conversion of 4 batteries to 2?

[Carlo]

Don't know if this helps but pictures of what I did. Only running 2 batteries the 2 Hawker batteries are just setting there (to lazy to lift out). The Optimas were probably not the best choice but it's been a year and no problems.View attachment 419020 View attachment 419021

5 star work if I say so!

 

[ntxcop]

jjb,

Here is a diagram of the 4 battery and 2 battery set up.

My , I bought a M923 last year and when I went to recover it, the manager of the site where the truck was parked offered to sell me 4 new batteries (cheap brand) for his cost. I bought 4 batteries for $45 a piece, $180 total. I installed the 4 NEW batteries in the truck and fired it up. Ran just fine, but the truck needed brake work and I wasn't going to drive it on the road without thoroughly testing it out. A friend used his M35A2 and a medium tow bar to tow my 5 ton to my house, a short 6 miles away.

When we arrived at my house, my cab was full of smoke...... I opened up the battery compartment and realized the new batteries I purchased were taller than the military batteries I removed. The battery leads shorted out on the metal plate under the passenger seat and caused a FIRE! Needless to say, I was glad I bought a new fire extinguisher for the truck when I went to make the recovery.

After the fire was put out, I had two batteries that were partly melted and two that were still good. I wired the truck with two good batteries and it worked just fine. The truck has worked just fine with two batteries for the past year. I'm luck my stupidity didn't cause me to lose my whole truck, but I learned a valuable lesson from the incident. If you get different batteries, make sure to check the height of the batteries to make sure they don't short out on something. I can tell you that it's a sick feeling to see you're new truck with fire coming out of the cab, going up in flames before you ever even had the chance to drive it.

Here's the damaged battery compartment:

One of the melted batteries.

Here's the diagram for wiring 4 batteries and 2 batteries. Hope this helps:

Keith

 

[ARYankee]

After reading this thread and looking at what I originally had, I went to 2 batteries successfully. My M923A1 sat for about 3 months without being started and then when I came home from working in Oregon it wouldn't start. So I said forget trying to figure out which batteries are bad or good so I went and picked up 2 from Tractor Supply Company. I'll stick with the 2 batter setup until Fall and I'll snatch up 2 more and go back to the original 4 battery setup. I will be installing a Solargizer as well. I will also be following some of the recommendations from above too.

 

[goldneagle]

jjb,

Here is a diagram of the 4 battery and 2 battery set up.

My , I bought a M923 last year and when I went to recover it, the manager of the site where the truck was parked offered to sell me 4 new batteries (cheap brand) for his cost. I bought 4 batteries for $45 a piece, $180 total. I installed the 4 NEW batteries in the truck and fired it up. Ran just fine, but the truck needed brake work and I wasn't going to drive it on the road without thoroughly testing it out. A friend used his M35A2 and a medium tow bar to tow my 5 ton to my house, a short 6 miles away.

When we arrived at my house, my cab was full of smoke...... I opened up the battery compartment and realized the new batteries I purchased were taller than the military batteries I removed. The battery leads shorted out on the metal plate under the passenger seat and caused a FIRE! Needless to say, I was glad I bought a new fire extinguisher for the truck when I went to make the recovery.

After the fire was put out, I had two batteries that were partly melted and two that were still good. I wired the truck with two good batteries and it worked just fine. The truck has worked just fine with two batteries for the past year. I'm luck my stupidity didn't cause me to lose my whole truck, but I learned a valuable lesson from the incident. If you get different batteries, make sure to check the height of the batteries to make sure they don't short out on something. I can tell you that it's a sick feeling to see you're new truck with fire coming out of the cab, going up in flames before you ever even had the chance to drive it.

Here's the damaged battery compartment:
View attachment 420867View attachment 420868
One of the melted batteries.
View attachment 420869
Here's the diagram for wiring 4 batteries and 2 batteries. Hope this helps:
View attachment 420870
Keith

BTW those ECONO batteries are reconditioned. I think they are from Interstate Battery. Just bought 4 of them today for $45 each. I bought 4 of them over a year ago and they are nice batteries. (Reconditioned batteries are returned batteries where the dealer took them back without testing them. Usually they are from cars with dead alternators. People think the battery is bad because the alternator is not charging them. At Interstate Warehouse they recharge them and let them sit for 2 days. If they hold a charge properly they are cleaned and sold as ECONO batteries. Depending on the battery you can save a lot of money with them. I got $120 batteries last time for $45 each.)

