Dual battery setup

[evolutionise]

Hi Guru's,

I'm looking to do few road trips in the coming year and wanting to setup a reliable dual battery setup to run

• Fridge
• Lights
• USB & Cigarette sockets x 2
• Charge power tools & equipment (mainly a drill/impact wrench, drone and phones)

The second battery I'm thinking of running is a 100aH lithium (brand: tbc)

Just wanted to get your thoughts on the circuit to see if I missed anything in terms of safety for wire sizes, fuses or breakers.
Or is there a better way to layout the electrical system?

Note: Voltage is calculated at 10v (instead of 12v) for the whole circuit (eg: 1000w / 10v = 100Amp fuse) as you can get 12amp fuses (afaik).

 

[LongRoad2Go]

How about adding a few extra fuses for future additions e.g. radio, travel buddy, induction hotplate, second fridge/freezer, compressor, etc?

 

[Albynsw]

Do you need all those inline switches? To me they are just unnecessary potential failure points.

I would consider adding a larger fused heavy cable supply to an Anderson plug to run your compressor straight off the battery

 

[evolutionise]

How about adding a few extra fuses for future additions e.g. radio, travel buddy, induction hotplate, second fridge/freezer, compressor, etc?

Definitely, for now, this is what I have in mind for my setup. Trying to keep to a minimum at the moment to save space. Ah forgot about the compressor! thanks for the input. I'll need to add this in.

 

[evolutionise]

Do you need all those inline switches? To me they are just unnecessary potential failure points.

I would consider adding a larger fused heavy cable supply to an Anderson plug to run your compressor strait iff the battery

The inline fuse (ANL fuse block) will short if there's any issues.
However, I wanted a master switch at feed in points (battery & Solar) to stop the feed of power in-case in need to do any maintenance on the system. It also helps me to stop the power from going into the inverter when not in use. I'm just trying to isolate certain things where I can.

 

[Albynsw]

The inline fuse (ANL fuse block) will short if there's any issues.
However, I wanted a master switch at feed in points (battery & Solar) to stop the feed of power in-case in need to do any maintenance on the system. It also helps me to stop the power from going into the inverter when not in use. I'm just trying to isolate certain things where I can.

Up to you and what you intend on doing with your 4wd adventures but from personal experience over time and lots of k’s in outback environments, loose connections from vibration or resistance build up etc can leave you fault finding on the side of the road so I limit unnecessary connections and in a maintenance situation would prefer to just pull a fuse or unplug the solar panel
That is just me as I like to keep everything simple but others have a different perspective

 

[evolutionise]

Up to you and what you intend on doing with your 4wd adventures but from personal experience over time and lots of k’s in outback environments, loose connections from vibration or resistance build up etc can leave you fault finding on the side of the road so I limit unnecessary connections and in a maintenance situation would prefer to just pull a fuse or unplug the solar panel
That is just me as I like to keep everything simple but others have a different perspective

Noted.
It's just as easy to just disconnect the cable from the battery. Thanks for the input. I'll make those changes.

 

[Swaggie]

Thought it’s BEST to use the same type batteries. Both lithium in this case.

Like Alby said Keep your wiring SIMPLE, too many breakers etc….

 

[Triton14]

You dont need a breaker between the solar panel & the Renorgy unit as it has an internal MPPT controller

Thought it’s BEST to use the same type batteries. Both lithium in this case.

Like Alby said Keep your wiring SIMPLE, too many breakers etc….

Only if used in parallel I believe.

Imo no need for a breaker between solar panel & DC-DC but I would use it in between the DC-DC & the aux positive.

 

[boobook]

The biggest problem I see is the Voltx Battery. Do some research on that brand, and almost every customer has poor experiences with reliability and products not being even closely rated to the specs. I'd buy something else.

 

[evolutionise]

The biggest problem I see is the Voltx Battery. Do some research on that brand, and almost every customer has poor experiences with reliability and products not being even closely rated to the specs. I'd buy something else.

