My dual battery installation

[steve johno Member Find all posts View Profile Close steve johno]

dual battery

Hi All

I have just had an ARB dual battery system fitted, & yes they did put it in the far corner on the passenger side, so they had to move the fuel filter, i asked the sales rep why they did,nt fit it in the space provided on the opposite side to the factory battery, & he said that ARB had done extensive testing & felt that it was,nt strong enough in that position.
I was,nt sure if he was pulling the wool.....
Hope Toyota dont give me hassles re-seviceability of new posi of fuel filter

Cheers

Steve J

[borgy Member Find all posts View Profile Close borgy]

Re: dual battery

Hi All

I have just had an ARB dual battery system fitted, & yes they did put it in the far corner on the passenger side,
Steve J

So how big a battery did you fit in there (capacity?)..

Cheers
Borgy

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

Re: Grande and Piranha Battery Tray

Just wondering if it's part of the rear AC system that comes with the Grande and is now standard on the GXL. Has anyone else had this problem and does anyone think it will cause issues. Everything has clearance and nothing rubs but you have to wonder long term.
Cheers
Rick

I reckon you're right there Rick. Had a look at mine again and there's no issue with the aircon piping. Have you got a pic or two ... one without the tray and one with ?? :?

Cheers
Chippy

[Sprocket Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sprocket]

I took it into the ARB guys here on the Gold Coast and their "expert" installer took a look and said all looks fine. I did however have to gently push the AC pipe and make some mods to the exisyting bracket to keep it clear from the tray but I think it'll be fine.
Piranha did say they have had the same issue from a few customers and they are looking at a re-design.

[Chuck Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chuck]

Re: dual battery

Hi All

I have just had an ARB dual battery system fitted, & yes they did put it in the far corner on the passenger side, so they had to move the fuel filter, i asked the sales rep why they did,nt fit it in the space provided on the opposite side to the factory battery, & he said that ARB had done extensive testing & felt that it was,nt strong enough in that position.
I was,nt sure if he was pulling the wool.....
Hope Toyota dont give me hassles re-seviceability of new posi of fuel filter

Cheers

Steve J

Hey Steve,

Do you have any photo's of the ARB setup?



Chuck

[clifton Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close clifton]

Ditto Steve,
Love to see the secondary fuel filter arrangement and Aux. Battery setup. There is lots of heat in them thar places. :?:

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

Hey .. nice job Matt. This guy obviously takes a bit of pride in his work.

Cheers
Chippy

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Neat wiring job but it looks like there's a bolt missing on the bracket forward of the battery

[Damien Parker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Damien Parker]

The young sales bloke did me a deal on a couple of ARB caps for the kids and some twin core wire, for my fridge wiring..

I will be going back :P .

Cheers,

Young Matt, He's great.

I am sure they would have been telling you how great one of their bars would look on the truck too

I am forever dropping in there when i have a few minutes spare to talk crap and add more items to "I want" list.

I am thinking an Awning will be up the top somewhere. The ARB one seems to be a bit shorter than the others so it doesn't protrude off the front much.

[judas1001 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close judas1001]

Pradogxlv6, My prado is booked in at ARB Newcastle next week for Dual Batteries. Sounds like I made a good choice.

One thing is though that they quoted me for a Piranha DBE180S rather than a Redarc. I have done some searches in PradoPoint but couldn't find out what the difference between the 2 devices is and if either is better or worse. Everyone seems to use Redarcs though. Anyone got an opinion????

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

There will always be advocates for various brands and various systems. You just need to make sure that the system you choose will suit your application. For example if your two batteries are the same basic lead acid type then pretty much any system will work but as I found out do not assume that all will be well if you replace the auxiliary with an AGM battery. I found my main battery was boiling because the AGM can accept much higher charge rates than a conventional lead acid battery and the system I had installed (a Piranha) trickle charged the main while charging the aux so I had way too much current going into the main. Up 'til then the Piranha had run with various Deepcycle batteries for about 10 years and I had no complaints. With an AGM you really really need a system that treats each battery independently and really does isolate each battery during charging.

Best advice is decide what type of aux battery you are going to use and then read the comments in this forum about systems and then ring around the various suppliers (as many as possible) and ask what their system offers that X or Y doesn't and then make your decision on your needs. If you intend running an AGM PM me and I will send you some photos of my install and the system I chose and why.

[plucker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close plucker]

The bad news is the gear in the redarcs and all the other dual battery setups probably only cost $20 in parts but you pay 5 or 6 times that. To me the redarc seems to be more space friendly than other models and perhaps more robust.
Most specs on most units will possibly be similar too.
Perhaps Redarc has done more research into newer cars, batteries and charging systems, than other mobs. Who knows.

[D4D_4_Vic Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close D4D_4_Vic]

Variation of Duel Battery Install

Thanks to all responsible for a great informative forum, I have used the information and ideas and made small mods to suite my own requirements and those of me buddy D4D-4-NVS. We are helping each other with installing and setting up our Prado's using as many ideas as possible.

My duel battery install consists of Piranha tray, redarc isolator, Besco 75Ah deep cycle battery and home made bits and pieces. Hope these are of some use, as most of my install has been as a result of other great install ideas.

I try to aviod drilling of any sorts and utilise existing screw holes


First is a place to fix the isolator and fuse block



Bracket assembly





Located in position



Various Shots of install













Duel battery












It is all up and working with two cig. plugs and one hella plug in rear LHS panel above jack cover panel

D4D_4_Vic

Victor..................... [/img]

[clifton Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close clifton]

D4D-4-Vic,
Strewth, now that is a neat job, Crammy will be impressed! love the shaped & painted bracket even nice stand-offs for the spade fuse block looks cool.

[clifton Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close clifton]

High All,
Thanks also all members for the helpfull hints! I am using a Battery Tray the same as Crammy's from Off Road Downunder , they gave me a 10% discount as a PPer.

All battery wiring is Marine Grade 25mm2 the 4 Gang fuse block is 8BS cable as is the Aux battery chassis earth.

All electrical connections are crimped and soldered accept the Aux battery terminals which are clamped vide Brass ABR terminals.

All electrical connections coated with CRC Lectra Seal. Just about everything else coated with tectyl 506 love the stuff so does dust, unless dried for about a week.

The little 40Amp thermal circuit breaker will protect the 8BS rear wiring for fridge and anderson plug to be run when when I finish my boat projects and the weather turns yuk again.

Battery Tray partially assembled and OEM packaging from offroaddownunder.com


Battery Tray modified to clear wiring loom:


Main Supports in position with 3mm rubber spaces glued under:


Bolt holes drilled and painted B.S.:



[IMG]http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd1/camerageek_01/3.jpg[img]

Battery tray in position with tectyl 506 coatings on all contact sufaces:


Redarc, 100Amp fuse and 40Amp thermal CCB on 4mm Al plate:


Battery Isolator mounted in position using 8mm bolts and locknuts for stand-off:


View showing 4-Gang spade fuse block connected to AUX Batt terminals also mounted on Al plate and fixed to 6mm studs on firewall using lock nut stand-offs so as not to damage wiring loom behind.



Aux. Battery in position:


Aux. Battery earth straps; 25mm2 to engine block via 8mm plated ms bolt and lockwasher, 8BS run to chassis earth stud behind battery tray.
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