09 D22 dual battery setup

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Aido

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Who has done what? Obviously they are wired in parallel but what sort of battery management, if any have you fitted? Have you upgraded the Aux battery at all? How did you do it? Who did you speak to? Who did the work? Did you do it yourself?

Aido





The questions keep on coming :big_smile:
 
I believe they are both cranking batteries, no deep cycle. Not sure if there is any management system, don't think so which is a shame.
 
Correct the are both cranking Bats. But this vehicle is now buitl to suit everything from 40+ to -30 to suit worldwide requirements. there is no way that this engine requires that amount of battery power to spark up.
And yes there is no management system but there are a few options out there and I wanted to see what others have done.
 
I use a redarc for battery management, works great, just have to remember to take the deep cycle battery out to give it a decent charge with my CTek charger every now and then.

I'm not sure that is the reason they have a dual battery now, they sold plenty before to plenty of countries, I heard it was a mistake at the Thai factory and will be rectified soon??? Maybe a rumour.
 
I heard it was because the cooler European climates require more cranking power, it was just 2nd (or 3rd,4th, 5th...) hand information though.

I have got a VSR (Voltage sensitive relay) basically the same as a redarc but fully sealed.
 
Redarc here myself also but on an 08 model so have a 80a/h Deep Cycle battery for my
2nd.

Jason-Do you recommend taking out and giving the 2nd battery a decent charge regularly?
 
Do you recommend taking out and giving the 2nd battery a decent charge regularly?

Lead-acid batteries prefer to be fully charged. Car alternators can generally only charge batteries to about 70-80% of their capacity - to make sure that your deep cycle battery doesn't suffer from sulphation as quickly, it's always a good idea to use a 3-stage (or better) mains-powered charger to fill it up and equalise it if necessary.

"Equalising" in a lead-acid battery means charging it to the point of fizzing the water, which means you'll need to top up the water when done, sure, but the sulphate crystals that form in the battery are removed to some degree. The charge voltage is about 15-15.5V, where your normal alternator maxes out at about 14.3-14.5V.

The circuits in the car's alternator are designed so that as the battery approaches nominal voltage, the charge current is dropped away so that the battery doesn't reach the point where it regularly fizzes the water away. That point is about 75% of capacity (give or take, depending on battery size, manufacture etc).

So yes, pop your deep cycles onto a household charger now and again (the more regularly the better). Solar regulators can also do this task - look for a model with a 'float' function.
 
Just for the record and cause I'm bored and there is nothing on tv.

I'm using a Projecta 100 with a manual over ride for jump starting and a 50 amp in line auto resetting fuse down to a deep cycle battery bigger than it needs to be (can't remember how big right now though).

Despite the experts at the battery shops saying different we did the sums and the 100 is heaps bigger than I need given the output of the alternator wont ever get that high, not while other things are running anyway. The only slightly annoying thing I found was that due to cable length restrictions listed in the manual the unit has to be installed under the bonnet and the D40 doesn't have a lot of spare space but I got around that eventually.

I'll re-charge the second battery atleast once a year on an external charger but otherwise it's pretty much maintenance free and with the unit costing me less than $60 and the 10mm squared 80amp battery cable at 40 cents a metre the price was right too.
 
howdy guys,

currently fitting up dual batteries on my str and was told that the standard charging capacity could not cope with deep cycle batteries.apparently they require much greater voltage to charge properly.so based on that i opted for another cranker.
mines an 02 and bought a arb kit which goes under bonnet on passenger side up against the firewall.not sure why but they stopped making these kits after 03 for some reason,apparently engineering issue but i just scraped in.

cheers
 
Your other cranker won't be charged much better than the deep cycle.

The issue is how the car alternator/regulator delivers power - it stops short of fizzing the battery, which is at about 75% charge.

Best way in a car to charge a deep cycle is to use an inverter to drive a 240V 3-stage charger.
 
The general consensus is that deep cycle batteries will handle being discharged to a lower level better than a cranking battery, but as has been said, they require a greater charge to stop them dieing early (from sulphation). The greater charge they recieve removes this sulphation. A cranking battery is designed to give quick high current, a deep cycle is designed to give a lower current over a longer period and they are internally designed to deliver this.

Car batteries are specially designed with thinner (.04 inch or 1.02 mm) and more porous plates for a greater surface area to produce the high amps required to start an engine. They are engineered for up to 5,000 shallow (to 3%) discharges, which works out to over four engine starts per day. Car batteries should NOT be discharged below 90% State-of-Charge. They use sponge lead and expanded metal grids rather than solid lead. Marine Starting batteries are a comprise between a car and deep cycle battery and are designed for starting and prolonged discharges at lower amperage that typically consumes between 20% and 50% of the battery's capacity. Motive and Stationary deep cycle batteries have much thicker (up to .25 inch or 6.35 mm) plates, more lead, and weight more than car batteries the same size. They are normally discharged between 20% and 80% at lower amperage. deep cycle batteries will typically outlast two to ten car batteries in a deep cycle application.