Noted, I'll look into this a bit further. I was just seeing this as one of the more affordable batteries at the moment. But I don't have my heart set on it . Thank you for you input

 

[SirDrinksalot]

Can I ask what the advise is on grounding in the back of a Hilux Twin Cab, back to the battery or to the chassis?

 

[evolutionise]

Can I ask what the advise is on grounding in the back of a Hilux Twin Cab, back to the battery or to the chassis?

I'll be installing on a Hilux twin cab with a tub. I was going to drill a hole on the back of the tub wall and push an earth wire out to a point on the chassis. You need to make sure you install a gromet as well, else the drilled hole will end up cutting through the earth wire eventually. Make sure you have some extra slack in the earth cable for chassis twist and movement.

 

[Batts88]

Complex looking set up what are you using a 1,000w inverter for it's good to have one a bit bigger than you need say if your running a microwave oven or something but will the battery be big enough for it ? Also what are the 2 bus bars for I'm not to familular with there purpose in the set up ? I'm not an eleco but I have my inverter wired off the battery by itself and the fuse block is by itself running lights, fridge and travel buddy oven. If something fails it's easy to find. I just unplug things if working on them your switches may seem like a good idea but that adds a lot more joins to the set up where lees is usually considered better.

 

[evolutionise]

Complex looking set up what are you using a 1,000w inverter for it's good to have one a bit bigger than you need say if your running a microwave oven or something but will the battery be big enough for it ? Also what are the 2 bus bars for I'm not to familular with there purpose in the set up ? I'm not an eleco but I have my inverter wired off the battery by itself and the fuse block is by itself running lights, fridge and travel buddy oven. If something fails it's easy to find. I just unplug things if working on them your switches may seem like a good idea but that adds a lot more joins to the set up where lees is usually considered better.

Smallest inverter I can get from Renogy is a 1000w inverter, which is overkill for what I'm looking for. I'm looking at charging some power tool batteries, laptop and a drone. The bus bars are there so that I can divide power/earth instead of bird nesting it to a single bolt. Also keeps things easy to disconnect and connect when required.

 

[Hoyks]

You need another fuse on the positive on the aux battery.
If a wire joining the two batteries shorts out/rubs through the insulation, the fuse on the main battery may pop, but the aux is still feeding all its electrons to ground.

 

[Swaggie]

The biggest problem I see is the Voltx Battery. Do some research on that brand, and almost every customer has poor experiences with reliability and products not being even closely rated to the specs. I'd buy something else.

There a crap product, I’ve warned members against using this brand previously Including there poor performing solar matts etc…

 

[FranksnBeans]

There a crap product, I’ve warned members against using this brand previously Including there poor performing solar matts etc…

What are your thoughts on the iTech World lithiums? I have one in transit from Perth, hoping it arrives in next few days.

 

[Swaggie]

What are your thoughts on the iTech World lithiums? I have one in transit from Perth, hoping it arrives in next few days.

As far as i know Itech have a very good reputation with there gear…

 

[Razor]

Up to you and what you intend on doing with your 4wd adventures but from personal experience over time and lots of k’s in outback environments, loose connections from vibration or resistance build up etc can leave you fault finding on the side of the road so I limit unnecessary connections and in a maintenance situation would prefer to just pull a fuse or unplug the solar panel
That is just me as I like to keep everything simple but others have a different perspective

Agree, I’d ditch the isolators and use a resettable circuit breaker at the battery, both ends, that way you have the ability to isolate the circuit if you want just by flicking it off and it keeps connections down.
An anderson wired straight into the charger for the solar that way you just unplug it if you need too.
I’d also run a positive and negative from the starter battery, gonna cost you an extra $70 but if you have problems down the track it won’t be because you’ve got a bad earth/negative.
Have a look at Off-road Living and their batteries, not the cheapest but they do do what they say they’ll do as far as heavy draw goes which can’t be said of the i tech or voltx.
Something else to consider is adding a shunt so you can see exactly what state your battery is in and what you input/output is at any given moment, victron do a good Bluetooth only model so you have no screen and just use their app but there are others out there too, being lithium you can’t rely on the voltage for that.