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- #461
OK....there must be some other FJ60's in the pile here....or this entire thread is going to have to be re-named to "Elbert's Problems"...
So...who here is a dual battery expert on gas engine or has learned some hard lessons?
What I have: (1) 5.7 GM engine from 1999 SUV / pickup (2) large CS144 ALT, which I think is 140amps or so (non-modified) (3) Dual batterys...twins, both are so-called crank batterys....800CCA, conventional type (4) better wires on the gronds, and ALT feed wire (5) the two batteries are connected by one large cable 2 gauge from my memory , on the pos terminal (6) grounds from the secondary battery and the primary battery.
no smart devices or controllers or solenoids / combiners etc.
recenlty I've had the secondary battery fail (for no known reasons) and it could be simply the battery is over, the other day I left the battery charger on the truck for 2 solid days, neither battery would charge over around 11.65 or so and I noticed the secondary battery was getting hot. Which I believe was due to the secondary battery being failed at that point. No observed poor connections or wire failures etc.
observations or my view:
ive created essentially one large battery, the alt gauge shows the battery charging etc, but I have no real way to guage or monitor the secondary battery, because of the full time hot wire that marries the two batteries together.
I can't really monitor the secondary battery by itself...what I see is the collective voltage.
in the past I've checked the alt voltage at both batteries and very minor drop on secondary battery , but its in the neighborhood north of 14 volts.
I'm thinking what I might entertain moving forward before I buy new batteries. Loads on the primary battery is the winch and some minor / misc things, loads on the secondary battery. Radio gear, stero amp, cooler/freezer, air compressor, aftermarket lights. With the idea I don't want to buy batteries every 2 years.
COA 1 : Do nothing and replace batteries as they are now (two crank batteries) No way to monitor really what secondary battery is doing etc.
COA 2: look at something like the Blue Sea smart battery combiner / smart soloniiod that combines batterys, and consider a AGM secondary battery or deep cycle battery for the secondary, or keep the same batteries.
COA 3: Look at something like REDARC or other "smart box" or I think they are calling these things DC to DC charger or so called smart box.
www.bluesea.com
I have a refrigerator , but I've not really used it or set it up all the way etc, same with air compressor, so I dont' want to compound my iissues when get that stuff "wired".
I assume I may be killing the secondary battery due to loads but that just an assumption.....its not killing the primary battery and my problem right now may just be a battery failure. @ around $200 or more EACH....buying batteries are not fun.
Who has been down this road before and what have you learned? I've read any number of threads about crank battery for primary and deep cycle battery for secondary, and or some additional battery in the back to power refrigerator. I'm not a big camper but I would want the function of the refrigerator , but unlikely I would have the truck not running for more than a day or so, with teh refrigerator powered.
So...who here is a dual battery expert on gas engine or has learned some hard lessons?
What I have: (1) 5.7 GM engine from 1999 SUV / pickup (2) large CS144 ALT, which I think is 140amps or so (non-modified) (3) Dual batterys...twins, both are so-called crank batterys....800CCA, conventional type (4) better wires on the gronds, and ALT feed wire (5) the two batteries are connected by one large cable 2 gauge from my memory , on the pos terminal (6) grounds from the secondary battery and the primary battery.
no smart devices or controllers or solenoids / combiners etc.
recenlty I've had the secondary battery fail (for no known reasons) and it could be simply the battery is over, the other day I left the battery charger on the truck for 2 solid days, neither battery would charge over around 11.65 or so and I noticed the secondary battery was getting hot. Which I believe was due to the secondary battery being failed at that point. No observed poor connections or wire failures etc.
observations or my view:
ive created essentially one large battery, the alt gauge shows the battery charging etc, but I have no real way to guage or monitor the secondary battery, because of the full time hot wire that marries the two batteries together.
I can't really monitor the secondary battery by itself...what I see is the collective voltage.
in the past I've checked the alt voltage at both batteries and very minor drop on secondary battery , but its in the neighborhood north of 14 volts.
I'm thinking what I might entertain moving forward before I buy new batteries. Loads on the primary battery is the winch and some minor / misc things, loads on the secondary battery. Radio gear, stero amp, cooler/freezer, air compressor, aftermarket lights. With the idea I don't want to buy batteries every 2 years.
COA 1 : Do nothing and replace batteries as they are now (two crank batteries) No way to monitor really what secondary battery is doing etc.
COA 2: look at something like the Blue Sea smart battery combiner / smart soloniiod that combines batterys, and consider a AGM secondary battery or deep cycle battery for the secondary, or keep the same batteries.
COA 3: Look at something like REDARC or other "smart box" or I think they are calling these things DC to DC charger or so called smart box.
ML-ACR Automatic Charging Relay with Manual Control - 12V DC 500A - Blue Sea Systems
500 Amp magnetic latching (bi-stable) relay automatically combines batteries during charging and isolates batteries when discharging and when starting engine.

I have a refrigerator , but I've not really used it or set it up all the way etc, same with air compressor, so I dont' want to compound my iissues when get that stuff "wired".
I assume I may be killing the secondary battery due to loads but that just an assumption.....its not killing the primary battery and my problem right now may just be a battery failure. @ around $200 or more EACH....buying batteries are not fun.
Who has been down this road before and what have you learned? I've read any number of threads about crank battery for primary and deep cycle battery for secondary, and or some additional battery in the back to power refrigerator. I'm not a big camper but I would want the function of the refrigerator , but unlikely I would have the truck not running for more than a day or so, with teh refrigerator powered.
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