 

[jjb]

jjb,

Here is a diagram of the 4 battery and 2 battery set up.

My , I bought a M923 last year and when I went to recover it, the manager of the site where the truck was parked offered to sell me 4 new batteries (cheap brand) for his cost. I bought 4 batteries for $45 a piece, $180 total. I installed the 4 NEW batteries in the truck and fired it up. Ran just fine, but the truck needed brake work and I wasn't going to drive it on the road without thoroughly testing it out. A friend used his M35A2 and a medium tow bar to tow my 5 ton to my house, a short 6 miles away.

When we arrived at my house, my cab was full of smoke...... I opened up the battery compartment and realized the new batteries I purchased were taller than the military batteries I removed. The battery leads shorted out on the metal plate under the passenger seat and caused a FIRE! Needless to say, I was glad I bought a new fire extinguisher for the truck when I went to make the recovery.

After the fire was put out, I had two batteries that were partly melted and two that were still good. I wired the truck with two good batteries and it worked just fine. The truck has worked just fine with two batteries for the past year. I'm luck my stupidity didn't cause me to lose my whole truck, but I learned a valuable lesson from the incident. If you get different batteries, make sure to check the height of the batteries to make sure they don't short out on something. I can tell you that it's a sick feeling to see you're new truck with fire coming out of the cab, going up in flames before you ever even had the chance to drive it.

Here's the damaged battery compartment:
View attachment 420867View attachment 420868
One of the melted batteries.
View attachment 420869
Here's the diagram for wiring 4 batteries and 2 batteries. Hope this helps:
View attachment 420870
Keith

I should have updated this earlier. I have the 2 batteries up and running. It was a piece of cake. It only took about 5 minutes to connect everything. It took a little longer figuring out how make a hold down for them.
I'm still hopeful I can rejuvenate the 4 new batteries that were in there when I got it. it looks like they were put in and they let them run dead and just sit for who knows how long. I have them on a 1.5 amp desulphating charger.

 

[GHall]

I kinda like the blue top optima battery idea and am thinkin about purchasing two because they can recover very well, a lot and are sealed. Does anyone think they're a bad idea?

 

[Stein12501]

I have 2 of the Optima Red tops and they have been in for over a year no problems. Not sure of the Blue top some where I read to not use the Deep Cycle can't remember why.

 

[Motiracer38]

The blue top deep cycle batteries are designed to be drawn all the way down periodically and tend not to like staying at a charge for too long of a period. The red tops are meant to stay fully charged as in a typical daily driver. The yellow tops are a mix of the 2. If I remember right, CCA is best on red and go down on the blue.

 

[GHall]

Don't know if this helps but pictures of what I did. Only running 2 batteries the 2 Hawker batteries are just setting there (to lazy to lift out). The Optimas were probably not the best choice but it's been a year and no problems.View attachment 419020 View attachment 419021

Well, problem solved using this exact example!! Red top optimas off amazon. $50 cheaper from there a piece than anywhere I found.. They work perfectly. The only problem I have now is my park brake alarm stays on but when I release the handle, the temp gauge goes all the way hot and vice versa when I set the park brake. You can imagine my reaction when I first saw the temp gauge pegged out hot! I think some mice may have chewed a few wires. Oh well, I'll work on that tomorrow. I'm just glad it runs so well after sitting for a while and was an easy fix so far.. Thanks gentlemen!

 

[racing4funn]

optima batteries arent what they use to be since the companty exchanged hands 6 or so years ago. They are a crap shoot now. May get a good one, may get two bad in a roll

Odyssey is now the best. I would buy any regular brand battery before Optimas.. Yea Im hattin on them. I can. Ive owned more than 10 over the last 15 years on nearly every form of auto sports and boats. Plus friends with their similar problems

 

[juanprado]

Well, problem solved using this exact example!! Red top optimas off amazon. $50 cheaper from there a piece than anywhere I found.. They work perfectly. The only problem I have now is my park brake alarm stays on but when I release the handle, the temp gauge goes all the way hot and vice versa when I set the park brake. You can imagine my reaction when I first saw the temp gauge pegged out hot! I think some mice may have chewed a few wires. Oh well, I'll work on that tomorrow. I'm just glad it runs so well after sitting for a while and was an easy fix so far.. Thanks gentlemen!

Does your truck have a temp light, 4th from left? Some do, most don't. The temp light, parking brake, and air pressure all go through the fail safe warning buzzer module box. Just a fyi as that is where I would start with what you are describing?

