then immediatly off again, now the unit was on auto and the batteries were being combined and monitored by the unit. when i finally shut it down after 2 hours the batts were at 13.4 volts and still automatically combined. Also my scangauge was reading 1.2gph at 1200 rpm with that load. Im not sure if anyone else seen this but the voltmeter directly connected to the battery consistently reads 2.5v higher than the scan gauge, my readings were taken directly fron the battery. Big thanks to everyone who has helped with this and

 

[nat88toy]

nice work, nice clean install good to see your not shy with the heat shrink

 

[greentruck]

Very nice install. About like what I'd like to do myself in the future. Looks like your control panels goes above the radio/etc head unit, where the optional cupholder can be fitted.

No way is my going to give that up!
So that's going to be different for me, but you're giving me ideas.

Did you order the spare battery box and fittings from CDan or is it possible to salvage that from a FJ80?

 

[superjuice]

Very nice install. About like what I'd like to do myself in the future. Looks like your control panels goes above the radio/etc head unit, where the optional cupholder can be fitted.

No way is my going to give that up!
So that's going to be different for me, but you're giving me ideas.

Did you order the spare battery box and fittings from CDan or is it possible to salvage that from a FJ80?

No need to give up the passenger cup holder, GAMIVITI has you covered!


And for NLXTACY, I used our label maker at work and resized one of your switch labels. I sanded off the silkscreen emergency label and stuck it to the front.


I also replaced the stock light with a super bright LED, it can easily be seen during the day but not with my camera flash on. I had to bend it 90degrees and kinda jam it in there so it points directly at the label.



The switch for the volt meter now has a rubber boot over it for a finished look, kinda nice I think The meter was waay to bright so I tinted it with some static cling tint i found. It took 2 layers to get it dim enough to not be distracting.

 

[sandcruiser]

congratulations

if you are getting 2.5v less on the scangauge than you are on the voltmeter @ the battery, you've got a problem somewhere... maybe bad wiring to the ECU? or a bad ground?

do you see that 2.5 delta all the time? or just while you were running your inverter?

 

[superjuice]

congratulations

if you are getting 2.5v less on the scangauge than you are on the voltmeter @ the battery, you've got a problem somewhere... maybe bad wiring to the ECU? or a bad ground?

do you see that 2.5 delta all the time? or just while you were running your inverter?

I see it all the time, I just never inquired about it. Thats a pretty big difference if its not normal to see. Now that i think about it, before i switched the alternator and some wiring i saw about the same voltages on the scangauge that i now see on the volt meter @ the battery. I thought it was the new alternator at first but now that i have a second meter i'm not so sure. I'll start searching the forum and check the wiring tomorrow. Thank you for bringing this to my attention

 

[NLXTACY]

Looks like a pretty good setup. I agree with SANDCRUISER, you should not be seeing a voltage loss like that.

I've been trying to decide what to do with my solution because I have yet to install my third (true backup) battery which is going to have the switch to combine. Adding it to the meter panel is a good idea. I've also been toying with the idea of getting something that shows amps as well as volts but so little time to tinker nowadays

But congrats on joining the dual battery club!

 

[superjuice]

NLXTACY - I too would really like an ammeter but do not want to install a shunt under the hood. I have found a way of doing this using a hall effect sensor. Check it out http://www.tst-corp.com/assets/files/HallEffectCurrentSensorsSalessheet7-23-09.pdf. I know datel makes a meter that fits in the same opening as my voltmeter, just not sure i want to give up that spot. Someone designesd their own setup that looks pretty slick but alot of work, check that out here Electronic Ammeter and Voltmeter.

 

[sandcruiser]

have you checked the voltage at the inverter?
ie: if you are running it at 10.5 volts instead of 13v, that might explain why your alt is having trouble keeping up.

I'd run a long line to the battery ground point, then start checking for + voltage at various points to find out where you are getting the 2.5v drop. If it is just the ECU, that's bad enough, but if the headlights, interior, pumps, etc are all getting that lower voltage then you are making everything work harder than it should and also losing efficiency.

one tip: when you test the V at the battery, check it across the two terminals first. Then check it from the ALT charging post and the battery (-). Then from the battery (+) to the bolt where the battery grounding strap attaches to the fender. I had issues on my 60 last year and discovered a full 1V drop between the fender and the (-) post on the battery. There is only 6" of wire connecting the two, but it had corroded inside of the insulation to the point of not transmitting electricity very well. Replaced it and many electrical gremlins went away.

 

[corsair23]

FWIW my voltage reading between my Scangauge and my Gamiviti volt meter are always within .1 volts of each other.

The Scangauge only goes out to the tenths (.1) while the volt meter goes out to the hundreths (.01) so once in awhile my Scangauge might read 12.6 while the volt meter measures closer to 12.7 (12.69 or something).

 

[superjuice]

So I checked my wiring today and my main ground was slightly loose on the fender. Gave it a crank and both my meters now read the same, within 0.2 depending on lights, fans, etc. Crisis averted, now to find something else to fix

 

[Bluetribal]

Very Nice, I am slowly working on mine as well. I have almost all of the parts and I relocated the washer bottle this past weekend and need to get some bolts for the second battery tray and do some trimming on it to get it in.

How did you run your wiring? I am pretty sure I am going to run mine around the bottom of the radiator.

 

[superjuice]

I all ready had a 1/0 gauge running to the back through a 150 amp breaker. I tied in to this and went across the firewall
from there i went inside the fender and out near the battery tray, this cable is now sheathed in split loom to protect it from heat and chaffing.


If i were not running the cable to the back i probably would have gone under the radiator cross member. the cross member would have to be removed to secure it correctly, i read that it is quite easy. While in there you could run slees upgraded headlight harness too