The 150 series Dual Battery Guide

[briann532]

Mate has an optima on the guard of his 120, had a marine pro before that, I still have a
marine pro in piranha tray.

He has done a lot and I mean a lot of server corrugation driving and has not had any
issues with either the cranking battery or the aux. He believes after traveling with many
others that a lot of the problems are caused by tire pressures, people jus won't let their
pressures down and also drive way to fast.

Well at least that's his opinion, I also let my pressures down and haven't had an issue.

Leigh, interesting comment about tyre pressure.
I tend to agree with you, but I am constantly thinking about the heating issue when my tyre pressures are lower, especially when travelling at high speed.
I try to go by the 4 psi rule, but have on some of the hotter days found the pressure rose significantly when running a lower than usual tyre pressure.
Correct response to this would obviously be to slow down and I accept that, but I guess its a fine balance between cushioning effect of lower pressure and safety of overheating tyre.

May I ask your thoughts please?
Brian

[Brains]

Have been considering a dual battery set up for a while but have been considering using the Thumper battery set up instead of permanent under bonnet set up. I like the versatility, portability for camping,, not having to put permanent sockets in back of vehicle and that I can take it out of vehicle when not needed. Also like that I can power ARB portable compressor unit for pumping tyres. Best of all, can take it with me if I sell the Prado. Anybody used these or have any experiences with them? Also good for me coz they are made in Adelaide so easy for after sales service if needed.

Pete,

I use these in our work cars for reasons you have mentioned.

I deal with Simon from Outback Power Solutions or 12 Volt Direct, both his businesses and in Lonsdale, Adelaide. We have been using these either with a Redarc SBi12 isolator or Redarc BCDC charger for the past 4 years. When the batteries finally fail we can just replace the batteries and away we go again.

[bretthar]

Mate has an optima on the guard of his 120, had a marine pro before that, I still have a
marine pro in piranha tray.

He has done a lot and I mean a lot of server corrugation driving and has not had any
issues with either the cranking battery or the aux. He believes after traveling with many
others that a lot of the problems are caused by tire pressures, people jus won't let their
pressures down and also drive way to fast.

Well at least that's his opinion, I also let my pressures down and haven't had an issue.

That probably has a lot to do with it and as the piranha guy said to me the extra bracing on their tray stops things flexing a bit.

[LeighW]

Mate has an optima on the guard of his 120, had a marine pro before that, I still have a
marine pro in piranha tray.

He has done a lot and I mean a lot of server corrugation driving and has not had any
issues with either the cranking battery or the aux. He believes after traveling with many
others that a lot of the problems are caused by tire pressures, people jus won't let their
pressures down and also drive way to fast.

Well at least that's his opinion, I also let my pressures down and haven't had an issue.

[matt150]

Piggy the kit comes with install instructs and pre terminated cables. I ended up following the instructions and although my isolator was working, my batteries were always connected. I have sorted it out..

[bretthar]

How was the cable wrong ? It's just a piece of wire, how did it kill your starter battery. The redarc is no different to the abr setup, they simply connect the aux to the main when the main hits a certain voltage.
On the guard cracking issue I'm new here, I've recently come over from 10 years of owning a NP and NT pajero, but have read everything on this site about the issue. First thing I noticed is how thin the metal is in the engine bay, the pajero inner guards are far stronger due to the fact the front suspension is mounted to them due to lack of a separate chassis. Seems like the weight of a battery and corrugations are too much for the thin metal. I spoke to the guy at Pranha and he reckoned their tray wad better than others fur to the bracing on the side and to the front radiator support panel. He also said to not fit a battery over 21kg. Sounded fair enough but that side panel the tray is braced to is paper thin and I don't think,it offers a lot of support. But seemed better than the ARB tray which featured quite a bit in the cracked guard list. What I didn't like about the piranha tray was how much the aircon pipe needed moving. I only wanted to fit a 10 inch battery due to weight so I ended up using the 12 inch piranha tray but chopped it down to 10 inch and made up a bracket for the aircon pipe to bolt to it. So I ended up with a well braced tray and only needed to move the pipe less than an inch compared with over 2 inches.

What exactly was wrong with the ABR kit?

Are they still around? I notice their shop on old Cleveland road has closed up now..

[matt150]

Been having issues with batteries and my isolator set up. I installed an ABR dual battery kit when I first got my 150. After killing my starter Toyota battery recently and not understanding why, I bought a redarc isolator to replace the ABR isolator. While I was fitting it this afternoon I noticed the main power lead that comes from the auxiliary battery over to the starter battery didn't look correct. When I fitted the kit, I followed all the instructions and the cables all came pre-assembled. The kit was wrong, when I sorted out the cables correctly, the bloody new isolate works correctly.

Not very impressed. I've sorted it for now, might make a new power cable and re-install it over the weekend. It pisses me of that you fork out for a pre-assembled bloody kit and it's wrong !

[Piratepete]

Have been considering a dual battery set up for a while but have been considering using the Thumper battery set up instead of permanent under bonnet set up. I like the versatility, portability for camping,, not having to put permanent sockets in back of vehicle and that I can take it out of vehicle when not needed. Also like that I can power ARB portable compressor unit for pumping tyres. Best of all, can take it with me if I sell the Prado. Anybody used these or have any experiences with them? Also good for me coz they are made in Adelaide so easy for after sales service if needed.

[LeighW]

Yes there has, do a search on this site for guard cracks in the 120 & 150.

Cracks have been reported in both the left and right side guards both using and
not using battery trays.

Cheers
Leigh

[Aceprado]

Thanks for the feedback leighW.
Has there actually been any reports of gaurd failures yet?

I am going to risk it anyway. The weight difference between the battery's will be negliagable. I am sure the engineer's at toyota will have rated the gaurd to suit.

I will report back if any failure occurs.

Cheers,
Swanie

[LeighW]

Generally the aux will be heavier than the cranking battery, anything you can
do to spread the load away from the guard would be a idea. The after market
trays mount to lower guard and also to the side guard and also have a support
bracket to the radiator, well at least mine does. Doesn't spread the load much
but somethings better than nothing

[Audiobuzz]

I was about to ask the same question. The factory cranking battery doesn't have a tray so if people are fitting a tray for the aux battery, why not also for the main battery? The mounts for both side look identical so why does one need it but the other not?

Ab

[LeighW]

Apart form the guards cracking you haven't missed anything

[Aceprado]

Battery Trays

Team,

How many of you have utilised the factory 2nd battery mounts already available in the prado?
It looks as though i can get away with a $10 plastic tray and $10 clamp from supercheap and the battery will be just as snug as the main battery.

Am I missing somthing here? Most people seem to be spending $150 plus on aftermarket battery trays.

Cheers,
Swanie