88" Dual Battery system

Hi folks, looking at potentially adding a 2nd battery to the truck as i often have worklights and such running for extended periods and it would be much nicer to be able to turn the truck off and still be completely confident that i'm not going to have to start it with the handle.
Other than the seatbox (usually full of tools), can anybody suggest a good location to fit a second battery (88" truck cab) i'm frankly struggling for ideas.
I'd be grateful for any thoughts.
Cheers,
Tony

I'm restoring a 58 S2 for a customer it has 2 battery trays left and right of the radiator but being a diesel should have one 6v battery in engine bay and one under seatbox but no sign of ever having under seat one...

Light weights have them in boxes behind the back wheels, maybe you could do something similar?
A b2b charger would keep your extra battery charged but separate

I assume you want to add them with a proper split-charging relay and run your lights just off the second battery, rather than simply putting them in parallel to increase the capacity.

Do you really want to permanently wire it in, or maybe have it in a portable box that fits and plugs into charging circuit in the the back? Means you can carry the battery wherever you need power...

Gents, thank you for the ideas!
I'm very tempted by the idea of a removable pack..
On further reflection though, its gonna be a toss up between that or actually converting the seat box to fit a battery and a compressor.... I will have to give it all a bit more thought..

Wilson90 said:

Gents, thank you for the ideas!
I'm very tempted by the idea of a removable pack..
On further reflection though, its gonna be a toss up between that or actually converting the seat box to fit a battery and a compressor.... I will have to give it all a bit more thought..

Click to expand...

How about getting LED worklights, they draw very little power.

Turboman said:

How about getting LED worklights, they draw very little power.

Click to expand...

I personally just prefer the look of the classic lights fitted, I want to keep the truck looking pretty original if I can. I have thought about led bulbs in the lights I have currently though....

Wilson90 said:

I personally just prefer the look of the classic lights fitted, I want to keep the truck looking pretty original if I can. I have thought about led bulbs in the lights I have currently though....

Click to expand...

I find these pretty good.

https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/slimline-high-power-round-led-work-lamp-10-30v.html

I have exactly the same thing in my 1982 SWB - the leisure battery (140ah) allows me to run extra work lights and 12v power sockets and I also hard wired in a decent capacity inverter so we can occasionally run power tools if we get a machine in a field needing a quick repair. I went down the under seat route simply because it kept everything out the way - only issue was the lack of clearance to the lid if you want to fit in a decent size battery. Fabricated up a simple tray to drop in that lowered the floor of the box but still kept it above the level of the chassis rail to avoid damage. After a bunch of measuring and welding up my own box I was very smug - until I found this which would have saved me all the hassle - Twin Battery Well Tray Seat Box Tool Locker for Land Rover Series 2 2a 3 | eBay. There appear to be a big variety of the split charge systems out there as well - depends on the type of extra battery you want to fit as to which type you need. I just went for the more old fashioned basic type as the battery I had was not AGM or anything. - BA2685 - Auxiliary Split Charge Dual Battery System (johncraddockltd.co.uk) - it also has a monitor and a function that lets you use the second battery to boost the standard one if it ever gets low. I looked at other more sophisticated systems which run lithium batteries etc but for what I wanted this was plenty. Has worked well and was pretty straightforward to fit. Just as a note, I also fitted a couple of the big jumbo fuses (60A maybe?? need to check) in the main line into the leisure battery and the line to the inverter on the advice of a mate who does industrial electrical installations and scared the bejesus out of me with lots of technical talk about overcharging, reversed polarities and welded shut relays leading to nuclear meltdown). There are also several self contained battery boxes out there with gauges, switches etc all built in but I wanted to keep the rear area as free as possible - if that not an issue then they certainly look like a neat solution. Hope this helps. Cheers.Ian

I've been thinking about fitting an extra battery too, just to give the starter the extra juice it seems to need. I was planning on wiring it in parallel but I'm a bit worried what affect that might have on the alternator.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

I've been thinking about fitting an extra battery too, just to give the starter the extra juice it seems to need. I was planning on wiring it in parallel but I'm a bit worried what affect that might have on the alternator.

Col

Click to expand...

It shouldn't be a problem for the alternator, I would be more worried about the effect on the rest of the electrical system, the wiring on these is old.
Personally, I would install a split charge diode. Although in practice, I have found it is better to reduce load than increase supply.

Turboman said:

Although in practice, I have found it is better to reduce load than increase supply.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I've fitted LED bulbs for side lights, indicators and rear work light but can't do much to reduce the load on the starter motor.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

Agreed. I've fitted LED bulbs for side lights, indicators and rear work light but can't do much to reduce the load on the starter motor.

Col

Click to expand...

