Is charging a battery every night in the bed of the truck really the best way? I have been playing around with the idea of placing the second battery in the engine bay and running an isolator so the alternator can charge both batteries. I was just wondering if anyone had tried this or any other way.
Thanks in advance for any input.
I have no experience with your situation, but I think there is a rather extensive thread in the forums about the subject.
If you mean a 12v roof rig, we ran a 10 gauge wire with 30 amp fuse from the positive post on the master fuse box in the engine compartment back to the positive on our roof pump battery and grounded the negative side. Never used an isolator. We’ve got 2 trucks wired up this way and haven’t charged a battery in 3 years. Not sure if this is the best way or not, but it’s worked well for us.
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What’s your average travel time per day? It seems like the alternators ability to keep up with the charging demands of the second battery would be dependent on how long it’s running, as well as how much the battery is being depleted on the job.
I have a deep cycle marine unit installed as the starter battery in our vehicle, but that’s only for running a wfp pump that draws less than 7 amps. I don’t think I’d try it for a roof pump. Of course, we’ve got a tiny alternator, as well…
Our average travel time is probably around 20 min. A dedicated group 27 will run a roof pump all day on a full charge. We use group 31 deep cycle batteries.
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Jason,
Thanks for the info. I knew everyone wouldn’t be wasting their time charging every night. And yes I am talking about powering a roof rig.
Jason, what kind of trucks are you running? Just trying g to figure out what size alternator is handling that.
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One is a 4cyl. chevy s-10 and the other is a dodge 2500 diesel. The s-10 was the first one. I just bought the dodge about a month ago.
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I used a marine battery on my pressure washer and ran a 10 gauge wire to my roof pump. i never had a problem or a dead battery.
How do you charge the battery?
The pressure washer
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Hello mate, I am new to this forum & in the uk, but you can use a split relay from your main engine battery to 2nd battery, alternator will charge both for you. I have wfp set up in my vans and we don’t have any problems running 2 x 12v shurflo pumps all day
Thanks Logans,
Is your second battery a “deep cycle”?
