Basic wiring question

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
The thing to consider is, to what extent is this detrimental? Is this really a concern?

Depends.

In your example, the FLA takes 18 hours to fully absorb, but the AGM is done in 3. So, if they are hooked together, the AGM will be held at absorb voltage (14.2 on your charger?) for 15 hours longer than it needs until the FLA is done simmering.

If it's cold out, it probably won't hurt it, but if it's hot out, then it might pop the blowoff valve and the AGM would lose water and the life would be shortened.
 

LandCruiserPhil

Expedition Leader
Different levels? As in one more drained than the other?

Yes one is drained more then the other but the same size and make.

The reason I ask is I'm upgrading my vehicle solar set-up and I have the option of using a 3-stage with all stages adjustable or your basic bring it up to voltage and then float controller.
 

Wiley

Adventurer
So, I am getting ready to get the van back on the road. My current setup is battery-less, and the die hards are no more so I need to know what people are recommending. Here is what I have setup now minus the batteries, I have seen people recommend odyssey, but I dont know what model/size. Thanks guys
Astro-Dual-battery-Wiring-Diagram.jpg
 

Wiley

Adventurer
FYI: Comment from Herbie on another forum, thanks Herbie:

Double check, but I think the new Diehard Gold 31M Deep Cycle is a re-badge of the Deka/East Penn version of the same - a pretty good battery.
 

BulletHead

Adventurer
@dwh

I like these diagrams and they make sense to me, so I will resurrect this thread. How does one tie a winch into all of this? How does this look?
I understand the winch needs to be wired to the "engine" battery since it will draw 300-500A at full load, but at that point, does the ACR automatically go into cross connect (combine both batteries) mode? Or is there a preferred way to connect? I'll use an adequate sized cable ofcourse. The switch is a BlueSea manual switch.

A tangent, if at full load my winch will be drawing ~500A (worst case ofcourse), according to AWG table, I should be using 4/0 cable. Is that too conservative?
edit: ignore please, I just read the ACR instructions and BlueSea recommends 4/0, so will go with that. Although what does 2x(4/0) mean in the table on pg 1? Parallel 4/0 connection? Now that is overkill, I like :)


Astro-Dual-battery-Wiring-Diagram.jpg
 
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Wiley

Adventurer
Hey guys quick question for hooking up a couple batteries as a trickle charger type setup. The 2 batteries are currently not hooked together as the diagram above indicates

Now I have my solar panel hooked to the controller, which is hooked to 1 aux battery. I would like to hook to the same controller, using some battery bus bars, the starter battery which has been removed from the engine bay, plus a moto battery to keep all 3 topped off while in Asia for a few months? Any reason I shouldn't do this? Thanks!
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
As long as you have a good float charger, you can connect the batteries in parallel without issue. Just watch the polarity!
 

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