The 150 series Dual Battery Guide

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

I'm sure plenty have done as you suggest Greg. A cheap tray and hold down clamp from Supercheap does the job if you can make your own bracket for the AC pipe clamp.

I have the petrol engine so also have to relocate the Power Steering Resevoir. The ABR Sidewinder tray I'm looking at has provision for mounting that and the aircon pipe bracket on the side of the tray. The Piranha tray also has this facility but it's a bit more expensive than the ABR tray..

[Guest Close Guest]

With a handful of stories about cracked inner guards, I would look at battery trays that have good bracing to prevent repetitive forces onto the inner guard.

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

You have a point Andrew. Looking at the Piranha tray it employs a brace from the front J bolt to the radiator support. The ABR tray doesn't seem to have it but it wouldn't be too hard to make up something similar with some flat steel. I'm not sure about the ARB trays, can't find much info on them and the price list I have only mentions the diesel model. TJM don't do one for a petrol anymore as near as I can tell.

[Guest Close Guest]

I believe ARB stopped making battery trays for the position behind the driver's side headlight due to the 120 inner guard cracking issue.

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

Well I was shown a tray when I went there but didn't quiz the guy enough as to suitability for the petrol model, will call them to see what the go is.

How important is surge protection? I see some VSRs on eBay that have over current protection but not surge protection.

[ttmx83 Member Find all posts View Profile Close ttmx83]

Posted the following, then discovered similar discussion earlier, but how many have done it?

Planning my dual battery set-up. Noticed the main battery doesn't have a tray as such, just piece of plastic, and sits out over the end of the platform (in 2014 Diesel). It just uses a cross-piece and hold down rods.

Would there be a problem with doing the same with the auxiliary? The hold down points are there already. A hold down bracket and two rods would provide the same security as that afforded the original battery. The most obvious problem would be relocating the A/C bracket, but that's possible.

Have ordered an Optima D34M, so it would be smaller and lighter than the cranking battery too.

Greg

I did exactly this. I had a battery clamp and the plastic insert from a 1992 Cressida laying about, looks factory Toyota, because it is It should fit the Optima you mention as I plan on getting one too. (Currently using a normal size car battery) You may have to move the AC pipe over 20mm or so. I made a bracket to do this in anticipation but have no fitted it yet.

I wouldn't be surprised if the way some of the expensive trays mount, with the extra support, that they cause the guards to crack by transferring the shock from the radiator support wobbling around into the inner guard area. Sometimes it's better to have a little flex/movement. I'm probably wrong, or that could be just me trying to justify up to $200 for a tray made with $5 worth of steel

Cheers Brad.

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

I believe cracking has occurred on both the cranking battery and aux positions
so it is unlikely the cracking is caused by the tray!

The problem with movement is that under harmonic conditions the movement
can be amplified consider leading to fatigue failures.

Personally I would go with a tray that can disperse the weight as widely as possible.

As for cost, its like all things, yes there expensive compared to do it your selfer
copying someone elses design, they have to put the research in, develop the tooling,
make it a mercantile product and provide a guarantee and support etc, and put
research etc into new products.

Not trying to be narking just trying to put across the manufacturers point of view

Cheers

Leigh

[ttmx83 Member Find all posts View Profile Close ttmx83]

Not taking as narking at all

Maybe like myself being budget conscious, people can't justify a tray when the footing is there and that's how they come from the factory in the UK.

I don't have one, time will tell if they crack. I'm not going to look, in protest!!

Cheers Brad.

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

I know where you're coming from, the problem is these days that their moving away
away from being real 4X4 like other manufactures, the big market is people mover
shopping run abouts and that what their designing them for, the fact that they
don't even have a real battery tray is indicative of this. Maybe ok for around
the city but when you put heavy batteries in them and start traveling corragated
roads with out lowering tyre pressures etc the problems begin.

Cheers
Leigh

[drivesafe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close drivesafe]

How important is surge protection? I see some VSRs on eBay that have over current protection but not surge protection.

Hi fido and there is actually no need for surge protection in a DC system.

Surge protection is something that is needed in AC systems.

The claim that an isolator has surge protection is fine but is nothing more than a sales gimmick.

It’s like all the electronic isolator ads that promote the fact these devices have spike protection.

This too is nothing more than a sales gimmick and in reality, if the devices being advertised did not have spike protection, it is that device that would be damaged the first time you used it, but nothing in the vehicle would be harmed.

[fido666 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close fido666]

So is spike protection and surge protection are gimmicks why choose an electronic isolator over a simple VSR? Near as I can gather after reviewing this entire thread they basically do the same thing

[Bailey84 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bailey84]

Looking at installing dual batteries on the weekend and just collecting parts and questions...

Does it matter if I earth the Redarc SBI12 back to the aux battery or does it need to be earthed to the chassis?

And should I join the two earths on the battery?

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

Bailey84,

Earthing to the aux is ok, as for the other not sure what you mean?

In my vehicle I have run the earth cable from the negative cranking battery
terminal to the aux negative, I then run a strap from the aux negative terminal
to the earth stud on the drivers side of the vehicle (aux is located behind drivers
side headlight) this duplicates the way the cranking battery is wired.

The small negative lead on the isolator can be attached to any convenient earth point.

Leigh

[Bailey84 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bailey84]

Thanks Leigh that's exactly what i wanted to know!!!

[drivesafe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close drivesafe]

In my vehicle I have run the earth cable from the negative cranking battery
terminal to the aux negative

Hi Leigh and this is not advisable in any new vehicle.

Most makes of vehicle now have some form of cranking battery monitoring and this is usually done in a number of different ways but most use some form of BMS based around the negative cable running from the cranking battery to the chassis/body earth point.

You can cause some strange cranking battery charging problems by having other loads fixed to the cranking battery's negative terminal.

As such, nothing should be connect to any new vehicle’s cranking battery negative terminal.

This may or may not specifically effect Toyotas, but it’s still far better to make it a practice to keep away from the cranking battery’s negative terminal in any vehicle.

Running a negative from the auxiliary battery’s negative terminal to to the cranking battery’s earth point is always a good move.