I built a slide-in drawer box to go in my '99 Tacoma that included a deep-cycle, auxiliary battery to power an Edgestar frig., a water pump, and a couple of accessory outlets. On the first use I couldn't get the aux. battery to charge after a three hour drive.
I wired it from the starting battery, through an 80amp soleniod. I ran 10g wire from the engine compartment, back to the tailgate area, through a plug, and up to the front of the bed, where the battery lives in the drawer box. So there is probably about 25' of wire. I used a body ground instead of running a dedicated wire back to the negative pole.
After doing some reading (especially evldave's thread) I'm thinking there might be a couple of problems.
1. the 10 gauge wire is too small and too long.
2. the body ground isn't good enough (should have run a wire back).
3. both of the above.
Can anyone confirm my suspicions or give me some other ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Todd
I wired it from the starting battery, through an 80amp soleniod. I ran 10g wire from the engine compartment, back to the tailgate area, through a plug, and up to the front of the bed, where the battery lives in the drawer box. So there is probably about 25' of wire. I used a body ground instead of running a dedicated wire back to the negative pole.
After doing some reading (especially evldave's thread) I'm thinking there might be a couple of problems.
1. the 10 gauge wire is too small and too long.
2. the body ground isn't good enough (should have run a wire back).
3. both of the above.
Can anyone confirm my suspicions or give me some other ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Todd