 

[TacticalDoc]

why not a 24V battery tender http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tende...976208&sr=8-1&keywords=24+volt+battery+tender

 

[GHall]

why not a 24V battery tender http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tende...976208&sr=8-1&keywords=24+volt+battery+tender

Excellent!! I didn't realize they made one.. Thank you, I am ordering one right now.

 

[TacticalDoc]

Excellent!! I didn't realize they made one.. Thank you, I am ordering one right now.

my Silverado uses up its battery in a week because it has an alarm on it. so to prevent this I'm adding a battery tender. just plug it in and it charges and keeps it charged. Also I have a solargizer

 

[Voyeurger]

jjb,

Here is a diagram of the 4 battery and 2 battery set up.

My , I bought a M923 last year and when I went to recover it, the manager of the site where the truck was parked offered to sell me 4 new batteries (cheap brand) for his cost. I bought 4 batteries for $45 a piece, $180 total. I installed the 4 NEW batteries in the truck and fired it up. Ran just fine, but the truck needed brake work and I wasn't going to drive it on the road without thoroughly testing it out. A friend used his M35A2 and a medium tow bar to tow my 5 ton to my house, a short 6 miles away.

When we arrived at my house, my cab was full of smoke...... I opened up the battery compartment and realized the new batteries I purchased were taller than the military batteries I removed. The battery leads shorted out on the metal plate under the passenger seat and caused a FIRE! Needless to say, I was glad I bought a new fire extinguisher for the truck when I went to make the recovery.

After the fire was put out, I had two batteries that were partly melted and two that were still good. I wired the truck with two good batteries and it worked just fine. The truck has worked just fine with two batteries for the past year. I'm luck my stupidity didn't cause me to lose my whole truck, but I learned a valuable lesson from the incident. If you get different batteries, make sure to check the height of the batteries to make sure they don't short out on something. I can tell you that it's a sick feeling to see you're new truck with fire coming out of the cab, going up in flames before you ever even had the chance to drive it.

Here's the damaged battery compartment:
View attachment 420867View attachment 420868
One of the melted batteries.
View attachment 420869
Here's the diagram for wiring 4 batteries and 2 batteries. Hope this helps:
View attachment 420870
Keith

Hello NTXCOP.
I've been lurking and learning some. I have an M923 and am doing the 4 to 2 conversion but battery terms are not like yours. If I comprehend your diagram of the 2 batts, the blue represent pos and neg from slave receptacle and the two red (VE- and VE+) represent cables rising out of truck bed. Then another bridge from batt 1 to batt 2. I also have three small wires coming out of bed. two are assigned as still connect to VE- and VE+. Any idea where the third lonely wire should connect? Don't want to fry something on my first attempt at fixing something.
I'm attaching drawing showing my battery configuration. Of course, I can spin them either way once I'm certain I've got things right.
Thanks a million for all your help so far. The trucks been sitting in my garage for 2 years. Dying to get it out.
Gary

 

[Voyeurger]

Guys,
Here's my connection plan unless the cable thickness presents a problem in which case I'll have to turn one 180 degrees.
Please let me know if it looks all right.
Thanks a bunch.
Gary

 

[kc5mzd]

I use 2 group "31s" batteries in my 5 ton. I live in central TX so I don't worry about starting in cold weather. The "s" in the battery size makes it come with studs instead of posts. I threw out all the battery terminals and saved the nuts. I bolted the wire directly to the battery studs with the nuts and have never had to worry about loose terminals. The studs seem to hold everything together better and fits the stock wires. I only have 2 batteries and usually start the truck at least once every 3 months or so (unless it is cold outside).I would strongly recommend using 2 12 volt battery chargers or maintainers instead of 1 24v. With one charger wired to each battery you will be able to balance the charge and both batteries will last a lot longer. A couple of cheep charger / maintainers from Harbor Freight should work fine. Even the expensive ones from Amazon are often made in China anyway...

 

[Jbulach]

Guys,
Here's my connection plan unless the cable thickness presents a problem in which case I'll have to turn one 180 degrees.
Please let me know if it looks all right.
Thanks a bunch.
Gary
View attachment 639162

Looks correct.
Cant help you out on your 3rd mystery wire tough. Start following it and hopefully you will find a wire number tag on it.
Also be cautious that your batteries don't contact and short to the bottom of the box lid when you close it, tie them down securely.

 

[kc5mzd]

Try this it will smoke and burn much less...

 

[Ford Mechanic]

3rd wire should be for 12 volt supply to the blower for low speed operation

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