{"id":351,"date":"2017-03-25T21:35:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-25T19:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/blog\/?p=351"},"modified":"2017-07-04T19:19:55","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T17:19:55","slug":"dual-battery-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/blog\/dual-battery-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Components of a Dual Battery System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Components needed for a dual battery system in a 4&#215;4<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s do this for a bakkie with the battery in the back of the vehicle and with a full power distribution system. This is how it was done 2 decades back:<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 576px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/images\/dubbel-battery\/dual-battery1.jpg\" alt=\"Dual battery\" width=\"576\" height=\"234\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Old way<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/565-fuse-holders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fuse<\/a> at the 1st battery, then a basic heavy duty relay, and some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/559-cables\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">16mm square cables<\/a> to charge the second battery.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the high voltages required to charge modern <a href=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/523-deep-cycle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">deep cycle batteries<\/a> this approach has now fallen by the way side. We now use dc2dc chargers, as follows:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/images\/dubbel-battery\/dual-battery2.jpg\" width=\"576\" height=\"226\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This way we are now SURE the charge voltage is high enough to fully charge the 2nd battery. Since the dc2dc charger limits the charge current we can now use a 4 or a 6mm square wire from the front to the back. Note how the dc2dc charger is located close to the 2nd battery.<br \/>\nBut you want to camp without having to run the engine, thus you need to add solar :<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/images\/dubbel-battery\/dual-battery3.jpg\" width=\"576\" height=\"309\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With this setup the alternator can charge the battery while you drive. And while camping the solar panel can charge the battery.<\/p>\n<p>If you were to use a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/631-dc-to-dc-chargers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ctek or HcDP dual charger<\/a> your setup would look like this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/images\/dubbel-battery\/dual-battery4.jpg\" width=\"576\" height=\"303\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Okay, so your charging circuit is sorted, now let\u2019s look at the distribution from the second battery:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/images\/dubbel-battery\/dual-battery5.jpg\" width=\"575\" height=\"265\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone \" src=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/images\/dubbel-battery\/dual-battery7.jpg\" width=\"575\" height=\"431\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Combine all of this and you may well have a \u201cdual battery system\u201d that looks something like this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/images\/dubbel-battery\/dual-battery8.jpg\" width=\"699\" height=\"304\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Article by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hilux4x4.co.za\/views\/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=2487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ChrisF<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Components needed for a dual battery system in a 4&#215;4 Let\u2019s do this for a bakkie &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.4x4direct.co.za\/blog\/dual-battery-system\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Components of a Dual Battery System<\/span> Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - 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