Why only one battery?

[upnover]

I have seen many rigs out there in trail land running only one battery. Usually it's a red top or yellow top.
My concern as I have built my rig, and am getting ready to build another, is that while it's easier to run one battery, I do see a need for at least two. In winching situations, the absolute worst thing you can do to any winch(electric) is to starve it for power. Granted, most times you only have to winch a few feet before you can drive out of something, there are many times when it's a winch fest and more power is needed. I know for a fact, that a gell cell battery does not take a fast charge. They like a slow charge over a period of time. So a high amp alternator isn't a fix for that issue. I currently run a 160 amp alternator and three batteries. I run three because of often I am called upon to weld someone's rig, and I isolate two of them to run my Ready Welder. The new rig will most likely only have two batteries.
So, what is your school of thought when you decide to run only one battery.

 

[Andy J.]

The only physical reason to not run a second battery is weight or lack of space. For most of us non-comp trail guys, this really isn't the issue. Seems to me that multiple batteries is at the bottom of the mod list because it doesn't really improve off-road performance. It is more of a safety net for extreme conditions/breakage. I would love to run another battery on my rig, but there are more important issues I need to address first.

 

[HGSR]

i just ordered two BTF batt boxes, and my junk will see street time. its like having insurance i think. espically in a auto trans rig.

 

[BigClay]

I have been contemplating running an additional battery in my rig. I am ignorant when it comes to wiring two batteries, so I am not sure the correct termonolgy, but I want to keep my system 12v, so is that running them "parallel"? I want to be able to use one battery to "jump" the other if need be.

 

[Benjie]

I have seen many rigs out there in trail land running only one battery. Usually it's a red top or yellow top.
My concern as I have built my rig, and am getting ready to build another, is that while it's easier to run one battery, I do see a need for at least two. In winching situations, the absolute worst thing you can do to any winch(electric) is to starve it for power. Granted, most times you only have to winch a few feet before you can drive out of something, there are many times when it's a winch fest and more power is needed. I know for a fact, that a gell cell battery does not take a fast charge. They like a slow charge over a period of time. So a high amp alternator isn't a fix for that issue. I currently run a 160 amp alternator and three batteries. I run three because of often I am called upon to weld someone's rig, and I isolate two of them to run my Ready Welder. The new rig will most likely only have two batteries.
So, what is your school of thought when you decide to run only one battery.

Chip, I run a 8274-50 winch. At full load, the winch pulls 450 amps. I also run a red top optima that has 1000 cranking amps or 800 if it's cold. My alt is 125 amps. I have PROPERLY sized leads on my winch, alt, and battery. Roughly, my battery will put out twice as much amperage as the winch needs, w/o factoring in the alternator. In my mind, a safety factor if 2 is good enough.
Optima states you can recharge the batter as fast as you want as long as the battery doesn't get above 125 F. My battery is in the engine bay, so the recharge may not be ideal, but it has survived a long time.
Welding is a different animal all together. I used to have a home brew on board welder set up. When I changed to a fuel injected motor, I did not keep the on board welder. The ECM is too sensitive for the electrical nightmare that on board welding creates. So, I don't need to worry about that. I play it safe. I get the truck back to camp and use my non on-board welder.
Just my .02.

 

[carthief007]

i was running my ford with one battery,1000 ca's and while running the winch it was one heckuva draw...i relocated my overflow and built a plate to set my other 1000 ca battery and its a big difference

 

[upnover]

I have been contemplating running an additional battery in my rig. I am ignorant when it comes to wiring two batteries, so I am not sure the correct termonolgy, but I want to keep my system 12v, so is that running them "parallel"? I want to be able to use one battery to "jump" the other if need be.