Here is a great website: http://www.rpc.com.au/products/batteries/car-deepcycle/carfaq7.htm
 
Thanks for all the comments guys, so what voltage is considered 'low'? I have a battery meter on my deep cycle, it ran my fridge in the back of my car for 2 1/2 days without anyone opening the fridge and the meter showed bang on 12v left, how much further could it go before causing damage to the battery? Or will it damage the fridge if the current is too low for it?
 
Your typical car battery will start suffering when the free (no load) voltage falls to 10.75V or below. That's when you'll get plate distortion and cell deterioration leading to eventual collapse.

Deep cycle batteries ought to survive at 9.5V unladen - but in both cases there's a catch and it has nothing to do with deep cycle, marine or cranker battery types.

The very nature of sulphuric acid with lead plates means that if the battery can create lead sulphate (the molecule PbSO4) it will. The only time the battery can do this is if it is below 100% charge - so your starter battery is generally doing this all the time and that is the predominant reason for battery failure.

These suplhates form crystals and can often be seen in the batteries along the bottom, growing until they eventually form a circuit between the plates.

Sulphation is avoided by keeping the battery charged. Sulphation can be marginally reversed by "equalising" the battery - which is a specific way of charging the battery that does consume some of the fluid, so if you have a battery equalising charger, have some distilled water handy too. Basically it does a normal charge to 100% and then ramps the voltage up to about 15-15.5V to really fizz the thing - the process breaks down the lead sulphate returning the lead to the plates and the sulphate ions to the acid.

It's also a good idea to check the specific gravity of each cell, particularly after an equalising operation.

Fridges - particularly modern ones - are designed to stop working when the input voltage is too low. The compressors are just electric motors that don't really have too many problems with too low a voltage except that they don't work anywhere near as efficiently until the voltage goes back to normal. Example: a motor requiring 24 watts will draw 2 amps at 12V (12V * 2A = 24W). Drop the voltage to 10V and you need 2.4A to deliver the same power - it's a slippery slope, so keep the battery as well-charged as you can!
 
That is the right way to test a batteries voltage, they must be tested under load. Sometimes a battery can show 12.5 volts (with no load and putting a multimeter across the terminals) but put under load one of more cells can collapse and it could drop to 10 volts.

I think 12 volts is the least you would want to go to? (Remembering that 13.2volts should be fully charged or 2.2 volts per cell in a 6 cell battery) Someone may correct me but I think 'cell reversal' can take place below this?

The main thing to remember is that poor charging practices kill more batteries than old age. It's worth the research.
 
It's also a good idea to check the specific gravity of each cell, particularly after an equalising operation.

Absolutely, it is the only true indication of the electrolytes condition of charge. A hydrometer is a good investment for the shed.
 
The only problem with loading the battery is that it will show a lower voltage than it would unladen. That might be a safer path to follow too, to prevent battery damage.

I generally won't let my deep cycles go below 11V and won't let my crankers below 12V. Typically both should sit unladen at 13.8V fully charged (both of them are just 6-cell lead acid batteries with differences in construction).

If your battery voltage drops too drastically under load, as Jason points out there may be a faulty cell and that's when you go shopping. The last thing that you want is a known faulty battery ruining a holiday when you could have prevented that. Try charging it with a 3-stage or better charger, load it up and see what happens. Don't forget to check every cell's specific gravity and fluid levels. If the battery under a light load for a few minutes (say up to 10A - a pair of cheap driving lights) can't hold its voltage fairly steady then you know you have a problem.

Personally I can't wait for lead acid batteries to be part of our history. They're horrid, heavy, dangerous things that need more attention than I want to give them!
 
A good multi stage charger can actually 'revive' tired batteries. I have 3 42AH deep cycle batteries in my shed that are handy for short trips, they are from an old fire panel installation.

They used to last about 18 hours with a 1 amp load, after a couple of cycles through the CTek they now last well above 30 hours. I had 4 but one ended up with a collapsed cell, the CTek also indicated this to me and saved me taking it away and finding out the hard way.

I also keep a 12V 20W halogen dichro light in the shed on a pair of alligator clips to help keep an eye on the batteries, they simulate a constant 1 and a half amp load.
 
A good multi stage charger can actually 'revive' tired batteries.

And I can't say enough in support of a good charger, either.

I had a K-Mart cheapy and all it did was destroy batteries. I bought a multistage (but still cheap) and it's better, and okay for batteries I don't want to depend too greatly on, but I eventually bit the bullet and bought a 4-stage from Jaycar which is worth every cent I paid for it. Click here to see it on Jaycar's site.

I've heard nothing but good stuff about the CTek chargers too, and have seen them at ARB as well, so they're probably available everywhere.
 
Yeah I am going to put a Ctek on my christmas list I think. They won't overcharge a fully sealed AGM will they?
 

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