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Adding a second battery Ls swap

These old trucks will kill the battery from leaving a door open or anything. I used to mess with the audio a lot and some of those systems could run a battery down. Even in new trucks the desert heat can kill a battery abruptly with no warning. If you are always somewhere where you can get a tow or jump, it might be a waste, but at least once in town it made it real easy to switch to the backup and drive away, instead of begging for a jump.
 
The jump picks need to be exercised. They never last me at home. At work they got used 3-10x a week. Would last 3ish years.
My current one is dead won't take a charge,put a new battery in it in 22. 1st time I tried to use wouldn't start the vehicle Needs a new battery. Not sure I will make the effort.
 
My situation is unique with the camper, but I’ve been running dual batteries with a simple 100amp continuous duty solenoid for years. Zero issues. Super simple.

The solenoid is fed from a three position rocker switch. That switch is fed power from the main battery via the ign switch and the other is from the aux battery. With the rocker in the main setting the solenoid joins both batteries once the ign is on. When the ign is off the solenoid disconnects and will allow the aux battery to discharge without effecting the main cranking battery.

Middle position kills all power to the solenoid and the truck runs on the main battery alone and the aux battery won’t charge while running. The third position allows the aux battery to energize the solenoid on the off chance the main cranking battery is dead.

My camper has a good amount of electrical load when in camp mode. Lights, 12v fridge and charging stuff will put a solid dent in a fully charged battery overnight.

I do have a solid state ASR relay to replace the the solenoid with for the eventual move to add solar. This way when the solar is putting out more than 13v it will join the batteries and charge both.

Thats just the way I do mine. But it’s simple and very reliable.
 
ZooMad75 said:
My situation is unique with the camper, but I’ve been running dual batteries with a simple 100amp continuous duty solenoid for years. Zero issues. Super simple.

The solenoid is fed from a three position rocker switch. That switch is fed power from the main battery via the ign switch and the other is from the aux battery. With the rocker in the main setting the solenoid joins both batteries once the ign is on. When the ign is off the solenoid disconnects and will allow the aux battery to discharge without effecting the main cranking battery.

Middle position kills all power to the solenoid and the truck runs on the main battery alone and the aux battery won’t charge while running. The third position allows the aux battery to energize the solenoid on the off chance the main cranking battery is dead.

My camper has a good amount of electrical load when in camp mode. Lights, 12v fridge and charging stuff will put a solid dent in a fully charged battery overnight.

I do have a solid state ASR relay to replace the the solenoid with for the eventual move to add solar. This way when the solar is putting out more than 13v it will join the batteries and charge both.

Thats just the way I do mine. But it’s simple and very reliable.
Click to expand...
Have any pictures?
 
ZooMad75 said:
My situation is unique with the camper, but I’ve been running dual batteries with a simple 100amp continuous duty solenoid for years. Zero issues. Super simple.

The solenoid is fed from a three position rocker switch. That switch is fed power from the main battery via the ign switch and the other is from the aux battery. With the rocker in the main setting the solenoid joins both batteries once the ign is on. When the ign is off the solenoid disconnects and will allow the aux battery to discharge without effecting the main cranking battery.

Middle position kills all power to the solenoid and the truck runs on the main battery alone and the aux battery won’t charge while running. The third position allows the aux battery to energize the solenoid on the off chance the main cranking battery is dead.

My camper has a good amount of electrical load when in camp mode. Lights, 12v fridge and charging stuff will put a solid dent in a fully charged battery overnight.

I do have a solid state ASR relay to replace the the solenoid with for the eventual move to add solar. This way when the solar is putting out more than 13v it will join the batteries and charge both.

Thats just the way I do mine. But it’s simple and very reliable.
Click to expand...
Sounds the same as mine except I added the boat switch to change which one is "main".
 
Word of advise on across with solar. I have 1 of small dash top 1.3 something Amp panels on my burb, aux bat. The acr I used will switch closed if either side has 13.5v, somedays that relay cycles on and off if the main bat is low, and aux bat is full charged.
Also regular battery charger will activate the acr. I usually disable it when charging batteries, on shore power.
 
Cucv_M1008 said:
Have any pictures?
Click to expand...
Probably, but honestly not much to look at. The solenoid is mounted on the passenger fender, switch in the ashtray. I’ll see if I can find pics.
Mastiff said:
Sounds the same as mine except I added the boat switch to change which one is "main".
Click to expand...
Thats not a bad idea. I just went as simple as possible.
 
ZooMad75 said:
Probably, but honestly not much to look at. The solenoid is mounted on the passenger fender, switch in the ashtray. I’ll see if I can find pics.

Thats not a bad idea. I just went as simple as possible.
Click to expand...
Or links to parts you used.
 
We run a dual battery setup that charges from the alt or solar. The starting battery is wired like factory. From there I ran a cable from the positive of that battery to our house battery through an ACR. Both batteries are grounded to the chassis or body. I have a blue sea acr that connects or disconnects the batteries depending on their state of discharge.

The solar runs directly to the house battery to keep it topped off when camping. The acr will connect to the start battery once the house battery is fully charged.

The only time I’ve had issues is when I don’t keep the batteries on a charger when stored. I just killed both that way after being discharged too long.
 
Wes Harden said:
The jump picks need to be exercised. They never last me at home. At work they got used 3-10x a week. Would last 3ish years.
My current one is dead won't take a charge,put a new battery in it in 22. 1st time I tried to use wouldn't start the vehicle Needs a new battery. Not sure I will make the effort.
Click to expand...
That's why I use my jump packs to help people all the time and charge them back.
I have multiple packs and keep rotating them,and I also use them for charging things when camping.
 
imiceman44 said:
Are both alternators grounded to the frame or one is separate like the military diesel?
Click to expand...
Both alternators and batteries ground to the chassis. I run TPI brackets and modified the air pump mount to take the 2nd alternator. A simple marine battery switch ties the two batteries together, but I have to pop the hood to reach it. It would be more convenient to self-jump start or double-power winch with a remotely operated solenoid, but this requires a larger switch (a 9000lb winch can draw up to 480A and it's hard to predict how much will come through the switch) than just charge control does (only needs to handle your alternator output). I would only be interested in a latching-type relay since I don't want the extra 1A of current to hold-in a regular continuous-duty solenoid while trying to start, and I'm not sure at what voltage they release.
 
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