Planning a dual battery setup and accessories

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RobRed said:
Yes it's Slee's tray.... A couple of minor issues; the power steering bottle touches and the bottom tray bolt is too long and sticks out the fender liner 1/2". I'll fix both but be advised.
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Thanks for the heads up. So I just went out and measured the space between the firewall and bottle in your picture. Looks like the longest battery that could fit on that tray is 11". The Sear's starter battery I picked out is 13" long so that is not even close. I might have to select a different model aux battery instead of a matched pair.

Could you please measure the width of that Slee tray for me? Sears makes a PM-2 Group 34M battery that is 11" x 6.8" that I was hoping would fit the Slee tray.

From looking at the Slee site it says "Optima or similar size battery". I'm guessing they are referring to the Optima Group 34 battery, which is 10" long x 6.8" wide.
 
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Anthony.L said:
Thanks for the heads up. So I just went out and measured the space between the firewall and bottle in your picture. Looks like the longest battery that could fit on that tray is 11". The Sear's starter battery I picked out is 13" long so that is not even close. I might have to select a different model aux battery instead of a matched pair.

Could you please measure the width of that Slee tray for me? Sears makes a PM-2 Group 34M battery that is 11" x 6.8" that I was hoping would fit the Slee tray.
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When I talked to Slee he said a group 34 Optima Yellow is what he had in mind for that tray.

I wont be able to measure til tomorrow. I think if you search there is a thread or two where someone dimensions it. At any rate I will measure for you tomorrow.
 
Subscribed. This is one of my winter projects.

Other than the GB which is very appealing why did you choose the IBS over the National Luna? NL was my top choice but now I'm intrigued.
 
Ok, got tired of guessing on the fitment of these batteries so I grabbed a tape measure and headed down to Sears this evening. They luckily had one each of the Marine batteries in stock to measure.

Good news! The Sears PM-2 Group 34 battery will fit the Slee tray just fine! The base of the battery measures 10" long x 6" wide. The larger dimensions on the website are for the top of the battery. The case flares out at the top which will not be a problem.

So final selection for batteries.

Sears DieHard Platinum PM-1 Group 31M - Main Battery ($279.99)

Sears DieHard Platinum PM-2 Group 34M - Aux Battery ($219.99)
 
jonharis said:
Other than the GB which is very appealing why did you choose the IBS over the National Luna? NL was my top choice but now I'm intrigued.
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This question came up in the group buy thread here on MUD. Also there are some detailed pictures of the IBS system installed posted in that thread. He could have either system and replaced the National Luna with the IBS.

flyingwil said:
Differences between IBS and National Luna:

  1. RELAY-The IBS kit uses a different relay, although rated to 200amp the relay can handle spikes to 500ams. The National Luna relay uses a larger (size) relay that is rated to 85amp and 400amps peak. As mentioned above the noise from my NL would trigger my glass break sensor on my alarm when engaging/disengaging and I had no issues with the IBS relay in the same spot.
  2. UNDER HOOD- The NL uses an intelligent solenoid, which is basically a small circuit board mounted above the relay, these are mounted to a plate which measures roughly 5" x 4.5". The NL requires you to mount this plate under the hood and the circuit board is not water/dust proof, so in water crossings the NL can short. The NL also has a glass tube style fuse hidden under the sticker of the board cover. On the other hand, all the IBS requires you to mount is the relay which is about 1.75" x 1.75".
  3. Battery Monitor/Controller- in comparison to the NL the IBS unit is larger than the NL. The IBS monitor allows for dimming of the LED's and the battery status lights are only turned on by hitting the display button, where as the NL the LEDs are constant on (IBS only status indicator) and non dimmable. Both units feature an audible alarm to indicate a low battery.
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The last validation for the IBS system in my mind is the fact Slee only carries and installs the IBS system. That tells me a lot, since he could sell any system and picked that one.

I was already set on the IBS system, the group buy was just perfect timing and the icing on the cake. :D
 
Anthony.L said:
Ok, got tired of guessing on the fitment of these batteries so I grabbed a tape measure and headed down to Sears this evening. They luckily had one each of the Marine batteries in stock to measure.

Good news! The Sears PM-2 Group 34 battery will fit the Slee tray just fine! The base of the battery measures 10" long x 6" wide. The larger dimensions on the website are for the top of the battery. The case flares out at the top which will not be a problem.

So final selection for batteries.

