For those who have dual battery setups, are the batteries simply wired in parallel? If so, do the dual cables go to any centrally mounted connector posts to make doubling up easier before they go on to their respective ground or power points? Is there any type of hardware mounted along with the batteries such as an isolator or a connector box for any reason? Thanks, Bob
i dont have 2 bat but helped a friend set his up. his car was being used as a daily driver. he used a isolater that the bater hooked up to. this was susposed to keep each battery in opitmum condition. the theory is if you dont run a isolater, a bad battery or one in not the best conditions will damage or shorten the life of the other battery. the other option to the isolater that ive heard of is to get both batterys at the same time. that way they live in the same conditions and in theory will live a long and equaly long life.
Exactly. Use an isolator or 2 new identical batts. wired to each other. Yes, Parallel. I dont think anyone would wire them in series but you never know.
Check your local laws too. Some state req. it to be a non-venting battery if you put it anywhere besides under the hood.
Don, I would assume that the 2 separate ground wires both go to ground but where do the 2 separate hot cables go to? Also what cable size are you using?
I'm not sure of what type isolator we would be talking about. The isolators that I am familiar with were used to charge 2 batteries in an RV. Once the truck was shut off, the primary battery was isolated so you would only be draining the secondary battery while camping. This way, the truck would always start for you when it came time to leave for home. Then, once the truck was running, both batteries would charge again together.
There's actually only one ground wire. The one you see goes to ground, then the one loops to both negative posts and the other goes to the charging post that sticks out of the rear of the car. The positive wires come from the charging post to the positive of one battery, then loops to the other battery, then goes to the on/off switch. It the continues on from the other side of the switch to the front of the car. You can eliminate a few wires since you probably won't have an on/off switch or charging posts sticking out the rear of the car. Also I have a sheet of metal between the Passenger compartment and the trunk making it NHRA legal. And the wire I'm using is 4 Guage. We bought the wire and ends at a "nut and bolt" place here in town and made our own cables.
Thanks for the info, Don. I have a shut off switch and remote charging posts left over from my circle track days and I was going to use them for other reasons than being required by NHRA. The shut off switch for just security reasons. The remote posts are going to exit somewhere under the back of the car. I figured if I have to jump someone's battery for them, these would come in handy for keeping the jumper cables away from the fuel cell, also in the trunk. Do you go with a large amp alternator in order to charge the 2 batteries? Hey just realized, my 1,000 post. Another milestone in my life.
Side note: Those painted ends cause problems. I'm sure Don has cleaned all contact areas of the end... I hope anyway. I've tossed hundreds of them working at Pep Boys. I take it that the need for 2 batteries is due to compression? What kinda starter holds up?
I use a 100 amp Summit alternator. And it only goes 1/4 mile at a time so if I make it to the later rounds I throw the charger on for a short while. I like the 2 batteries here as it gets so hot that sometimes I have to leave the water pump and fan running to keep it cool in the staging lanes. I also use a Summit pro torque starter.
That passes tech in your area... certainly wouldn't pass here or most areas... For your safety I would put those in vented boxes as batteries release hydrogen gas during charging and discharging which is (see Hindenburg) explosive...
Sorry, I didn't see this post til today, but that would pass tech in any area as the trunk is sealed off from the passenger compartment of the car by .032 aluminum as specified in the NHRA rule book.
