More of a Question - Wiring Accessories w/ Aux Battery

[lmychajluk]

I ordered a SurePower battery seperator the other day to add a second battery (Optima Yellow Top) in my '07 Avalanche. For now, I have some fog lights that I want to wire in, but I will eventually want to add the Warn Powerplant Dual Force winch / air compressor combo and maybe a few other odds and ends.

Here's the link to the seperator:
http://www.surepower.com/separator.html

According to the documentation, this item will wait until the Primary battery has a 13.2v charge, then allow the charging system to cut over to the Aux battery. It also says "If the current requirements are greater than the charging system can produce, the Battery Seperator will automatically seperate the batteries, thus directing all available charge current to the battery directly connected to the charging source".

My question is this - As far as accessories go, would it be better to wire the accessories to the Primary Battery (keeping the Aux Battery 'in reserve'?), or should I wire the accessories to the Aux battery, which would leave the primary battery for 'stock' loads, and allow juice to flow to the Aux battery only when the primary is charged?

 

[cadboy1]

Those systems are more commonly found on boats. I would wire everything to the AUX battery so that your main is always ready to start your truck 

 

[jconsole]

Those systems are more commonly found on boats. I would wire everything to the AUX battery so that your main is always ready to start your truck?

i noticed your sig and your location. i would like to add a second battery as well. will mount on passanger side.

recenlty i purchased a real battery charger/tester- cost me $110. my current delco battery seems to be the original battery. my tester says 66% capacity. lights dim when rolling windows up or down. i need to replace the primary.

for your primary would you suggest red top or blue top?
for the isolator would you suggest painless performance?
wiring would you suggest something i seen mentioned called a stinger kit?
what would you suggest for the highest amp/hr yellow top that will fit in the battery box on the passanger side? as technology improved, would stinger make a higher amp/hr battery that would fit?

eventualy, in the near future i will install either a hi am alternator or a hi amp dual alternator from ohio generators.

i need to start getiing the parts as i will be going to the poconos gtg.

btw: it is not my intention to 

thanks

 

[cadboy1]

for your primary would you suggest red top or blue top?
for the isolator would you suggest painless performance?
wiring would you suggest something i seen mentioned called a stinger kit?
what would you suggest for the highest amp/hr yellow top that will fit in the battery box on the passanger side? as technology improved, would stinger make a higher amp/hr battery that would fit?

I have 2 red tops but will replace the AUX with a yellow when I need to but will keep red for main. I think the Optima yellow is around 750 cca. I have seen the Painless kit. Like everything they make, it looks like a quality kit. I have the Wrangler kit on my AV.

 

[jimbo53188]

i noticed your sig and your location. i would like to add a second battery as well. will mount on passanger side.

recenlty i purchased a real battery charger/tester- cost me $110. my current delco battery seems to be the original battery. my tester says 66% capacity. lights dim when rolling windows up or down. i need to replace the primary.

for your primary would you suggest red top or blue top?
for the isolator would you suggest painless performance?
wiring would you suggest something i seen mentioned called a stinger kit?
what would you suggest for the highest amp/hr yellow top that will fit in the battery box on the passanger side? as technology improved, would stinger make a higher amp/hr battery that would fit?

eventualy, in the near future i will install either a hi am alternator or a hi amp dual alternator from ohio generators.

i need to start getiing the parts as i will be going to the poconos gtg.

btw: it is not my intention to?

thanks

better battery!!!    http://www.stingerelectronics.com/prodDetail.asp?strID=179

 

[jimbo53188]

or the original (maker of the stinger battery)      http://www.odysseyfactory.com/documents/US-ODY-1500-002_1206.pdf

 

[lmychajluk]

JConsole, you were the other guy that works at 90 Hudson, weren't you? Sorry - I kinda lost touch last we started talking.