Sears DieHard Platinum PM-1 Group 31M - Main Battery ($279.99)

Sears DieHard Platinum PM-2 Group 34M - Aux Battery ($219.99)
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Are the specs on the sears better than the optima yellow? The sears are more $$$
 
RobRed said:
Are the specs on the sears better than the optima yellow? The sears are more $$$
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There is no way in hell you will get me to waste any more money on Optima batteries. Every since they sold to Johnson Controls years ago they have gone to complete junk. I honestly think they bought them for the name and changed the formula/manufacturing. Do some searches on recent experiences. I have a brand new red and yellow top battery sitting in the garage, both lasted maybe a couple months. Won't trust them.

As for your question on spec comparison.

Sears PM-1 Group 31M

Cold Cranking Amps @ 0F = 1150
Reserve Capacity = 205
Capacity (C/20 Rate) = 100

Optima Yellow Top D27F

Cold Cranking Amps @ 0F = 830
Reserve Capacity = 140
Capacity (C/20 Rate) = 66

Looks like the Sears is the clear winner. Keep in mind the Sears Platinum Marine batteries are simply rebadged Odysess batteries which are arguably the best batteries money can buy.
 
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Anthony.L said:
This question came up in the group buy thread here on MUD. Also there are some detailed pictures of the IBS system installed posted in that thread. He could have either system and replaced the National Luna with the IBS.

The last validation for the IBS system in my mind is the fact Slee only carries and installs the IBS system. That tells me a lot, since he could sell any system and picked that one.

I was already set on the IBS system, the group buy was just perfect timing and the icing on the cake. :D
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Yes I was thinking the same thing. The GB may have turned the page for me. Looks like a great system.

For anyone thinking of an optima, don't. They were great 4-5 years ago but as the above poster stated their quality has greatly diminished. The sears Platinum (rebranded and less expensive Odyssey) is a great battery.
 
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Just some info to add. We recently found out that the Odessey warrantee does not cover the battery if the voltage drops below 10v. They consider it abuse. Now I am not sure how Sears deals with this. Probably a non-issue since they clerk behind the counter does not know this and will just exchange. Optima does not have this stipulation in their warrantee. Found this out the hard way, and they do stick by it. We do use them in the shop, however this stipulation is kinda weird for a auto battery where the chances are that you can run the battery down.

From the Odessey

" Prolonged storage of vehicles with fuel injection computers, alarms, GPS and other electrical
devices that require continuous battery power to support active memories; this power drain must
be offset with a maintenance-float charger, periodic charging or disconnecting the battery to
prevent the establishment of irreversible crystallized sulphation in the battery plate oxide.

Failure to address this destroys battery capacity and voids the warranty, as this is not a warranted
defect in materials or workmanship. A battery with an open circuit voltage (OCV) of equal to or
less then 10.0V will be deemed as overdischarged and void from warranty due to misuse and/or
neglect."
 
Really want to go ahead and get setup with this dual battery system, BUT i have an issue...

My truck has AHC, which means i can't mount the 2nd battery in the traditional location under the hood (AHC resevoir is there).

Has anyone found another way to put both batteries under the hood? Maybe two smaller batteries in the OEM location with a special tray?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
ntsaint said:
Really want to go ahead and get setup with this dual battery system, BUT i have an issue...

My truck has AHC, which means i can't mount the 2nd battery in the traditional location under the hood (AHC resevoir is there).

Has anyone found another way to put both batteries under the hood? Maybe two smaller batteries in the OEM location with a special tray?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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Yes, there is a thread on here about someone that put two Optima's in the stock location. I opted for the larger primary battery and I will find / create a home for an Aux battery elsewhere.
 
ntsaint said:
Saw that, but now i'm kind of scared off of the Optomas...
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I had one (Optima) fail under one year old, and my brother just had his Red Top fail around the same time. That's why I decided to go the route that I did.
 
sleeoffroad said:
A lot of what is going on with AGM batteries is also the charging. Most newer vehicles alternators are not set up to deal with AGM batteries. Do a little reading on what is required to properly charge an AGM battery and then you will see why they fail.
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Do you have any recommendations for mitigating the AGM charging issue? I know you do a number of dual battery setups and I see the optima used often in them... Is having to replace these things often just part of the deal?
 
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We recommend people buy a AGM 110v charger and recondition the batteries from time to time. We are looking at on-board setups that changes the alternator output to correct for this situation. The main thing that happens is that the battery will charge to full voltage, but will loose capacity.

Here is some info on the charging. Odessey makes a charger, but there are less expensive options out there.

http://www.odysseybattery.com/chargers.html
 
Anthony.L said:
Ok, this got my attention, didn't see this one before on the Blue Sea site. I'm not a fan of the 3 x 20amp output being via that single connector. Looking at the site the SafetyHub 150 has more outputs and everything is via screw terminals. I think this one is a winner!
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I hadn't seen the 150... The screw terms are nice. The single connector on the 100 is pretty robust I don't think there will be an issue.
 
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