Duel Battery Set Up Q's

[Mick G]

I know this has probably been covered before but I am still none the wiser due to the amount of technical info available.

Am about to get a duel battery set up rigged to my "99 TD5 Disco and would like to now what options are pricing is available. Have had a quote for setting one up but the guy who quoted didn't even ask how I was going to use it - simply read a price from a book for my car. So, this is how I will use it and what I want it to do.

Will be running a winch, fridge, rear camp light, compressor, plus a couple of other lights and general 12v accesories. What I would like to do is just use these and then drive knowing that both batteries are being charged again. The option to start from the 2nd battery if needed would be good as well so I am assuming some kind of in cab controller would be needed. I have had a look at some brnds available but it seems to be a mine field of options.

Another option is to also put a bettery in my basic trailer which sometimes goes with me when I have a few people in the car and a lot of gear. I would then just leave the trailer at the camp site and go driving, leaving fridge etc running in the trailer. Can I easily set up a sytem which will either automatically or manually select the correct battery and then start charging again when I plus it back into the car?

Hope you guys can help me and if anyone has any idea of what sort of $ I would be looking at and where best to get this fitted on the Gold Coast , that would be tops.

Cheers Mick

[landy_man]

try the auto elec section and search... you are right that it has been covered to death...
the only system I know of that allows both manual and auto selection of batteries is the LRA one... www.lrautomotive.com.au
Although i doubt there is anyone up your way who would be fitting these... it is really not that hard to fit a dual battery kit yourself... surely you dont have to pay someone to run a few wires for you... do you ????

[-Richo-]

I have an Arrid smart relay and its great, simple and effective. http://www.allabout12volt.com/indexcat.html $140. The only thing you wouldnt run off the aux battery is your winch, run it off the main. As for starting from the aux dont do that either, just charge the main from the aux with a jumper lead. Sending high current (winch, starting a car etc) through dual battery controllers is not a good idea.

Check the auto elec section too.