Dual Batteries in New D22

Don't know if this has been posted on here before (couldn't find anything from a search..............but then again, I'm not real 'puter smart), but a mate of mine just bought a brand new D22, and it came from the dealer with 2 batteries under the bonnet. He said in the book they only have 1, but when he asked the salesman, he said that's the way they come now with 2.
Anyway my question is, is 1 an aux battery, or are they both starting batteries (as my mate didn't ask the salesman that) ??????

These are european models dumped on australia because they couldent sell them, and yes they are both starting batteries. They are not isolated from each other.

Thanks mate.
Does it need to have the 2 batteries to start, or can you get away with only 1????

i'm pretty sure I read i thread about this the other day/week, but I can't seem to find it. It mentioned that the 2nd battery is from european models where they need the 24v's to start in cold weather. So you should be able to isolate them and run a dual battery setup.

It wouldn't be for 24V, it would be to get the extra capacity from running two 12's in parallel. Anyway, I heard it was a mistake from the Thai factory when they started building them there and that it would be stopping? Weird, think I read it on here somewhere?

They're definitely hooked up in parallel, my dealer and I were having a good ol' discussion about dual battery systems and he popped the bonnet of a D22 that was sitting in the yard and we checked over it thoroughly.

In cold weather (read "European winters") diesels need a few more amps to turn them over.

As was said in that other thread, it's probably cheaper for Nissan to leave the design the same and fit the extra bits - the Australian market is only a small proportion of their sales, so it would hurt them more to adjust the few cars heading over this way than to just leave things as they are on the assembly line and pick a few at random for Oz.

Hmm, interesting. Will have to try to find this thread.

I have the two batteries and have been told by nissan because of warranty issues I am best running a third battery and leaving the two crankers as they are.

Deadly said:

Hmm, interesting. Will have to try to find this thread.

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I found it here: Dual Battery Components.

It refers off-site to several (recommended reading) places, like CTek's home page and Collyn Rivers' "Caravan and Motorhome Books" pages.

I have just upgraded the power system in my van, having suffered badly at the hands of fate during our trip at Christmas.

Basically, as the second day of our trip drew to a close, the solar panel on the van broke free of its front mountings and started flapping away on the roof, which would have had the inevitable results - we would have lost the panel.

We stopped (at Newmerella, Vic), unbolted the panel, cut the wires and stowed the panel inside.

This meant that we were now relying on the vehicle to charge the battery, which should have been enough - but it wasn't. Here's why.

The car's power went through a "voltage raising unit" which is designed to eliminate the voltage drop caused by long cables. Unfortunately - and we hadn't realised this at the time - after a short time of operating, this unit overheated and turned off. Our on-board battery was not being charged at all.

What I am now doing is this: I have redirected the incoming power from the car to both an inverter and a relay that switches between 240V-from-inverter and 240V-from-mains (which could be generator or caravan-park supplied). This effectively allows the output to be automatically chosen from either 12V-inverted-240V or mains-supplied-240V and the output of this drives a brand new CTek Multi XS 7000 8-stage 7 amp charger.

When the car is connected (and the car has a relay that only allows power to be supplied to the rear when the engine is running), it switches the relay and powers the inverter, providing 240V to the charger and charging the van's battery. Even if it were still connected to 240V, it will use this as it's the 12V supply that controls the relay.

When the car is turned off, or disconnected, the relay switches back to "default" mode which is to pass the 240V through to the charger.

The idea is to NOT allow the vehicle's alternator to charge the battery, but to allow an intelligent charger - and the XS 7000 carries a hefty price tag and is worth every cent - to bring the battery up to full charge. This gives you more capacity and, importantly, longer battery life.

The longer any lead acid battery remains in a partially discharged state, the shorter its lifespan.

I'm after reliability and longevity. The 100Ah gel battery we just bought cost about $270. The charger cost me $296 (but will last a long time). I'm told that my gel battery, if charged as I've set it up, should last me 5-7 years.

Nice work Tony, you won't be dissapointed with the Ctek, I've had the XS 15000 for a few months now and I'm very happy with it's performance.

This morning was cold -30 celcius and it started real good , i wonder how good its starts with just one battery in that temperature...
I am from Sweden and i am sick of this winter we have about 85 cm snow here now and right now its -16 celcius outside
Cant wait for the spring to come

Holy crap -30!!

How hot does it get it summer mate?

The summers are ok when it not´ raining about +20-30 celcius but this winter in sweden has been extreme with longetime coldperiods and more snow then i ever seen, but the spring is closing up now in about a month its suppose to be +10-15 degrees and sunshine

BSmoke said:

The summers are ok when it not´ raining about +20-30 celcius but this winter in sweden has been extreme with longetime coldperiods and more snow then i ever seen, but the spring is closing up now in about a month its suppose to be +10-15 degrees and sunshine

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We are still wearing warm jackets when it is 10-15 degrees here lol

Yeah it's only when Queenslanders come to Melbourne they wear shorts and t-shirts at 20+ degrees then complain about how cold it is

Right now

I ran my D22 with only 1 of the 2 batteries for about a week (actually because i forgot to re-connect the second one after working on the vehicle, luckily I didn't get a short to ground from the + terminal clamp floating around). Started fine even after leaving the stereo running for a few hours. Can't see a problem simply fitting an isolator kit to the second battery. I have come to the conclusion that the second battery is not necessary for aussie conditions and probably cost nissan about $50, so it would cost more in labour for them to get it removed. I don't think there would be any technical reason why it could be a warranty voider to use it as purely an auxillary battery.