G, day all, im looking at putting a second battery in and was after some advice as to which way to go ? Im thinking of a redarc bcdc 1225 or a ctek 250 im not sure which one, im leaning towards the redarc so any advice would be great plus what sort of deep cycle battery do you recommend, thanks guy's, cheers Tony.
I have the Redarc and once in forget its there no problems in 4 years
04 ST 3lt auto, not enough Mods to keep me happy, but getting there
coop (8th December 2014)
G'day mate, personally I have a Projecta VSR which is pretty much the same as the Redarc. Works well. Should be plenty of info forthcoming on the ctek unit as I have seen them mentioned here a few times before. Tony
2005 GU IV ST 3.0. Snorkel. Roof rack. Awning. Spots. Welded I/C. Dual batteries & VSR. UHF. Barn door hinge extension. Roof top spot lights. Rear drawers. 2" lift. NADS. EGT and boost gauges. Trans temp and water temp gauges. Provent 200 catch can. Rear ladder
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coop (8th December 2014)
Yeah I think the redarc is the way I'll go, I don't think I've ever heard a bad report about them, so thanks guy's much appreciated.
The solution depends on a number of scenarios.
Where is the second battery to be installed. Under the bonnet or in the back?
What type of battery? Deep cycle gel cell, calcium, hybrid?
In my case I have a couple of SLA gell cells in the back and a refarc sb12 under the bonnet. A dc-dc charger in the back to boost the voltage which can be bypassed when it's not needed.
I was thinking under the bonnet but not sure how good they handle heat, I will have draws soon so maybe mounted in there as ive heard that it's best to mount the charger as close as possible to the auxiliary battery, im unsure about the battery type so any advice would be good, cheers Tony
The only reason I don't have a battery under the bonnet is it simply won't fit. If it's under the bonnet and you want to use it as a backup and winch battery the redarc sb200 may be the go.
The bcdc is a great solution for a camp battery, solar charger, dc-dc, etc. Not so much for a backup starter/winch battery. (IMHO)
I may yet replace the gear I have in the back of my car with the bcdc as it's a nice compact solution.
You can use the bcdc for a backup battery/winch battery, i believe an appropriately rated bypass relay will be needed to take the bcdc out of circuit ( and i could be wrong on that point).
coop (8th December 2014)
Ok, so basically if im after a set up that does it all I should look at a solenoid style dual battery install ? Sorry for all the questions, im not real savvy with electric,s apart from zapping myself, so thanks for all your help.
If you want to use the 2nd battery for starting/winching as well as fridge etc then a VSR with 2 B&S cable is the way to go - simple, cheap and ultra reliable.
If the 2nd battery is only for low power use such as a fridge and you don't want to run large cables then you can consider a DC DC Charger like the Ctek or BCDC.
DC/DC chargers are a low current device and won't back feed unless additional gear is installed and then you need the 2 B&S anyway.
IMHO DC/DC chargers are of limited value in a vehicle unless you are running AGM or Calcium batteries or restricted in cable size.
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coop (8th December 2014)
No worries , thanks for all the info guys much appreciated.
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