The 150 series Dual Battery Guide

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 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

[Piratepete Member Find all posts View Profile Close 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.

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 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 !

[Guest Close Guest]

What exactly was wrong with the ABR kit?

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

[bretthar Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 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.

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 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..

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 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.

[bretthar Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 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.

[Brains Find all posts View Profile Close 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.

[briann532 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close 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

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

Hi Brian I use the 4 psi rule too:

Simple answer is if you lower pressures then you need to slow down, of course you still
need enough speed to smooth the corrugations. If tyres get to hot then pull over for awhile and let them cool. Course helps if your vehicles not overloaded.

Many drivers though won't and still sit on 120 KPH, I lower mine and slow down as I don't want to trash my car, takes longer to get there but I'm out to enjoy the trip anyway and hopefully arrive with no damage to the vehicle.

Cheers
Leigh

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Has anyone used the Baintech kit in their dual battery setup?

http://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/prod...ry-system.html

I note the kit doesn't seem to include a battery monitor but is the rest of it good value?

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

I have a V6 petrol so am restricted in battery size for an under-bonnet installation. The power steering reservoir and AC pipe limit you to a 10" battery even with relocation of the PSR and moving the AC pipe a small distance (don't want to risk breaking it).

Digging around the forums I have come up with a list of 10" contenders and would appreciate any feedback on the ones listed (or any others you might like to add :-

Exide ED50
70Ah
261(L) x 175(w) x 255(h)
17.7kg
Think this is a lead acid battery, can’t find a definitive spec sheet to confirm though.
http://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/sh...2585/ed50.html

Supercharge allrounder MRV50
80Ah
259(L) x 173(w) x 202(h)
23.3kg
Lead acid I think, again hard to find a proper spec sheet.
http://www.marinesparky.com.au/catalog/i32.html

Optima D34
55Ah
254(L) x 173(w) x 199(h)
19.5kg
Spiral cell AGM. Less AH than some but superior recharge technology?
http://www.optima-batteries.com.au/o...FRFyQgodBAcAgA

AC Delco S70D23L
65ah
232mm(L) x 173mm (H) x 225mm (H)
16.6 kg
Lead Calcium – Is this what they term hybrid?
http://www.allstarbatteries.com.au/s70d23l
http://www.acdelco.com.au/online-cat...catalogue.html
Seems to be the lightest so far too.

Exide Extreme EX50
70ah
261 (L) x 173 (W) x 225 (H)
21.0 kg
This is a hybrid technology battery and is made in Australia (2 year warranty).# Appealing except for the fact it's not sealed.
http://www.exidebatteries.com.au/doc...wd/EXTREME.pdf

Exide Orbital ORB34DC-48
50ah
258 (L) x 170 (W) x 203 (H)
18.6 kg
This is a spiral cell technology battery like the Optima but only has a 12 month warranty, plus it has the lowest ah rating of the lot so far.
http://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/sh...rb34dc-48.html

Super Start HVT-70D
80ah
259 (L) x 168 (W) x 208 (H)
23.2 kg
This is an AGM battery rated for under-bonnet use and has a 36 month warranty. It's an Australian company but the batteries are made in China I believe.
http://www.superstart.com.au/Product...0/Default.aspx

[winniliss Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close winniliss]

When I purchased my AUX battery, one of the requirements was it had a minimum CCA of around 710 amps which is required to start a 120 Prado and no doubt a 150 (correct me if I am wrong). The other was the same terminal orientation as the main. If the main failed I could just swap the batteries with no issues.

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

My current Toyota "Hi Performance" battery is only 610CCA. I'm assuming it's the original battery, there's nothing in the service history (I have all the printouts) to suggest it's been swapped out at some stage.