Starter motor just draws through the big wires and the solenoid. Not the rest of the wiring.
If it isn't performing adequately, try opening it and checking the brushes. It should start the vehicle with the normal battery.

Turboman said:

Starter motor just draws through the big wires and the solenoid. Not the rest of the wiring.
If it isn't performing adequately, try opening it and checking the brushes. It should start the vehicle with the normal battery.

Click to expand...

It's only got about 500 miles on it so the brushes should be good. It will start but it just doesn't seem to turn the engine over fast enough. It's got a good Yuasa heavy duty battery and a bigger than standard alternator. I spose it doesn't help that I only use it now and again and the first 3 or 4 seconds of cranking is just to get the petrol back up from the lift pump to the carb. I'm thinking that the design of the starter is just crap compared to modern ones but I don't remember any of my old cars in the 70's having slow starters. The engine doesn't even have great compression.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

It's only got about 500 miles on it so the brushes should be good. It will start but it just doesn't seem to turn the engine over fast enough. It's got a good Yuasa heavy duty battery and a bigger than standard alternator. I spose it doesn't help that I only use it now and again and the first 3 or 4 seconds of cranking is just to get the petrol back up from the lift pump to the carb. I'm thinking that the design of the starter is just crap compared to modern ones but I don't remember any of my old cars in the 70's having slow starters. The engine doesn't even have great compression.

Col

Click to expand...

Good earth? Is the cable to the starter in good condition? Never had any issues with mine, ancient starter motor and still on a dynamo. Standard size battery

kermit_rr said:

Good earth? Is the cable to the starter in good condition? Never had any issues with mine, ancient starter motor and still on a dynamo. Standard size battery

Click to expand...

Yes, all the cables are relatively new, cleaned up the contact surfaces before fitting them and they all show virtually no resistance. If I take out all the spark plugs, it turns over easy but I wouldn't say fast. When I bought it the seller said he had fitted a new starter but when I had a good look at it days later, I noticed crayon marks like they use in scrap yards, also, the body of the starter didn't look new at all. It was an original Lucas model though. It was slow and drained the battery quicker than it should, so after a couple of years of moaning about it I bought a new one and that seemed better for a short while but now it's as bad as the old one. In fairness, it does always start but I imagine the neighbours all taking bets on whether it will or not.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

Yes, all the cables are relatively new, cleaned up the contact surfaces before fitting them and they all show virtually no resistance. If I take out all the spark plugs, it turns over easy but I wouldn't say fast. When I bought it the seller said he had fitted a new starter but when I had a good look at it days later, I noticed crayon marks like they use in scrap yards, also, the body of the starter didn't look new at all. It was an original Lucas model though. It was slow and drained the battery quicker than it should, so after a couple of years of moaning about it I bought a new one and that seemed better for a short while but now it's as bad as the old one. In fairness, it does always start but I imagine the neighbours all taking bets on whether it will or not.

Col

Click to expand...

Sounds like a look-see is in order

kermit_rr said:

Sounds like a look-see is in order

Click to expand...

I sometimes wonder if the engine has a tight spot. When the battery is a bit low on charge, it turns over a little then stops. I have to turn the key back to start for a second to get the engine in a different position. When this happens there is a kind of chuffing noise which sounds like compression escaping past a valve. I know the valve seals need doing so at some point I'll have to have the head off, at that point I might get a recon head from Turners converted for lead free.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

I sometimes wonder if the engine has a tight spot. When the battery is a bit low on charge, it turns over a little then stops. I have to turn the key back to start for a second to get the engine in a different position. When this happens there is a kind of chuffing noise which sounds like compression escaping past a valve. I know the valve seals need doing so at some point I'll have to have the head off, at that point I might get a recon head from Turners converted for lead free.

Col

Click to expand...

Can't say for sure as not heard with my own ears but you get similar noises if you turn over slowly by hand? If it's the same noises then not a worry
. IMHO

Colthebrummie said:

It's only got about 500 miles on it so the brushes should be good. It will start but it just doesn't seem to turn the engine over fast enough. It's got a good Yuasa heavy duty battery and a bigger than standard alternator. I spose it doesn't help that I only use it now and again and the first 3 or 4 seconds of cranking is just to get the petrol back up from the lift pump to the carb. I'm thinking that the design of the starter is just crap compared to modern ones but I don't remember any of my old cars in the 70's having slow starters. The engine doesn't even have great compression.

Col

Click to expand...

It is adequate, but doesn't spin the engine that quickly. In fact, most cars used to have that kind of starter. People have got used to the high-torque starters, which spin the engine much faster.
Adding extra battery capacity won't necessarily make the engine spin faster on the starter if everything is already in good nick, as you suggest.