Easy 12V Dual Battery Setup | What do you REALLY need?!

[@adsmerkz3421]

Your warm beer re-enactment killed haha! Really informative, so good!! And yes, get a mic. Keepem coming!

[@robinobrien3099]

Good explanation of your system. I had a similar in two vehicles some years ago & had no trouble, in fact one also charged a third battery in the trailer. You must be a bit soft with a electric blanket for camping ! The old saying just toughen up. Looking forward to more of your adventures

[@alwaysAWD]

cheers mate the system went great, sometimes simple is best. haha the heated blanket makes it a little easier to wake up in the subzero for a day of skiing 🤙

[@martinsmith8926]

Nice one

[@WillHritik]

Nice video! Clear and simple. I have a smart alternator. What should do in this case?

[@alwaysAWD]

thanks mate - if you have a smart alternator you would need to use a DC to DC charger. So you run your cable from crank battery, to your DC to DC charger. Then, you connect your second battery to the DC to DC charger. That's in a nutshell the requirements - I'm considering making another video on this so stay tuned!

[@SuperCanetoad]

The alternator in the Territory is controlled by the power-train control module (PCM) and is a "smart" alternator. It will still charge a 2nd battery but not 100%.

[@alwaysAWD]

it's kinda 'smart' in the sense it's linked up to a PCM, but I've travelled around Australia with this setup with great charging to 100%. The PCM doesn't quite switch off the charging on these sort of alternators, since the cranking battery isn't a huge AGM like more modern cars with sophisticated charging setups. I've even run tests to check voltage drop across road trip, not once did it drop under 14V give or take.

[@SuperCanetoad]

We also travelled around Australia 19000km with a frig in the back with battery plus a solar panel on the roofrack. Like you we found it charged sufficiently for our needs. My comment was just that it is really a "smart" alternator officially. Good article by the way. Cheers.@@alwaysAWD

[@martenatsma1454]

Do you have any fuses between the starter and the auxiliary?

[@alwaysAWD]

yep at least one, two would be my suggestion on either side of the smart isolator

[@martenatsma1454]

How many amps?

[@jamescook3297]

Have an 06 Territory Ghia Awdw

[@jamescook3297]

Would it work on that

[@alwaysAWD]

absolutely it would mate - mines an 06 AWD too

[@petethescalemodeller6130]

what size fuse would you use

[@alwaysAWD]

i used a 40amp as that would presumably be my highest power draw required i reckon, but go as low as you can service

[@petethescalemodeller6130]

@@alwaysAWD Thanks :)

[@tyzon00800]

Buy a decent power station, job done weighs 6 kg and no need to buy anything else , 240v , 12v, solar all covered $500

[@alwaysAWD]

it's an option, however you still need to build in functionality to allow it to charge as you drive - power stations can be good for small getaways, but for days at a time off-grid travelling that's when they can fall short 🤙

[@user-cs5hd2vf6x]

Sorry mate, but you’re wrong! A smart isolator is nothing more than a switch, when the switch closes it parallels the 2 batteries, essentially making one battery. That’s fine if both batteries are identical. But u have a deep cycle agm battery which has completely different characteristics to the crank battery. You’re going to destroy both your batteries pretty quickly! This is the exact reason why dcdc chargers exist, so they’re r not directly linked & the deep cycle battery gets the correct charging voltage & current.

[@alwaysAWD]

Doesn't parallel it mate - smart isolator isolates the deep cycle from the crank when vehicle shuts off :) so you don't run down your starter battery 🤙 and when vehicle is on, it provides 14~ V so it's pushing current out to keep the second battery topped up, thus mitigating risk of both battery's settling to a common voltage. has worked for myself and others for many years

[@user-cs5hd2vf6x]

Doesn’t parallel it?🤔😂 When it closes it connects the + of the crank battery to the + of the 2nd battery. Parallel! Yes it “works” but you’re never gonna charge your batteries correctly & they will fail much sooner. I love when ppl tell I’m wrong! This is my trade & I do this stuff for a living. There are so many flaws in this system!

[@alwaysAWD]

works for myself and many others on a budget :) 🤙 smart isolator was designed for this exact use case

[@user-cs5hd2vf6x]

Only if the batteries r identical though. The thing is, it’s cheaper in the long run to do it properly, as your batteries will last much much longer.

[@1vsme]

This won’t properly charge the battery to 100% and if you have a car that’s 2008 or newer, your alternator won’t charge the battery most of the time. Mine would only charge on Deceleration or something while parked and idling. It took HOURS to charge a 100ah agm battery. Just because you have the engine on doesn’t mean it’s charging

[@alwaysAWD]

for a Ford Territory (any year till 2016) it absolutely does charge 🙂 been used effectively across Australia 🤙 same with most cars with a basic alternator 💪