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Dual Battery, Custom, Need brainstorming

1K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  strvger01 
#1 ·
Hey all....

I'm wanting to do a custom Dual Battery setup on my 84 CJ w/258.

Before you jump in and tell me how to wire it up, I need to tell you that this won't be the normal Dual battery setup.

what I want is this:

Battery #1: hooked up normal, running the vehicle.
Battery #2: Will be ONLY running the radio........ Thats' right.... ONLY RADIO.

But I want the alternator to still have the duty of charging/maintaining #2 battery also. I will be wiring the radio directly to the #2 battery, no ignition required.

The motive: I want to be able to drive to the beach, the woods, a parking lot etc... and run the radio until it dies.....

Then hop in, and crank it up and drive home, without having to flip any switches.

That's right everyone, I'm so stubborn and spoiled that I want it done my way :p

I'm thinking I'm going to have to have some kind of diode hooked up so the voltage from the #2 battery, won't "backfeed" the system through the alternator connection, but this is why I'm reaching out.

I would ask my Electrical Engineer/Physicist father, but he had a hard time mounting a flat screen on the wall. So...

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Please keep in mind the terms of the "motivation" though...... Radio will be left on at anytime, running the #2 battery down. #1 battery can run the vehicle like normal.... NO need to PHYSICALLY flip a battery switch.
 
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#2 ·
#6 ·
#3 ·
I would think that a simple rectifier bridge should work for charging. Your alternator will charge both,then at a salvage yard find a power bridge from a truck, etc. to put your fused power to your radio,lights,whatever you want to the second battery.

Dave in Muskegon using JeepForum
 
#8 ·
#7 ·
I found this one also.....

PowerStream Battery Isolator
PST-SBI-3112 $73.50
http://www.powerstream.com/battery-isolator.htm

For a mere $73.... I like it. I sent them a question if it would charge/maintain both batteries at the same time? or do one.... then the other in que.

I do like the "weather protection" of the expensive Piranha model.... and the option to easily hook up a solar charger input that would be monitored and maintained.
 
#9 ·
As an option I'd like to throw out that there is now a battery small enough to fit two of them into one standard tray. I will admit though,that I haven't looked into pricing them. I expect that they're too much......but something to investigate.

Dave in Muskegon using JeepForum
 
#10 ·
could always find a motor that has an alt bracket on the other side of the motor and run a dual alt set up. have a independent charging system for each battery. :laugh: over doing it yes, but no more than all of the other switching systems. and the second alt would only drag the motor down while charging bat #2 but normally it would be in free spin.
 
#13 ·
Check out some of the boat forums. They use 1 battery only for stating the motor and the second battery runs all the assesories. Both batteries are charge through an isolator.
 
#16 ·
Nice, I've been researching and comparing all of the options that have come out of this. I'm no longer as scared and confused as I was before. This seems as though it's going to be easier than I had first anticipated. Thanks all for the help, I'll sure to post the results once I get home and get it done =)

I hope this stuff helps others years down the road when someone is looking it up as well.
 
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