Dual Battery

[Ricko1966]

I will get more and better pics soon. I dont have a test light or multimeter,yet, but the deep cycle batt is dead. And nothing is tapped into the charging system yet. The po did use a toggle to trigger the solenoid. It is on the center console.

Okay if that solenoid is triggered via a toggle switch. Dirt simple,disconnect dead battery negative cable, hook a jumper cable from good battery positive to junk battery positive. Do your lights etc work? If so great,move on, move the jumper cable from dead battery positive to the unused large solenoid post. Flip your toggle,do your lights work,turn the toggle off, did they go out. If so everything works. Change the battery and add a 16 gauge wire with a 20 amp fuse from B+ on good battery to unused big post on solenoid. Flip the toggle when you want to charge battery number 2. I'd move the trigger from the toggle to an exciter that was on anytime the engine was running. But baby steps, let's get it working first,we can make it fancy later.

 

[edgephoto]

Is the effort worth it? Just make sure your alternator is big enough and the alternator and battery cables can handle the loads.

 

[YakkoWarner]

My biggest concern would be that if that deep-cycle is really dead - if everything else is wired up right and it attempts to charge once the engine is running; will it draw too much current? I always like to have some sort of current limiter or at least a fuse on in the circuit.

 

[Ricko1966]

Reread #4#10#12 and number 16

 

[Ditch Wicked]

I don't know that that is not continuous duty,at this point we don't even know if it works. The checks I asked him to make will tell us. If it works I'd use it until it doesn't work. Then we can worry about what to replace it with. At this point we need to see if it works.

Here is a front(?) view of the solenoid.

 

[Ricko1966]

Here is a front(?) view of the solenoid.

Everything I wrote should apply to this unit

 

[Ditch Wicked]

Thanks for all the good info so far. I hate to be a bother, but what the heck. I spent some time tracing the wires coming off the second Batt. And I dont know if pulling the grounds off the wires to the lights will be an issue. The one with out E-tape goes to the 3 back up lights. The one with e-tape goes through the firewall.

 

[Ricko1966]

Thanks for all the good info so far. I hate to be a bother, but what the heck. I spent some time tracing the wires coming off the second Batt. And I dont know if pulling the grounds off the wires to the lights will be an issue. The one with out E-tape goes to the 3 back up lights. The one with e-tape goes through the firewall.

No bother ground,anything that's to the battery negative to the car body, or something metal on the engine you can just clamp it in 1 big mess to something metal with a pair of vice grips,to preform the tests on my previous post.

 

[Ditch Wicked]

OK. thanks. I will do that tomorrow and post the results here.

 

[Ditch Wicked]

No bother ground,anything that's to the battery negative to the car body, or something metal on the engine you can just clamp it in 1 big mess to something metal with a pair of vice grips,to preform the tests on my previous post.

I followed your instructions, and nothing exploded. +10 trust. Batt 1 is hooked to the charging system, Batt 2 is hooked to the extra things. B2- disconnected, B1+ connected to B2+. Voltage meter/USB charging port= working. CB radio=working. Solenoid On=clicks. Front Light Bar=works. Rear lights=not working. Solenoid in off position=Same result. When rear lights are turned on OEM back up lights come on. When shifted to Reverse OEM back up lights, and light on rear light switch come on. When B1 is connected to empty post on solenoid, and solenoid in ON pos, nothing comes on.

Apologies for not answering yesterday. Wind was gusting pretty good, and pushed the hood down a little. So I didnt want to risk getting brained again.

 

[Grit dog]

Sounds like you got it about figured out. Nice!

 

[Ricko1966]

Are talking about the factory tail lights,If so I'd bet money that's a separate issue. But it sounds like that solenoid is in fact a battery isolated. If you want to have a second battery for jump starts etc,as in your earlier post. Get a new battery or good used battery for Batt 2 hook it up like it was. Run a 16 gauge wire with a 20 amp fuse from B1+ to the unused big post on the isolator. Flip your toggle when you want to charge bat2. I would take the exciter wire(small wire on isolator) and splice it to terminal 1 at the alternator. Then bat 2 would charge anytime the Truck is running. The 16 gauge wire is a primitive regulator, just like a bigger hose will can move more water,a bigger wire will move more electricity. 16 gauge should allow to charge around 10-15amps which shouldn't over tax your alternator.

 

[Ditch Wicked]

Are talking about the factory tail lights,If so I'd bet money that's a separate issue. But it sounds like that solenoid is in fact a battery isolated. If you want to have a second battery for jump starts etc,as in your earlier post. Get a new battery or good used battery for Batt 2 hook it up like it was. Run a 16 gauge wire with a 20 amp fuse from B1+ to the unused big post on the isolator. Flip your toggle when you want to charge bat2. I would take the exciter wire(small wire on isolator) and splice it to terminal 1 at the alternator. Then bat 2 would charge anytime the Truck is running. The 16 gauge wire is a primitive regulator, just like a bigger hose will can move more water,a bigger wire will move more electricity. 16 gauge should allow to charge around 10-15amps which shouldn't over tax your alternator.

Yes the factory back up lights come on when it is shifted into reverse or when the switch is in the on pos. I dont know what ALT is in the truck, so I dont want to overload it. I will get a multimeter and run through the procedure you outlined previously, before I wire B1+ to the solenoid post. I did run the truck with B1+ connected to B2+, and the Digital voltmeter on the USB charger was reading 14.8 volts with no load. And 14.4 volts with the CB, Front Light Bar, and the back up lights on. As the factory back up lights will come on without B2 being hooked up, is there a risk of overloading something with B2 hooked up?

 

[Ricko1966]

Yes the factory back up lights come on when it is shifted into reverse or when the switch is in the on pos. I dont know what ALT is in the truck, so I dont want to overload it. I will get a multimeter and run through the procedure you outlined previously, before I wire B1+ to the solenoid post. I did run the truck with B1+ connected to B2+, and the Digital voltmeter on the USB charger was reading 14.8 volts with no load. And 14.4 volts with the CB, Front Light Bar, and the back up lights on. As the factory back up lights will come on without B2 being hooked up, is there a risk of overloading something with B2 hooked up?

Yes the factory back up lights come on when it is shifted into reverse or when the switch is in the on pos. I dont know what ALT is in the truck, so I dont want to overload it. I will get a multimeter and run through the procedure you outlined previously, before I wire B1+ to the solenoid post. I did run the truck with B1+ connected to B2+, and the Digital voltmeter on the USB charger was reading 14.8 volts with no load. And 14.4 volts with the CB, Front Light Bar, and the back up lights on. As the factory back up lights will come on without B2 being hooked up, is there a risk of overloading something with B2 hooked up?

Is the negative post still discoonected?

 

[Ditch Wicked]

Is the negative post still discoonected?

When I was testing it, yes. Everything done was with the B2- disconnected. Currently everything is back to pretest configuration.