Split charge advice

Hello,

I'm off to billing this weekend and hope to get a split charge system for me disco1.
I have one red and one yellow optima battery's at the ready.

What I'd like to know is what size (amp/volts)system shall I go for.
I notice there are plenty out there.
I like one that gives an indicator of the battery life on the dash if possible.

I will be running several items from the yellow battery such as roof lights/winch.
Also I was going to feed the power to these items through an extra fuse box.

I'd appreciate any good advice here on fitting and equipment please.

Have a look here, this is a DIY one and it works really well in Larry

Land Rover Discovery 1 300TD, overland preparation and modifications: Land Rover DIY/Budget Dual Charge system

Looking at fitting a split charge as well; been doing some research and looking at fitting a second alternator to my D1.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of a second alternator V a split charge system?? The battery will be used to power a winch, additional lights and a couple of minor electrical systems (CB and extra power point).

Appreciate your time

Billy

Madhatman's thread is the go. I did one similar to that with back emf diode. I wired a heavy duty jumper cable from one battery to other on +ve with a heavy switch to slliw jump start. Saved me on one occasion!
I used mega fuses 100amp and 180amp durite relay. With cables about £40 using bits 2nd hand off ebay. Worked a charm. Wire a volt meter into the cab off battery 2 and a live ign feed for charging volts etc.

How many amps would be required to run a winch wih a split charge system?

If your running a winch then you you will want to hook it directly to one battery using fat cables direct but with a manual switch on the pos cable. It's not really got anything to do with the charging bit which will charge both batts when engine running (using system like mine) then isolate when alternator not charging (engine off). So you could hook your winch to your aux batt ( leisure batt type) so when engine off you can run the winch for a short period, flatten the battery and still crank the motor on starting batt.
But I would warn you that a winch can drain your battery v quick! If charging two batts off one alt you could end up with batteries maybe draining still with eng running if heavy winching? Depends on winch alt and batteries you have? But I'm not 100% on that one.
Just use fat wire to your winch as it will not get hot and will carry more amps over more distance. A 24v winch should draw less amps if you can rig the batts to get 24v somehow? Dunno how that would work tho!
Or get a tirfor and go to the gym

I think my gym days are sadly over.... Lol