Ok, I am new to diesels, bought an 05 Quad cab long bed about 6 mo ago. I want to hook up a 12v 12K winch to it but am unsure about how to go about it with the two batteries. I am assuming they are in parallel since only the starter requires the 24v at startup (?) I am going to install a battery cutoff in front of the winch to isolate it when not in use.

Should I also be concerned about running the truck and the winch at the same time? Does the alternator put out 24v?

Any advice or is it a standard 12v hookup to one battery and which batteryis better?

 

Your batteries are hooked up in parallel. That means you get 12 volts. If they were hooked up in series, you would have 24 volts. You can hook the winch to either battery. It will draw equal amperage from both. Your electrical system is 12 volts across the board.

Good luck with your ride.

 

All you need is one battery. Hook it up just like you would on a vehicle with one battery, you are just getting the benefit of being able to supply twice the amperage. If you use (+) on one and (-) on the other, you'll fry it with 24 volts.

The way I have mine setup is I run my power for the back off of the driver side battery and the power to the front off of the passenger side battery.

I do this for two reasons...

1 - Routing it to those locations from those batteries was easiest and gave the least amount of complications...

2 - I didn't want to add two sets of thick power wire eyelets to the terminals.

Do yourself a favor, if you haven't already done so, get the high idle feature enabled on your truck. At idle, the alternator doesn't put out it's full current and puts more of a drain on your batteries. Spinning the alternator up to where it's actually making a little more power puts less of a strain on the rest of your electrical system. Also, if you have to do a series of long pulls (i.e. REALLY stuck) you'll kill the batteries pretty quick unless you are supplying some extra juice.

 

Does the 05 have the fast idle included, I didn't think it started till 06.

I would like to have mine turned on if I got it

 

Honestly, I'm not sure, but if PTO was an option for '05, you should be able to get high idle.

Nice pics of the gators in your gallery, by the way!

 

That is not a true statement. The batteries are wired up in parallel. 12 volts, that's is. Positive from one battery and the negative from the other still gives you 12 volts. A wire from either or both positives, plus a wire from one or both negatives still only gives 12 volts. You only get 24 volts if they were hooked up in series.


If his factory grounds are in good shape, all he needs is a positve from either battery. He can bolt the ground to the frame for the neg.



Good luck with your ride.

 

I hate that whole parrallel / series thing.[:@]

Me and electricity are not friends.

Here's a decent little "For Dummies" link, for those that have fried a wrench or two on battery posts before. [:-]

http://www.autoshop101.com/trainmodu...s/circ101.html

 

Here is what I was talking about. I forgot that the truck is connected (+) to (+), i.e. 12v, not (+) to (-), i.e. 24v.



[IMG]local://upfiles/39492/678F5CE805434AF6970DC8E743D44C84.jpg[/IMG]

 

WOW!! Thanks for all the input. I got the winchhooked up and it works great. I have a connection in the front and bac, but dang that 12K sucker is heavy. Hopefully I will get some time pics posted soon.

My first diesel truck and I wonder why I waited so long to get one. I love this truck!

 

Yeah, that thing has gotta be a pig.

My 9.5ti on the multi-mount comes in at about 106 lbs, so that 12K has gotta be a monster.

How are you mounting it?

Here's how mine works. I also, have one of the quick connects on my trailer winch that I power off of the back connector. I was gonna just add a battery to the box, but figured I already had 12v power, so I might as well use it. I also have a set of jumper cables that I took one of the sets of clamps off and put a quick connect on so I don't have to screw with anything under the hood of my truck. Just plug it in and go.

[IMG]local://upfiles/39492/C8B79EE1D3F5451CABD21ED03161843D.jpg[/IMG]