So are you going to have the 2nd battery set up as parallel or as a stand alone?
With batteries nowadays you do need to get the correct battery for the correct job.
If you're getting it to run extras it will pay to get it as a stand alone rather than setting it up in parallel.
Your starter battery is different to a Deep Cycle (DC) in the same way a sprinter is different to a marathon runner.
Starter batteries supply quick bursts of CCA to crank over an engine and requires HIGH amps to recharge it where as a DC is designed to release long slow ebb of Amps and low amps to recharge.
Starter batteries also don't like being cycled (charged, discharged, charged, discharged) unlike the DC, the main job the starter battery does is supply power to the starter, that draws the CCA from the battery to crank over the engine, as the engine starts the alternator kicks in and tops up the battery and then supplies the power requirements to the vehicle. If the draw is more than the alternator can supply, the power is pulled from the battery and that will kill it in the long haul.
Charging the battery has it's pitfalls itself
Put low Amps into a Starter and it'll gas and vice versa put high amps into a DC will cause that to gas.
Obviously with every RULE, there's the exception, I use Yellow top Optimas which are a semi DC/Starter that has coils rather than plates (harder to shatter) and don't mind high or low amps. Those are perfect for setting up as parallel. Apart from that they're not wet filled and you can lay them down on their sides (side mount terminals). I'm tossing up on having one in the engine bay and the other under the passenger seat.
DON'T go Red Top Optima as they're only designed for starting.
Not often I can offer much advice in this forum but do know the odd thing about batteries
Bryan
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