If you dont know dont touch

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

Hi ALL,

Was onsite today and had my 2 flashing amber lights going for about an hour. When I got back in the car, it would not start, which has never happened before. I started it using the second battery and when I got back to town took it to the local battery shop thinking that maybe I had a dead cell or something.

After load testing the batteries, which were all good, the battery bloke asked why I have everything running off one battery and why I are not using the two, one for the cars electrical system and one for everything else.

It was wired up that way and I had no reason to believe it wasn't still like that, and then I remembered...

A few months back I took my car to the local Toyota dealership for an ABS fault, whilst it was there they managed to fry my Sidewinder dual battery switch and replaced it with a redarc unit.

They obviously could not work out how to put it back together and just bolted all the cables to the one battery....

I have been driving all over WA for the last few months pulling all that current from one battery whilst the second battery just sat there.

Now I have to get it all re wired again.

I am so happy my 150 is now out of warranty so I don't have to take it back there ever again.

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

Geeze, that's a bugger.

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

Bastards!!

[baggs71 Inactive member. Find all posts View Profile Close baggs71]

X2 bugger. ....

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

what was the sidewinder dual battery switch that failed?
was it a dbi 120 or a dbi 140?

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

what was the sidewinder dual battery switch that failed?
was it a dbi 120 or a dbi 140?

Maxjj, it was the DBi-140R that was wrecked by Toyota ( it had not failed )

Originally I had a DBi-120 but that stopped working about 6 months afteritbwas fitted, not sure why.

[Bear63 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bear63]

Maxjj, it was the DBi-140R that was wrecked by Toyota ( it had not failed )

Originally I had a DBi-120 but that stopped working about 6 months afteritbwas fitted, not sure why.

How did they damage it ?, just asking as i have changed 2 of these in the last 2 months that the customer didn't' even know that they were not working, something that i picked up during normal servicing when testing that battery and charging circuits

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

How did they damage it ?, just asking as i have changed 2 of these in the last 2 months that the customer didn't' even know that they were not working, something that i picked up during normal servicing when testing that battery and charging circuits

Not sure, I was just told they had damaged it. They did have the batteries disconnected, maybe they hooked it back up the wrong way.

The first one just stopped working, I spoke to sidewinder about replacement under warranty, they said no but did say they would gladly charge me full price for a replacement.....

I like all the sidewinder products and I have, or have had, all of the prado electrical related extras they make, but I do believe the component quality is lacking a little and have had to redo some of the wiring and replace some of the plugs, maybe this is a reason for the failures.

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

You anything to do with rightway training?

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

My second battery don't seen to be charging properly and I thought it was the battery at first but I'm now thinking it's the Sidewinder unit not charging as the link light is on which means it should be charging but the second battery is only reading 11v.

Any ideas?

The high current contacts on the isolator may be dirty (turning on and off all the time). thus not allowing current to go through. You will still have a light on your switch though. You need to place a volt meter on your aux and turn the isolator on manually if you have that option or wait for it to turn on and see if you can see 13.8v give or take when the engine is running to confirm. I had a similar problem when turning the isolator on. The light would come on but I didn't hear the clicking. Tapped the isolator and all was good.

Winston.

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

You anything to do with rightway training?

Hi Bushbasher, Yes, I am the owner.

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

At least the service centre told you about the damage. Some wouldn't even do that.
It would be interesting to know what they did to blow that unit.
I would be checking all the fuses to see if and what fuses were blown. Report back if you can, especially if you find something.
They must of caused a short or something, and that is not good for the ECM. It does sound like a bad mistake. Look for spiking marks, where a spark might have arched across, near the batteries. Check out the terminals as well.
You do have to be very careful around batteries in computer controlled electronic vehicles. Matter of fact, it pays to be anal.
The Roo.

Hi Roo, I don't have the old one to check for marks, they kept it. I had a look around the batteries etc. but no arcing marks are present .

I think I will just notch it up to experience and check everything better from now on...

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

Get one of LeighW's Voltage Booster Diodes first Jase..try that..You have a AGM second batt yes?

Very happy with the one we got.

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

Hi All,

Update

I fitted the new optima Batteries yesterday, one yellow top and one red top. Also fitted the new booster diode from LeighW.

The booster diode works exactly as LeighW described and I am very happy with it.

The batteries were a big expense ($780) but at least I should not have any more issues, might go camping this weekend and put them through their paces. Got to love product testing....

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

I also had one of the Sidewinder dbi140 units fail and didn't realise until the second battery was dead flat. The replacement has worked fine for 2 years.

Derek did replace it but he wasn't particularly helpful which was disappointing given how much gear I've bought from him.