Dual battery wiring options?
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Dual battery wiring options?
I have a dual battery setup in my Ram. The second battery is a deep cycle. How should I connect the power for the amp and headunit? What shouldbe connected to the starter battery and what should beconnected to the deep cycle battery? Should the headunit and amp both be connected to the deep cycle battery? What is the best way to connect things so that draw on the starter battery is minimal?
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RE: Dual battery wiring options?
I'd connect the amp to the deep cycle , Also suggest getting a battery Isolator to prevent draining the primary starting battery
The head unit draw is minimal so I'd leave it as wired from the factory(on the primary battery)
The head unit draw is minimal so I'd leave it as wired from the factory(on the primary battery)
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RE: Dual battery wiring options?
If you must i would connect both the amp & HU to the deep cycle. I guess you could isolate them if you want to be assured to start the truck if you drain the one battery with the stereo. Otherwise just wire them up together and dont worry about it.
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RE: Dual battery wiring options?
You really shouldnt have 2 different batteries. If you have a regular one as a primary, then the secondary should be the same thing, if yoursecondary is a deep cycle, your primary should be as well. The batteries will basically fight each other and the deep cycle will not perform as well as it should.
Also, I assume the reason you isolated the batteries is so you won't have to worry about draining the battery that starts the truckwhen the truck isn't running right? Be careful with this! If you have a larger amplifier, that has aregulated power supply. They are very suseptable to low voltage. Many regulated power amplifiers cannot see a voltage below 10.5V or you can cook the power supply in the amplifier. You usually see this in niceramplifers over about 400W RMS. They may say they have under-voltage protection, but don't go by that. It's not an overlycommon problem, but it does happen. I've seen quite a few amps back in because people were playing them with thevehicle not running. You should always have the vehicle running when using any amplifier.
Also, I assume the reason you isolated the batteries is so you won't have to worry about draining the battery that starts the truckwhen the truck isn't running right? Be careful with this! If you have a larger amplifier, that has aregulated power supply. They are very suseptable to low voltage. Many regulated power amplifiers cannot see a voltage below 10.5V or you can cook the power supply in the amplifier. You usually see this in niceramplifers over about 400W RMS. They may say they have under-voltage protection, but don't go by that. It's not an overlycommon problem, but it does happen. I've seen quite a few amps back in because people were playing them with thevehicle not running. You should always have the vehicle running when using any amplifier.
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RE: Dual battery wiring options?
ORIGINAL: rtkota5point9
You really shouldnt have 2 different batteries. If you have a regular one as a primary, then the secondary should be the same thing, if yoursecondary is a deep cycle, your primary should be as well. The batteries will basically fight each other and the deep cycle will not perform as well as it should.
Also, I assume the reason you isolated the batteries is so you won't have to worry about draining the battery that starts the truckwhen the truck isn't running right? Be careful with this! If you have a larger amplifier, that has aregulated power supply. They are very suseptable to low voltage. Many regulated power amplifiers cannot see a voltage below 10.5V or you can cook the power supply in the amplifier. You usually see this in niceramplifers over about 400W RMS. They may say they have under-voltage protection, but don't go by that. It's not an overlycommon problem, but it does happen. I've seen quite a few amps back in because people were playing them with thevehicle not running. You should always have the vehicle running when using any amplifier.
You really shouldnt have 2 different batteries. If you have a regular one as a primary, then the secondary should be the same thing, if yoursecondary is a deep cycle, your primary should be as well. The batteries will basically fight each other and the deep cycle will not perform as well as it should.
Also, I assume the reason you isolated the batteries is so you won't have to worry about draining the battery that starts the truckwhen the truck isn't running right? Be careful with this! If you have a larger amplifier, that has aregulated power supply. They are very suseptable to low voltage. Many regulated power amplifiers cannot see a voltage below 10.5V or you can cook the power supply in the amplifier. You usually see this in niceramplifers over about 400W RMS. They may say they have under-voltage protection, but don't go by that. It's not an overlycommon problem, but it does happen. I've seen quite a few amps back in because people were playing them with thevehicle not running. You should always have the vehicle running when using any amplifier.
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RE: Dual battery wiring options?
I realize the batteries are isolated, but as soon as the truck is running and the alt is charging, they are connected together. So they are sharing the same charge and will "compete" against each other if they arent the same. There is no way to completely isolate the two batteries unless you're running two alternators and the second battery has dedicated power and grounds that are seperate from any other system in the vehicle.
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RE: Dual battery wiring options?
They are still connected when charging. What are you using for ground? You may run a seperate ground from the amp to the secondary battery, but hows the secondary battery getting ground for charging? The alt. is grounded through the motor and then through the vehicle, so your second battery HAS to hook to the chassis or motor and is therefore connected to the primary battery. All the isolator does is prevent discharging of the primary battery when the vehicle isn't charging. There is no way to truly isolate them without running two alternators.
