Dual Battery install questions

[baylock]

Hi guys, i have been looking on the forum, but i cant seem to find an answer to my questions, if anyone can please help clear up a few things for me please??

I have just installed a piranha battery tray (the one you move the fuel filter for) in my 02 Single cab DX and am left wondering:

1. What exactly is meant by 'slight modification to metal fuel lines? Does slight mean cutting with a pipe cutter, then re bending, and flanging the line again which seems just a little bit past 'slight' for the amount of work involved, or am i missing something?

2. The tray recommends the ED4R battery, which i think is about 56aH (Correct me if im wrong), has anyone been able to get a battery with better capacity in, or is that about it?

Thankyou for your advice.

 

[jurgzy]

Mate it means you have to slightly bend the 2x metal fuel lines going along the firewall so rubber hose dont kink

 

[Old.Tony]

Recommendation for a particular battery usually relates to its size (dimensions and weight) and in crankers it also refers to the location of the battery terminals. The ED4R is a 56Ah 320 CCA battery measuring 237x174x215mm and weighing 16kg. Unfortunately it's a flooded cell battery.

56Ah is reasonable for short trips particularly if the battery's a decent AGM which will let you discharge it lower than a flooded-cell battery which should stay at 50% or higher of full charge, and since the alternator alone generally only charges to 75% or so, you're left with 25% of 56Ah = 14Ah. A DC-DC charger is recommended (will give you 100% charge, so 28Ah capacity), together with a larger battery if you're going to run a fridge!

If you go to a 75Ah AGM (for argument's sake) with a DC-DC charger, you can draw until the battery is at 20% charge - so 80% of the battery's capacity is yours to use. 80% of 75 is 60Ah - not bad. That will run a Waeco fridge for a day without trouble.

If you're using a coolbox/esky and just want this power for lighting it's perfect. I would recommend looking at an AGM though, but if $ aren't an object, LiFePO4 is THE way to go (as long as you've won the lottery).

 

[baylock]

Managed to find a 65Ah Silver Calcium that fits, might have been able to shoe horn an 80Ah into it, but it would require knocking back a bit of the guard on the inside and bend down a part of the battery cradle, maybe later....

Should be enough power to keep the fridge happy for a while, Im just stitting it on the charger for a bit to make sure it is topped up, then ill set the fridge to -18, put a bucket of cold water in it, and see how long lit lasts.

 

[baylock]

goes better than i thought it would given the capacity, i have been testing it on the fridge, and after figuring out the fridges low voltage cut off is about 11v i was able to run the fridge for about 3 days just off the battery (when charged by the charger which gets it to about 13.5v) it took about a day and a bit to come down to the resting voltage of my main battery in the car, then ran for about a day and a half like that when set to -1 with a couple of small buckets of water in it to give it something more realistic to test. so it should do the job for now, ill probably upgrade later. Thanx for the advice.