Currently running a 2nd battery and amp into a truckbox this project is becoming a pain in the ass as I am doing it by myself so there is some trial and error. I want to see what you "pros" are running as battery(s). I am thinking of AGM battery and putting that in a Marine grade battery box and mounting the whole thing in the truckbox. I am using a Battery Doctor 150 isolator. what all do you run?
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You guys with all the pills- what battery do you use?
- Thread starter Don_Q
- Start date
At one time a yellow top Optima battery was darn near the best. It looked like a giant 6 pack, dry cell technology, and it would maintain a steady voltage when lots of electronics were being used. Not sure how big of an amp your talking about or what your trying to do. For the average pickup truck with a 150 amp alternator, two yellow tops will let you run a healthy amp.
Group 31 lead acid 1000cca batteries. No isolator and 00 welding cable. An isolator is a nice thought but voltage drop is what you're trying to avoid.
I don't recommend a deep cycle because a starting battery will provide more peak current. If you were going to sit somewhere with the engine off and talk on the radio deep cycles and an isolator might be the way to go.
It really depends on what your goals are. You will be better off in the long run if you install an adequate alternator and heavy duty cables. That way you won't need extra batteries.
I don't recommend a deep cycle because a starting battery will provide more peak current. If you were going to sit somewhere with the engine off and talk on the radio deep cycles and an isolator might be the way to go.
It really depends on what your goals are. You will be better off in the long run if you install an adequate alternator and heavy duty cables. That way you won't need extra batteries.
you could always run a big assed capacitor between the battery and your amp like the car audio guys do .. I am using a 2.0 farad cap rated @ 12-16 volts in front of my texas star and it seems to work well ... also will filter some noise out ..good luck .. xxx
The Optima batteries at one time were long lasting batteries. When they moved production to Mexico the quality tanked.
You were absolutely right . I upgraded the alternator and the charging cables to 1/0 from the alternator to the battery and to the amp. Make sure you run the same size ground cable from the back of the alternator to the negative of the battery. Now all I have is one group size 29 upfront
Good deal. It's much cheaper to do it that way in the long run.
Actually bat caps don't do much for us in the cb/export radio and amplifier application. They work great with car stereo amps because the pauses between drum beats let the bat cap re-charge. In our application as soon as you key the mic on say AM the amp drains the bat cap right away. It won't recover until you stop talking and un-key. There are several old threads about this here somewhere.
I don't do a.m. just ssb so for me the caps work really well.. my voltage stays very stable during s conversation .. i am also feeding the amp via the cap with a dual battery setup in my diesel pickup using a heavy full 8 gauge wire not exceeding 10 feet also plagerized from the car stereo boys .. I do agree with your thoughts about a.m. being a constant drain in the power circuit..xxx
Lead acid batterys just hold up better. Been through that spiral cell phase once, it ain't for high current. But 600-1000 amps is kinda nuts.
I used to run 8 volt scubber battery in series / parallel from Lee's battery.
I plan on doing the exact same thing for my driver on my new 'burb.
I used to run 8 volt scubber battery in series / parallel from Lee's battery.
I plan on doing the exact same thing for my driver on my new 'burb.
Get a 500F Maxwell Super Cap if you want storage that can deliver. That said you would be better off in the long run to get larger high output alternator since no matter what form of storage you use battery or Super Caps you still have to be able to charge it and keep it charged.
I love how people get a huge amp than figure out they can not hope to feed it. Especially if you are not driving a 1980's Suburban. Keep in mind alternators do not put out their rated output at idle. A 4 transistor unit is about the limit for a stock charging system in most daily driver's. If you have a police package, EMT upgrade or the like a 6 transistor unit is easily taken care of so you could rag chew all night long while driving.
Second batter or Super Cap just increases the size of your fuel tank but once you deplete it your still limited by how quickly the alternator and stock wiring can refill that electron fuel tank! Try to do too much too often and you have heat issues, early parts failure, surging in the rest of the system that can affect all the electronics in the rest of the car or truck. Better off upgrading the alt. and giving the amp it's own dedicated power source isolated from the rest of the vehicle.
If you do it right you can do it once and be done with it. It will likely cost more than your amp cost though to do it right. Done right you amp get's what it needs so you can run it at full power and the vehicles electrical is not overly stressed.
It would be interesting to see what the voltage swings at battery and again at the ECM and power junction box???? If it is going from 14.5-15.5 at idle down to say 9V on modulation than back up violently to full voltage when you unkey that is a lot of surging in the system? I wonder what the heat is looking like affter 1 minute of talking on the alternator and main battery?
Depending on how much current you are drawing it could be like cranking an engine or worse in terms of current draw at the battery. Do you get your batteries boiling or off gassing?
I love how people get a huge amp than figure out they can not hope to feed it. Especially if you are not driving a 1980's Suburban. Keep in mind alternators do not put out their rated output at idle. A 4 transistor unit is about the limit for a stock charging system in most daily driver's. If you have a police package, EMT upgrade or the like a 6 transistor unit is easily taken care of so you could rag chew all night long while driving.
Second batter or Super Cap just increases the size of your fuel tank but once you deplete it your still limited by how quickly the alternator and stock wiring can refill that electron fuel tank! Try to do too much too often and you have heat issues, early parts failure, surging in the rest of the system that can affect all the electronics in the rest of the car or truck. Better off upgrading the alt. and giving the amp it's own dedicated power source isolated from the rest of the vehicle.
If you do it right you can do it once and be done with it. It will likely cost more than your amp cost though to do it right. Done right you amp get's what it needs so you can run it at full power and the vehicles electrical is not overly stressed.
It would be interesting to see what the voltage swings at battery and again at the ECM and power junction box???? If it is going from 14.5-15.5 at idle down to say 9V on modulation than back up violently to full voltage when you unkey that is a lot of surging in the system? I wonder what the heat is looking like affter 1 minute of talking on the alternator and main battery?
Depending on how much current you are drawing it could be like cranking an engine or worse in terms of current draw at the battery. Do you get your batteries boiling or off gassing?