As for your other questions:
My local dealer said that he worked with Painless as well and likes thier products as well as the SurePower (who makes the Warn Isolator). The main difference that I see between the Painless kit and the SurePower is that the Painless has a 3-way manual switch to have the batteries 1) Isolated; 2) Connected w/ ignition on; 3) Connected always, while the SurePower connects the Aux battery when it detects at least 13.2v on the Primary. A manual switch (or connection to the starter switch) is optional on the Surepower as a way to connect the Aux battery for starting. The 2 kits are about the same $, but the Painless Kit I think comes w/ the wiring you need while I think the SurePower doesn't.

The RedTop is Optima's starter battery (more Cold Cranking Amps). The Blue is probably similar, but is meant as a marine battery, and may be overkill unless you're completely waterproofing your Avy. The Yellow is the Deep Cycle, which may not have as many CCAs for the same size battery, but maintains a constant voltage most of the way through discharge, so I would think it's better for accessory use. I forget which size YellowTop I grabbed the other day, but it was rated at 750CCA and I would get something that has at least the CCA of your Primary (I think the stock '07 battery is 700CCA, but you have an earlier model, right?). Wherever you get the battery should be able to look this info up and tell you. Also, FYI - in my '07, after trying one or two genreric battery hold-downs, the $4 rubber GM battery block was the one that fit the best.

I haven't seen a 'Stinger Kit', but I have come across terminals and other battery accessories made a company called Stinger, though I don't know much about them. I did see a battery cable terminal connector by them that had a built-in LED voltage or amperage readout that looked kinda cool.

As for the alternators, what are you running that you need duals? IMO, with a battery seperator like the SurePower you're only charging 1 battery at a time, so one alternator should be enough, unless you want the redundancy. If you have 2 alternators, though, you probably want to run them to the 2 seperate batteries to keep each charged in parallel, and in that scenario you're probably better off w/ the Painless seperator since you can keep the batteries completely isolated from each other with position 1 on the switch and only connect them together when needed (ie, one battery is dead).

 

[jconsole]

JConsole, you were the other guy that works at 90 Hudson, weren't you? Sorry - I kinda lost touch last we started talking.

As for your other questions:
My local dealer said that he worked with Painless as well and likes thier products as well as the SurePower (who makes the Warn Isolator). The main difference that I see between the Painless kit and the SurePower is that the Painless has a 3-way manual switch to have the batteries 1) Isolated; 2) Connected w/ ignition on; 3) Connected always, while the SurePower connects the Aux battery when it detects at least 13.2v on the Primary. A manual switch (or connection to the starter switch) is optional on the Surepower as a way to connect the Aux battery for starting. The 2 kits are about the same $, but the Painless Kit I think comes w/ the wiring you need while I think the SurePower doesn't.

The RedTop is Optima's starter battery (more Cold Cranking Amps). The Blue is probably similar, but is meant as a marine battery, and may be overkill unless you're completely waterproofing your Avy. The Yellow is the Deep Cycle, which may not have as many CCAs for the same size battery, but maintains a constant voltage most of the way through discharge, so I would think it's better for accessory use. I forget which size YellowTop I grabbed the other day, but it was rated at 750CCA and I would get something that has at least the CCA of your Primary (I think the stock '07 battery is 700CCA, but you have an earlier model, right?). Wherever you get the battery should be able to look this info up and tell you. Also, FYI - in my '07, after trying one or two genreric battery hold-downs, the $4 rubber GM battery block was the one that fit the best.

I haven't seen a 'Stinger Kit', but I have come across terminals and other battery accessories made a company called Stinger, though I don't know much about them. I did see a battery cable terminal connector by them that had a built-in LED voltage or amperage readout that looked kinda cool.

As for the alternators, what are you running that you need duals? IMO, with a battery seperator like the SurePower you're only charging 1 battery at a time, so one alternator should be enough, unless you want the redundancy. If you have 2 alternators, though, you probably want to run them to the 2 seperate batteries to keep each charged in parallel, and in that scenario you're probably better off w/ the Painless seperator since you can keep the batteries completely isolated from each other with position 1 on the switch and only connect them together when needed (ie, one battery is dead).

yes, i am the guy at 90 hudson.

i would like the extra alternator for redundancy and to recharge a couple of golf cart batteries i purchased for my parents house just in case of blackout.
i would hope the dual alternator would provide 250 amps each.