how do you go about doing it?

and what sort of battery would be best suited to being the second battery?

i know all abou thte caravan type stuff with it's relays and whatnots, but i'm after specificlly ice oriented get ups so that i can run the system from that battery until it dies and still start the car with the original car battery and then still charge both

or do i just plug it into the cigar lighter socket and hope for the best

want to do it right, but also only want to do it once

 

You need a split charge relay...Stinger SRG32 is the best one. There are also cheaper 180a relays available.

The relay will isolate the batteries when the car is off and link them when the car is started.

As for dedicated ICE batteries, you want something like Yellow top or Shruken (entry level), followed by Kinetik, Oddyssey (mid level), followed by XS Power (top end)

 

That wont do what Dojj is asking for as if he is saying he wants to be able to run the system with the engine running and it only flatten one battey though. Thats just the same as a caravan split charge relay but a bit more meaty (as they only tend to be about 35A IIRC)

Correct answer of course is that the alternator should be upto the job in the first place.

What sort of current draw of ICE system are you talking about Dojj?

 

im sure a decent split charge system will do the job as thats what they're aimed at.

My cousin didnt have any issues when he had subs in the back of his vectra but the fucking alternator kept dying and i had to keep giving him jump/push starts years ago

 

how much will this set me back? and who would you recomend to fit it, if it requires more than just basic spannering to fit?

would i need to have a special case to put the battery in as well if i had the second battery in the boot?

i was toying with the idea of having a power cap in there but i've been put off that idea by someone a while back

what i want to do is kit out the boot with some proper kit that will give me plenty of useable bass (if there's such a word) but still have the boot useable to put pushchairs and general other shit in there, bassboy's put a shedload of batteries in his previa and upped his alternators and stuff so i'm sort of following the tried and tested method of getting 2 batteris first and then if that won't do the job then i'll think about upping the alternator, but seeing as it's all wired up into the brains of the car, it may not be as easy to up the voltage

well, 2 hours of driving back from the pod yesterday with the sub on all the way back and this morning the car didn't want to start, but everything works and checks out with the multimeter, it charges properly, it holds the charge, everything so i'm hoping another battery wil solve all my problems

 

You should never have problems with the car not starting after playing your setup while driving for extended periods.

Also are you looking for a system that only works off one battery when the car is started? Or when its off??

By the sounds of things you have a problem elsewhere in the car...

We have ran setups from morning till into the night non stop with engine on and off and still no problems...

 

i've not used the car for 2 months so it needed a jump start on Saturday to get it cleaned up and everything
then another one on Sunday morning, but then it was fine when we stopped in the services
but then it needed another one at the end of the day when it wouldn't fire up but driving it home i sort of turned the music off when i got onto the m25 and yesterday morning it fired up first thing, but then was flat again this morning

but when it's flat, the stereo fails to work at all, it won't even turn on, which leads me to think that's the culprit, unless i've missed an obvious thing when i wired up the amp feed from the battery?

 

When i was running a 1000/1 JL amp with a W7 and sub and a 500/4 amp for the speakers i have a odyssey 1200 battery in the normal place and a power cap.

Everything was grand.

The standard ford battery couldnt cope at all and the headlights dimmed with the bass but with the odyssey one it was 100%

What puts you off the power cap?

I had to run zero gauge wire also and use a 150amp fuse in the front then down to a distrubution block in the boot.

 

If you want "useable bass" you dont need a second battery anyway IMHO

 

Power caps are just an additional obstacle on the charging system , you will not see a power cap in a proper competition car as they are really a sales gimmick for the clueless to spend cash on.

Simple test = take a fully charged 1 farad cap and wire it to a typical headlight bulb and see how long it powers it !!!! and you want to try power an amp from it
I would say it would be better suited to an AV style install if at all.
If you think you need a cap then upgrade the alternator and battery wiring to 0 gauge as its money better spent.

 

Blue-Oval-Base, you'll find a lot of amps internally have a cap in them to smooth the input, I agree that its not something that should be needed in an ideal world, but they are often a useful addition in a car that runs a battery at the opposite end of the car and only moderate sized wiring.
There are other solutions such as the alternator and wiring upgrade that you mention, but they arent just a gimmick IMHO, especially for things like dance musing where the requirements are punchy by nature so time for the cap to recover between notes.
For a long held bass note though, i agree they are totally useless.

 

How big is your audio set up ?
I would recommend putting the cars charging system on a diagnostic to check for faults before you go any further or cause damage to your system by under voltage or current draw.
If your charging systems ok the you can simply add another battery of similar spec to the charging cycle.
Try upgrading your big 3 wires to say 4 or 0 gauge for a boost before adding a battery.

 

I had to take mine out when it was fault and i def noticed a difference with the headlights diming as chip says with punchy base.

I was advised it by an audio specialist and TBH on the grand scheme of things it was probably one of the cheapest items for the sound system.

I didnt want to start with larger alternators etc.

 

I tried using 4 gauge wire as i didnt want to drill a massive hole in the bulkhead but very quickly realised this wasnt going to work as it got rather warm and changed to o gauge with the huge firewall grommet.

Back in the days this was of course.

 

Totally agree on the faster orientated musical need of a cap in AV systems but for general audio uses i ALWAYS see a rise in DB on the meters when removing caps out of the charging system.
I always suggest planning an audio system around the capacity of the charging system as 99% of equipment failure i have to repair is down to under voltage and under current issues.
For general audio uses IMO i would suggest wiring upgrades in the charging system over a cap.

 

Agreed on the charging issues being a killer, you end up with an amp clipping if it can pull the juice, and then your speaker is momentarily a heater instead!

 

how do i know what gauge wire i've got?

the run to the boot is 5 meters long and it's plenty thick enough to have caused me problems trying to thread it through the bulkhead, it is about the same thickness as the starter wire but covered in blue silicon type stuff to make it look pretty

as you can see, with all this information flying abou the place it's a bit difficult to actually get to the bare bones of what i need/require as opposed to what everyone else has done or thinks should be done or feels should be done in each individual case

i know the alarm kills the battery so i've sorted that out, let it passivly alarm and use the nornmal key to lock the car and everythings fine, if i lock it using the alarm it drains the battery like no one business

 

Apologies for hijacking your thread earlier.
If you really want to add another battery just for audio use then the simplest method would be an isolator style relay that way you can charge both batteries and have them isolated so when the audio battery depletes you are still able to start the engine.
Look at Fleabay item 400023614561 , i have usedd this to good effect.
Easy , simple fitting and with step by step instructions.
Ideally add sealed battery as you dont want noxious fumes in the car.

 

just to stress the point, you REALLY have to be careful about charging normally battery's inside of the car without proper ventilation, Hydrogen can be produced when charging, and this is what you want building up inside