You are correct, kinda. Parallel will put the two batteries positive to positive, and negative to negative.. Which is the best way to run them for a winch. The only way to get 24 volts out of it is to run positive to positive on battery A, to Negative on Battery B, And then the open Negative to your ground and open positive to your hot side of your system If you want to be able to "jump one off if you drain it, then you need to either do it one of two ways.
way one: Run a battery isolator. This will allow charge to each battery as needed, but you won't run both down at the same time when using something like off road lights and or winch. What I did when I had this set up is battery a was all the stock stuff, and battery B was everything I added to the rig. like lights, winch, stereo and so on
Wat two, is to keep both battery in the truck but only use one at a time. If in a serious winching situation, you could hook them both up and keep them hooked up after you were through to make sure both were charged up. You could use a quick connect, or a couple battery shut offs so that the auxiliary battery could be turned off when you wanted to.

 

[upnover]

.
Optima states you can recharge the batter as fast as you want as long as the battery doesn't get above 125 F. QUOTE]

They may state this, but my experience and what I have seen, they just won't charge fast. You can throw the charge to them, but mine and others I have seen, just won't take it fast at all.

 

[braxton357]

Optimas are overrated. Buy a single higher amp AGM battery and be done with it. I mean, your rig is trailered and you never wheel alone plus it's a manual trans. Other than extended winching with the engine off, there's not a whole lot of reason for two batteries?

 

[lockedup5]

Knock on wood. I've never had a problem w/ just one while on the trail and you know what I have and how much I use it. It has been drained dry a few times because of Mason playing in the Jeep but it always takes charge good.

 

[frankenyoter]

I don't have dual batteries, but one day I hope I can work it out. Personally I would prefer to be able to have a marine switch on the dash so I can run a primary battery to make the rig run and have everything tied to it (winch, lights, etc). With a marine switch you can run battery a or battery b or both batteries at the same time.

This way if you leave it on a and leave your lights on or run the stereo all night you can switch to b to start and then run a and b as you charge. If you were in a mega-winch fest you could run both at the same time. An added bonus of the marine switch is that if you roll it you can turn both batteries off quickly while strapped in.

Down side is that a good switch isn't cheap. A friend of mine is big into Consumer Reports type reviews. I personally have a red top, but he claims that Sears sells a gel cell that out performs the Optima for less.

 

[mr ramcharger]

Pic's of a two battery 12v set up please.

 

[drkelly]

Money and weight is why I only run one battery.

 

[hadfield4wd]

The only physical reason to not run a second battery is weight or lack of space. For most of us non-comp trail guys, this really isn't the issue. it doesn't really improve off-road performance.

I'm not a comp guy but I don't want to sacrifice performance for any reason. I've been on a wieght reduction kick recently. Everything adds up. I've gotten about 200lbs out of the my rig in the last 2 years. It really does perform better. Climbs better etc.

I would love to run another battery on my rig, but there are more important issues I need to address first.

The only time I'd run a second battery was if I had an expedition type rig.

its like having insurance i think.

It is more of a safety net for extreme conditions/breakage.

Well at what point do we carry too much stuff? At one point I carried just about everything. I even used to carry D35 shafts for other poeple. I was going through a point where I was always running into some newbie that broke a shaft and didn't have parts or the know-how to fix them. I used to sell them on the trail and even fix them for people who didn't know how. Like I said up top I had gotten 200lbs out of my rig and I'm looking for ways to reduce more weight. The more weight gone also means less strain and breakage. We can go way overboard.

As far as the ready welder I am on the fence. We have one that belongs to the club and if we need it. If we do I just grab a battery out of some elses rig. However if you only have 2 rigs and you drain the battery's welding you won't be able start anything then jump the others.

espically in a auto trans rig.

What does having an auto trans have anything to do with it?

I have have a high performance alternator that I had custom wound at a local place. It puts out plenty of amps. I also have a custom wound motor for my winch that draws less amps. The warn winches draw a ton of amps. Compare the stats to Superwinch and they draw almost 30% less.

Plus with all the new battery's available the Odessey's come to mind they are so much better than the optimas.

I do have a Yellow Top. I'm going on six years with it. It's a great battery. It has been completly dead a ton of times and always comes back. However I'll buy an Odessey next time.

 

[Andy J.]

I have been on a weight loss program myself . I completely agree that less weight = better. FWIW, I am currently running a yellow top that has died and been brought back to life several times and still works well. Don't know that I will buy another because of the price, but this one has served me well.