Equipment Tests > Battery Systems

One thing you should make sure of when your chosen system is to be fitted is that the second battery will be completely isolated from the cranking, or primary battery. One of the benefits of having a dual battery is the security of having your cranking battery available at all times. To do this you have to make sure that all accessories that are non-standard are wired to your auxiliary battery. In other words, the only things you want running off your primary battery is whatever it came out of the showroom with.

If you want to run a car fridge I would suggest that you have the installer run a hot wire from the second battery to a dedicated socket positioned where you will carry the fridge. Preferably it should be an appropriate polarised 2-pin plug rather than a cigarette lighter socket. This not only prevents the fridge drawing power from the primary battery; it also eliminates annoying leads running through the vehicle, and a two-pin plug won't shake loose like some lighter sockets do. Some fridges are more efficient than others, and so conserve power better, while others have a low voltage cutout, and this can be annoying to owners with deep cycle batteries.

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Other questions to ask are whether the system is compatible with solar panels or battery chargers. Some can be charged directly from a generator, while others can't and need to be trickle-charged over at least a day. Some systems will restore full power to the battery after being drained overnight in just a few hours of travel the next day, while others will need the whole day of travel to bring the battery back to full charge.

Like most things, you get what you pay for. You also need to ask the installer about the location of the second battery so that you can get to it to check its condition from time to time. Not all second batteries can be fitted into the engine bay without extensive (read costly) modifications. They may have to be fitted into the cargo area. If this is the case, make certain that there is no chance of gases coming from the battery into the cabin. To do this you will need to have the battery securely fitted into an approved, sealed-in battery box, and vented to the exterior of the vehicle by way of a hose through the floor.

Fuses are another consideration, and they should always be the same types that the vehicle has as standard - if the vehicle uses blade type fuses, use them for all fusible links, if the vehicle has tubular glass fuses, then do likewise. It makes fuse replacement and the carrying of spares that much easier.

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