Dual Battery Newbie

[bsteveo]

Hi all.
So it's come the time that I have to replace a battery in my Patrol. I have an 06 gu 4 3.0 with a dual battery setup. I know absolutely NOTHING about the setup let alone how dual setups work and such. The only "accessories" i have are fog lights and a brake controller (previous owner had the car setup for towing by the looks of things). My auxiliary battery has been dead for quite some time now and disconnected it a while back. This has made hardly any difference to the power usage of my car. However, I've decided to move my main battery over to the auxiliary spot and buy a new one for my main power source as it feels like it may be running low on power. Then when that one goes flat I'll replace it also. I've never seen terminals in a car like mine before so I'm confused as hell as to what the 2nd battery is actually doing. According to my mechanic I don't have an iso switch so the car isn't drawing power from the aux battery when the main is low to start the car. Any insight would be much appreciated because I'm in a new world here.
I've attached some photos. The first 2 are my main battery and the 3rd is the terminals on my aux battery.
Cheers,
Ben.
batt1.png
batt2.png
batt3.png

[Yeti's Beast]

Hi
When you go buy a new battery ask for a N70ZZL or a 95D31L. Your old battery is an Alco brand which doesn't exist any more and they have been bought out by Energi Batteries. Don't buy anything less than 750 cca.
My dual battery set up has a smart solenoid that has the ability to jump Start the car from the aux battery if the main is flat. Redarc or GSL make a good solenoid and they are the cheap way to set up twin batteries
Check your lead length on your aux battery side because your main battery is right hand positive and most commonly the aux battery is left hand positive so make sure you have enough lead to fit in the old battery in that spot before you go out and buy a new battery
Cheers


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[bsteveo]

Hey there thanks for your reply.
Been looking at the century ultra hi performance or deep cell both n70 (old aux battery was a century n70 deep cell).

[bsteveo]

Trying to get this positive terminal off and I have a bunch of different connections that I have no idea what they are for

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[Yeti's Beast]

Undo the 10mm nut and the whole thing will come off
At a guess the large lug closest goes to your second battery , 2 that are off are part of the car and the red one could be for driving lights
That's just a guess, but put them all back on where they came from and just undo the 10mm nut and give it all a wiggle
Make sure all those eyelet terminal are clean by giving them a quick hit with a wire brush or sand paper. Most battery problems happen from bad connections


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[bsteveo]

Undo the 10mm nut and the whole thing will come off
At a guess the large lug closest goes to your second battery , 2 that are off are part of the car and the red one could be for driving lights
That's just a guess, but put them all back on where they came from and just undo the 10mm nut and give it all a wiggle
Make sure all those eyelet terminal are clean by giving them a quick hit with a wire brush or sand paper. Most battery problems happen from bad connections


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All of that is connected to the positive terminal on the main battery under a nut on that thread at the top. That other nut I cannot get a spanner or socket in there to get it off.

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[Yeti's Beast]

Use a 10mm spanner to undo the nut, wedge. A screw driver into spread open the terminal and it all comes off in one piece
The other pic is my solenoid and inside is a light to indicate that the solenoid is on and a switch to join both batteries if needed.
I hope that helps


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[bsteveo]

Use a 10mm spanner to undo the nut, wedge. A screw driver into spread open the terminal and it all comes off in one piece
The other pic is my solenoid and inside is a light to indicate that the solenoid is on and a switch to join both batteries if needed.
I hope that helps


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Youre a legend, cheers. Will have another crack tomorrow. I don't have a solanoid or switch or anything though .

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[gubigfish]

Get yourself a CAT battery if there's a CAT dealer near you

[the evil twin]

Get yourself a CAT battery if there's a CAT dealer near you

Wot he said X 2 ^^^^
Great value and excellent quality with a good warranty (about $160 for a N70ZZL as I recall).

If there is no 2nd battery management like smart solenoids/relays/switches etc then it is a 90 % chance that the prev owner was simply running two batteries in parallel.
This is reasonably common in a vehicle set up simply as a tug as opposed to a vehicle with a 'camping' load such as Fridges, Lights etc.
One way to tell is the size of the cables and how many were connected to the 2nd battery +ve.

If there was only one 'thick' cable to the 2nd battery +ve direct from the original battery then the above is the case (I am assuming there is no winch involved)