Dual Battery D22 and some other stuff

Hey guys,

Im getting a fridge some stage in the near future from the missus havent decided which one i want yet so haven't got one yet( birthday was months ago too). However i decided that the time was right to put a second battery in the Nav.

This is the tray i made to go in the front were the pre-filter use to be it picks up the mounting points plus some others. This battery will be purely for starting and no accessories will be connected to it. I have a SB112 redarc isolator to install and have some 00 gauge wire for the install.

The batter tray only has 5 mounts however it is actually quite stable, I will be regularly checking the mounts for fatigue tho just in case. Also the addition of this second battery will give me according to the battery tester at work just over 2400 cca so i should be able to jump anything if need be( Anyone Jealous?).

The tray itself is made out of some scrap from around the workshop but does its job, I think its 3.2 mm plate. I used some scrap centers from someone whom had discarded the centers from using a hole saw and some exhaust tube for the raiser tube. and then folded it all up in the bender and welded it up( Weldings a bit amateur how ever i'm only an apprentice mech so to be expected). Took about 3 hours to make + painting and drying time.

I have many more additions to come and current additions to be written up hope you enjoy reading through them.

Looks like a really nice job. Also looks like an Optima battery - the smaller sibling to the D31A that I have in my caravan (75Ah, 900CCA). It's a great unit, will easily survive being taken to 20% of its capacity and I've had people tell me they can be taken to 0% (10.75V) without killing them - although I'd never suggest anyone do that, they are still lead-acid batteries!

3.2mm plate is way more than needed, that thing should outlast the car. 3.2mm plate can withstand a thousand kilos - your battery weighs about 30kg. Good God that thing is going to take a pounding and laugh all of it off - I like it!

Nice job mate, great effort.

Yes the yellow top is a D34 and the blue top is a D27M, yes they are heavy but i think there under 20 kg's even better and i hope that is the case about the tray out lasting the car.

thanks for the positive words of encouragement

So last night i wired up the second battery and the isolator, car starts within a second of cranking it spins over so fast, got to love brand new batteries, the only problem i have is that we didn't have any of the correct size split loom tubing to cover it all last night so i will have to go to super cheap tomorrow and pick some up. I am super happy so far not including battery i think it come in below $150 to build the tray, paint it, buy the isolator and wire it up which in my opinion is a steal. Both optimas were broght from a wholesaler and worked out to 550 for the both of them( Yellow top $250 and blue top $300)so over all a great project even when done on the cheap. More photos to come on Saturday when i cover it all up in split loom tubing.

Hello,

I'm new to the forum so not sure if i'm posting this in the correct place.

I'm looking at putting a CTEK D250S SC to DC dual battery in my 2012 D22, which already has the standard 2 batteries under the bonnet. I have been told this is not posiable. has anyone done this?

Cheers Josh

Welcome Josh.

Yeah it's been done. It's a good solution too, which will fully charge the auxiliary battery rather than partly charge like simple isolators do.

I assume the aux battery is going in the tub?