to add another battery

[peecook]

I have a m109 and want to run a battery to the rear box so I dont have to run several wires to the front of the truck for some small accessories.

do i hook it up in series? does it matter which battery I run it too? do i need to be concerned with the size of the battery and draw on the alternator?

thanks for the help.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Are you wanting 24v or 12v at the box? The Jeep guys and the car stereo guys use battery isolators to separate the extra battery from the rest of the system. It keeps a bad one or an overloaded one from draining the rest of the system. If you want 12v then, run it in parallel with one of the batteries in the front. It could cause an uneven charge on the set though, but I am not positive.

Rather than add a battery, you could run two wires to the rear box and put a power distribution block back there with fuses.

 

[peecook]

nice flash to the past of my car stereo days. power distribution is probably a better idea for what i want anyways. thanks Chris.

 

[HeadWizard]

...or you could put a 24v to 12v DC-DC power converter under the seat and run 2 wires (12v) to the rear box. Eliminates possible uneven charging of your batteries. Putting a separate battery in the rear will require that it get charged somehow.

I've got mil spec dc-dc converters, 35 amp capacity available if you're interested.

 

[cranetruck]

I second Chris's idea about running 24 volts to a separate "sub" panel in the van....and using smaller DC to DC converters where needed (at each point of load). The 35 amp ones sound good.

 

[nattieleather]

Re: RE: to add another battery

nice flash to the past of my car stereo days. power distribution is probably a better idea for what i want anyways. thanks Chris.

Popped yourself in the head saying why didn't I think of that didn't you?....lol

Yeah your better off doing the power distribution than a thrid battery. ....Unless your truck has been altered isn't there 24v already going back there? I know the black out lights are 24v.