i'm going to add an extra battery and thought that i would just run it off of an extra alternator. this would be for my winch and additional off-road lights. so far what info i have found is with everyone upgrading the factory alternator and running dual batteries. i want to have a seperate circuit so that i won't hopefully drain my battery when using the winch. i had to use my winch 3 times today and killed me battery. what would be the best way with doing this? if i get an internal regulated alternator all i would have to do is run the positive cable, right?

 

well if you run another alternator you wont need to connect to the other battery anyways..nor would you want to. You would have a seperate system with no drain from anything (yet) so you would have a good amount of juice for a winch,lights,stereo whatever your mind can think of...for a 2nd battery ive seen battery isolation kits..for your 2nd battery i reccomend a optima yellow top..those things are DEEEP cycle..yea you probably know but i have seen some amazing things run from those batterys

 

hey slider!

check out 4crawler.com , he has a pretty detailed write up on dual batteries. sounds like its right down your alley.

lee

 

even with him he is just using one alternator. i want to have one charging circuit all to its own. that way if i have to use my winch 5 different times the alternator will be doing nothing but charging the battery just for the winch so when i need it again it will be charged and ready to go. if i just upgrade my alternator thats on it now i will be running everything alse while trying to get my battery charged from using the winch. i also have 2 fans for cooling which is pulling quite a bit of amps themselves.

 

A battery isolator sounds like just what you want, I've got a 200 amp modified GM battery in my 98 4Runner, with a battery isolator and Optima yellow and red top batteries, all under the hood. I can have pictures later in the day if you'd like. I did a ton of research and my isolator is a Hellroaring Technologies.... do a search, they are something else. Also, you'll find information regarding the set up you're trying to do... but no matter what, you're NOT going to need multiple alternators. Check out their website and go from there. Cheers!

 

you can get a higher output alternator. ohio generator is the only company i know of but im sure there's a lot more out there.
about 5 years ago i was looking to get a high output alternator for a stereo i had in my car , i think i could get a 400amp alternator for about $500

 

that would be great to have one that put out 400 amps. then it would just about keep right up with the winch when i use it.

 

the more i think about it i will probably just end up getting a different alternator and a nice battery. i've always got my jump starter if i would kill the one battery.