Has anyone here done it? I'm thinking real seriously about running dual batteries. I already
have the isolator picked and have decided where I will put the second battery but I was
wondering if any of you have pictures of a dual setup. If I do it I will be running the winch,
stereo, and aux lighting from the second battery. I will leave all of the standard equipment
and vehicle related components (ie extra gauges, aftermarket ignition, etc.) on the main
battery.

 

It's on my to do list, I just havn't done it yet. I have the tray from a cummins ready to install, and had picked out a kit at one time. I plan to have a deep cycle for my second battery.

 

Do you also need to go with the Diesel sized alternator?

 

No, not from what i've read. They make kits to correctly hook up two batteries to just about any stock application. You can set them to both charge, or charge one, then the other, etc... There are a lot of options.

 

I'm interested too.... It looks pretty straight forard... Why not just run a cable from the new battery to the old?

 

The isolators come in different voltage capacities based on your alternators output. I plan
on having my alternator built up by a local that did my last one.

 

what's the isolater do? don't you want the batteries to be connected together and then connected into the alt?

 

Not necessarily. Depends on how you want to use them. You might prefer to switch them back and forth and be relatively independent of each other. It's up to you I guess.

 

It connects the alt. to both batteries and allows you to to either run them independently
or together. With a flick of a switch you could jump start yourself from the secondary
battery provided you get a remote switch.

 

Haha i was going to do this but i got a beefy alternator and a deep-cycle battery. (Sears diehard platinum..4 year warranty sealed the deal for me), (and a High output alternator built by Mean-Green, @ 2,000 rpm idle i probabley put out in the neighborhood of 120 amps). Basicly with a dual battery setup you can connect the second battery to the main, but you risk draining it to the point of not being able to start your vehicle because it is trying to maintain the other battery as well. With a isolater like xskylinedx said you can just flick a switch to tell the isolator to charge the main battery for your electrical system or charge both batteries at the same-time. Quite an awesome thing if you have the applications of needing two batteries