Quick Aux Battery Question

tweedandbriar · Sunday at 09:02

I have a professionally installed Second battery that was originally installed to power a fridge etc... I really only use it for internal lights and a convertor, 12v cigar lighter extensions for compressor and so on. Is there any harm in leaving it 'On' via the isolator switch? Its a bit of a pain having to reach in and turn it on every time I want to use the aux stuff?

Thanks...

dag019 · Monday at 07:04

That should be fine until you end up with an issue with one of your batteries. And then the bad battery may drain the good battery and the vehicle won’t start. The reason for the isolating setup is to preserve the vehicle starter battery so you can always drive. This is designed for expedition work into the desolate beyond or for items that drain the battery down to nothing (the fridge). For your use it should be fine. I don't bother with a second battery for my winch and just fitted a single oversized battery instead which is the same principle and has the same drawback as leaving yours connected.

tweedandbriar · Monday at 07:57

dag019 said:
That should be fine until you end up with an issue with one of your batteries. And then the bad battery may drain the good battery and the vehicle won’t start. The reason for the isolating setup is to preserve the vehicle starter battery so you can always drive. This is designed for expedition work into the desolate beyond or for items that drain the battery down to nothing (the fridge). For your use it should be fine. I don't bother with a second battery for my winch and just fitted a single oversized battery instead which is the same principle and has the same drawback as leaving yours connected.

Thanks, winch is fed from main battery (rarely used). I'll leave it on as being able to light the interior up with those internal lights and plugging the compressor in the the 12v socket in the back is a real boon!

Eldon · Monday at 08:13

I'd wire it so the 2nd battery has totally separate circuits and an ignition fed relay for the charging input.
That way any interior light or socket use couldn't drain the engine battery, irrespective of how long it was on, and the two batteries would run independently.

Quick Aux Battery Question

tweedandbriar

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dag019

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tweedandbriar

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Eldon

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