99runner

I am planning on getting a second battery to run stuff from. I plan on mounting it in the trunk. If anyone has done something like this, where can i get mounting brackets to hold the battery safely and securely. If you guys have any pictures or ideas, i would appreciate it. Also, would it be safe to drill into the cargo area(floor). How deep should the screws penetrate. I am afraid of hitting the gas tank compartment.

seafarinman

Get a marine battery box for your second battery.

seafarinman

Get a marine battery box for your second battery.

Bumpin' Yota

No offense, but unless you want to use a battery isolator, I'd avoid the deep cycles. If you do not want to use an isolator, just buy 2 brand new batteries off of the same pallat that have the same serial lot number on them. You'll be able to parallel them if you do that, as their internal resistances will be VERY close. It's when you have 2 batteries paralleled that have different internal resistances, that will kill the batts. This way you only have to buy the 2 batteries.

As far as the battery tray/box, I constructed mine out of 3/4" mdf, fiberglassed the inside of it, carpeted the outside of it. And I have both my front and rear battery directly paralleled with a 18' run of 1/0, and the rear battery is ground on one of my seat belt anchors. Had it this way for about a year now with NO problems.

And I'd HIGHLY recommend the Champion 4x4 34 dt (dt = dual terminal) They can be found at Sam's Club for about 55-60 bux and come with a full 3 year warrenty with curb side assistance!

As a side note, do not run too terribly long with the engine off if you use standard starting batteries. I have however left my dome lights on over night (all of them) and the truck still turned over just fine.

Steve

seafarinman

Hey Bumpin' Yota,
Since I have 2 Optima redtops, can I hook them up in parallel without the battery isolator? And how do they need to be connected together?

Firefyter-Emt

You can not run a battery inside your car unless you use a special external vented battery.. Volvos and VW's ect all have sealed battreys that vent hose running outside.. even maintiance free battries have vent holes to release the gases that are produced bu the charging process of the battrey. You can get or even catch the inside of the truck on fire... Please do more research before you do this.. You may want tto try to put it under the truck in a special mounted box..

Bumpin' Yota

Lee is correct, most all batteries do produce Hydrogen gas upon charging. This occurs once the battery is at 85% or higher charge. Ventilation is recommended - however I have never had a problem with Hydrogen gas buildup even when I was charging 8 8v batteries overnight inside the yota. (However I DID have all the windows cracked about 3" - hydrogen gas is not as dense as air and as such is forced to rise.) On long 6+ hr trips I've never had a problem either.

Additionally, hydrogen gas evolved from a battery has a smell you can't miss - so familiarize yourself to that smell - and if you ever smell it, be VERY cautious not to produce a spark from static electricity or otherwise. But I've never had a single problem with it.

**knocks on wood**
**knocks on wood**

Steve

Bumpin' Yota

Yes, provided they were the same lot number and production run (consequently yeilding similar internal resitances,) however see the above comments. A fiberglass external battery tray is not a bad idea at all!

Providing you did the above you'd need to parallel the batteries. Run a hot line to the rear battery's (+) and just ground the rear battery. Id do the run with 4ga at minimum and make sure the ground you make is a good one.

PoBoy

Hrmmm...dont know anything about all that gas stuff, but Ive been running a red up front and a yellow in back for 3 years now. Im not dead and I dont get head aches. My buddy runs a redtop up front, and 6 redtops in the back. He's had it for 3 years as well.

Anyway, I built a huge box that takes up my whole trunk (see website). I threw my yellowtop on top of some MDf and thew 2 long boltsup threw it and threw the 2 of the 4 holes on the battery. Hasnt moved an inch but is hard to remove seing how those things weight a ton and has to be lifted straight up...