Dual battery installation

[Redback]

Sunday was the installation of a second battery, i bought an Exide ST620 75AH 650CCA marine deepcycle battery then went over to Micks (treebruiser) place to install it.

First thing was to see how much room we had even though we had done this the weekend before we were just making sure, then make a battery tray to suit the space and the size of the battery which was 300Lx174Wx220H, now space under the bonet of the Disco is premium so to make this size battery fit was going to take some mods, hieght was our main concern as well as moving the horn and under bonnet stater switch which will need the wires lentghened and making a heatsheild to protect the battery from the heat off the turbo as next to the turbo is the only place it can go.

Now the tray a bit of angle from an old bed frame.

then brackets welded on;

A trial fitting before finishing it, no point if it didn't fit eh;

Next was heatsheild and clamp brackets and painting;


And lastly fitting;



OK finished the only other thing to check is to keep an eye on heat towards the battery from the turbo i checked it after the trip home which is around an hour so a good idea and it didn't seem all that hot in fact no hotter than the main battery was considering it sits next to the radiator, so there it is so far so good.

A big thank you to Mick who did 99% of the second battery install and all of the making of the tray all i did was paint it.

Just got to wire it up.

Baz.

[Redback]

Now have a Traxide SC40, it is a 40 AMP Automatic Dual Battery Monitor & Charge Control System more than happy and the service from Tim was excellent.
http://www.traxide.com.au/


With the accessories plugs and on off switch in the back.


Baz.

[gidget]

I have gone with the same 2nd battery installation position as this, but if you could answer a couple questions for me that would be great.
-How much room did you have between the top of the battery & the bonnet???
-did you modify the gaurd to make it fit ?


I have made a battery tray etc but it seams that I am to high, the negative terminal (closest to the gaurd) seams to be holding the bonet up just a touch, & I can't get the tray down any lower than it is.
I have got it -sitting on the gaurd
                   -even give the gaurd a bit of loving with the hammer            to give me a little more room, but still not enough.
                    - I have put a peice of conveyor belt over the top to stop it rubbing for the moment.

Any help or suggestions appreciated.
By these pics I seam to be in ruffly the same place.

[Redback]

We tapped the guard with a ballpain hammer but not much of a depression was made in the inner guard, maybe 2 to 4mm if that, it is mounted as far to the back and as close as possible to the firewall and away from the guard but no to far (didn't want it too close to the turbo) so when the bonnet was closed the battery sat in the RAISED part of the bonnet thus giving more room above the battery.

If you look in the second last photo you can see a big gap where the aircon lines are ( rightside of the pic,) you can see where it sits in relation to the rubber trim behind the battery also, doing this made the battery sit lower, and the cradle is made of only 1.5mm thick angle.

The cradle is mounted to the horn bracket, and the inner guard in 3 places for added strenght.

It was well tested on our Simpson trip 5,000ks of some pretty rough tracks and never even looked like breaking, i check it regularly
as i do alot of rough offroad stuff, i give this Disco a hard time and so far it been good.

If you want (if your in Sydney of coarse) you can come over and look at it if you like, or i can take some more pics and e-mail to you or post them on here.

Baz.

[gidget]

Thanks a heap for your reply ,but it was a simple error on my behalf  :oops: ,
I was using a bulky brass fitting on the terminal which was hitting the lower part on the edge of the bonnet.
I changed the negative to the bolt through the terminal & it is all fixed now.
It was a funny sight to see, let me tell you. Trying to jam a video camera & a torch under the bonnet & trying to get it all to stay there & line up so I could see what was going on,LOL.
So thanks again.

[discostu]

anybody done a battery addition using the battery tray on the 03 d11
chassis on the passenger side???
pictures appreciated

[Graeme]

Yep.  DIN66 size fits snuggly.  I have an AC Delco S56820 (sealed Calcium) that is 620 CCA,  115 RC and 68 AH.  I made a base plate that has tabs on the bottom to stop it slipping out, and a 3ml rubber mat.  I purchased a suitable battery clamp to clamp it sideways.  There is a rubber protection mat on the forward side, and another between the battery and the chassis.

[Winaje]

Yep.  DIN66 size fits snuggly.  I have an AC Delco S56820 (sealed Calcium) that is 620 CCA,  115 RC and 68 AH.  I made a base plate that has tabs on the bottom to stop it slipping out, and a 3ml rubber mat.  I purchased a suitable battery clamp to clamp it sideways.  There is a rubber protection mat on the forward side, and another between the battery and the chassis.

Can we see photos of this installation please?

[Graeme]

Will, I'll endeavour to get some meaningful snaps tomorrow.

[Graeme]

I've put 2 pics in the yahoo site's photo section (and I can't figure-out how to get them to show here!).