Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi Andrew and if your Optima was in a low state, it would take about 4 to 5 hours of driving time to get the battery over the 95% SoC mark. But if you bypassed the Ctek and charged straight of your alternator, because the Optimas are a rapid charge battery, you would have it up round 95% in about ...

Hi sprung and have you measured the voltage at your cranking battery while your motor is idling?

Hi Jimbo and just hook it up and forget about it.

You will stuff the battery itself before you will harm any of the vehicle’s electronics, if that’s what you are worried about.

Hi folks and this is a weird one and I’m hoping someone out there may have come across something similar. I have a Discovery 4 customer who has had a continual flat cranking battery for around 18 months and the other week the battery was replaced by the dealer, even though at times the dealer has h ...

Hi TheOtherHand, and yes you can have a problem but it depends on the actual set up. The single biggest potential problem with dual battery set ups is NOT short circuit events but current overloads. If the set up is a single auxiliary battery under the bonnet then the problem is not that great but I ...

Hi Boxy and unless you are planning on doing some winching and want to join the batteries while winching, that cable is a bit of an overkill. For a dual battery set ups, with both batteries in the engine bay, you could easily use 8B&S ( 7.9mm2 ) and it will be fine. I supply 10mm2 with engine bay ...

Hi Mick and MP sent.

Hi 33BigWheels, while the SC80 can control two different voltage circuits and the same time, it is not a step-down device. BUT, I am in the process of adding some new gear to my web site and this includes the range of Sterling Power Products. One of the devices they make is their BB2412-30. This is ...

Point I was trying to make is op is better off spending a few more $ on a quality unit. This is what I will be doing next time. Hi stillvn, that was actually what I was, in a roundabout way, trying to push. The price USUALLY reflects the quality and product backup. As far as knowing Sidewinder ...

Hi howsie, the problem with volt meters used to keep track of batteries in a vehicle, once you start your motor, no matter how charged or discharged any of your batteries are, the only voltage you will read is your alternator voltage. Now add to this that once a battery has received any form of ...

Hi stillvn, you did not mention when you did the deed but your post reminded me to post up my warranty details. My gear comes with a 30 day INSTALLER WARRANTY, and it covers accidental damage caused by the installer and if one of my isolators is damaged by the installer, the unit will be repaired or ...

One more point I forgot to cover.

Howsie, don’t waste your money on voltage gauges, they give as much deceptive info as they give useful info.

If you want more on the subject I am happy to cover it but it will be another long winded post.

Hi howsie and I’d better correct some of the advertising B/S first. There is no such thing as DC surge protection. I know a number of DBS sellers state their gear has surge protection but unless you intend to plug the isolator into 240VAC, they can claim to have all the surge protection they want, ...

Hi again howsie, and no worries.

Have a look at the link anyway and just compare the two isolators.

Thanks Scott, and I’m always lurking but I have been busy.

BTW, I offer a special price on the AULRO forum and this is also available to members here.

Hi again howsie, and I forgot to cover isolators but Scott has done that in spades. My apologies for spamming but I have a new isolator that is not on my web site yet but it may be of interest to you. There is a thread running on the AULRO forum and it has plenty of info and feed back about the new ...

Hi howsie, for a start, you will need two cranking batteries if you are going to be using the auxiliary battery while winching. The exception to the rule is something like an Optima Yellow Top Deep Cycle. This battery is also rated as a winching battery, but most deep cycle batteries will have a ...

Hi Stuss and sorry mate, I missed your earlier post. A 10w would still be fine even if your battery is self discharging. But if you go to a 15w panel just keep an eye on the voltage at the batteries at say 2 pm on a few days to make sure the battery voltage is not getting over 14.5v at the peak of ...

OP said it was a Zook. You could probably start it with a couple of AA batteries.......... Just to get off track but to show how close to reality this is. There is a guy on a UKD3 forum, who, after arriving back from overseas, finding his D3 had a flat battery and wanting to get home from the ...

Hi again tweak’s, exactly what DAMKIA posted, and furthermore, you will can use different size panels to do things you normally can’t with a battery charger. A few months back I realised I had not recharged a Calcium/Calcium ( Ca/Ca ) battery for some time, after I had discharged it during some tes ...

In full sunlight, the 2w solar produce a maximum of 135ma

This is more than enough to stop a battery, in a good state, from self-discharging.

Hi Tweak’s my 60Ah battery is just under the size of most cranking batteries, which are around 70 to 90Ah and while this battery was nearly fully charged, with a terminal voltage of 12.72v OPEN CIRCUIT. In two days, of mostly overcast, with the two 2w solar panels mounted flat against the north f ...

Hi Chimpboy, I’m testing the use of solar panels for charging some very small batteries ( 7Ah ) but out of curiosity just to see how small I could go in the size of a solar panel and still charge a battery, I put a 60Ah battery ( this is just a bit smaller than the average cranking battery ) and I’m ...

Hi again Tweak’s, as I suggested to chimpboy, if there is a battery isolator in the system, then you need to cater for that. If you do have an isolator, and it’s one of mine, you need to factor in 24 hours of isolator operation at 275ma per hour. If it’s something like a Redarc, you need to factor in ...

Well tweak’s, I’m not getting into an argument here but all the work I’ve done on batteries and solar panels, I have no problems not only maintaining a 100Ah battery with a 5w solar panel and no regulator, but the 5w solar charges, at avery slow rate, but it still charges the battery. Please note, I ...

Hi tweak’s, as chimpboy doesn’t have an isolator, I was going to suggest that chimpboy can save some money and just get a 5w solar panel.

A 5w solar panel will have no trouble maintaining a 100Ah battery and will, given enough time, actually charge one.

Hi Chimpboy, most panels come with diodes built-in one way or another. Those ones your looking at, I use and they work fine for keeping a battery charged and they just don’t have the current capacity to need a regulator, the battery's own internal resistance will keep the maximum voltage below the b ...

Hi chimpboy, a cheaper and more powerful option is to got to Jaycar and buy one of their 2w 12v solar panels and connect it directly to your battery, no regulator needed and they putout up to 200ma.

These won’t charge a blow battery but they will keep a fully charge battery in good nick.

Hi Bingham, you can parallel any 12v battery type with any other 12v type battery but as Scott posted, the one thing to consider is the charge voltage levels. The easiest way around this problem is to fit something like Supercharge Allrounders. Allrounders are calcium/Calcium batteries and as such ...

Hi Dazza, as Scott posted, it’s just no the case. What happens is, people hear how batteries have to be wired in series, where they need to be as close as possible in size. They then think the same thing applies with batteries wired in a parallel set up. The reality is you can use any size, type or a ...