Ben Bailey
Veteran Member
Posts:2561
 | | 05 Aug 2007 01:09 PM |
| I have figured out that the voltage leak on the XD was coming from the secondary battery which is basically running the stereo system, and possibly some lights. The battery was switched by a manual-only breaker that is under the hood, right next to the air filter... If I leave it on for 12 hours or more, the truck has a hard time starting. So I need to find a solution to allowing me to access that old battery position/wiring, but I need it to shut down with the rest of the truck when the key is turned off. I would love to have an automatic breaker to just throw into that same spot, one that is only open when the key is turned. Do any of you know of what I should be looking for? Where? I will then be able to rewire the truck permanently with no dual battery. |
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Craig Miller
Posts:11799
| | 05 Aug 2007 04:37 PM |
| Hmmm.... so how are they wired together now? In series, but with an isolation switch? Sounds like you need to replace the batteries with a new matching pair. |
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Ben Bailey
Veteran Member
Posts:2561
| | 05 Aug 2007 04:47 PM |
| I bought one new battery and just tied the pos leads together with the alt wire. I did this because the previous owner had an isolator set up, but had them all tied to the same post... hu? So the isolator was useless. I tied them up the way they are supposed to go in a dual unit, but then found that the alternator exciter wire had been spliced into the system and spliced, and spliced, and cut and spliced so many times that after running it for a few minutes it would start to catch fire. I then opted for a single battery till I could at least figure out the dual system, and I would then have to rewire the exciter wire... so I'm going back to a single battery and I will relocate the ARB compressor to the old aux battery spot -- where it won't be right next to the exhaust manifold so that it melts -- like the previous owner did...... hu?
Anyway, as long as the pos lead for the aux wire is tied to the alternator, everything works. The breaker is nice to have... but it is under the hood and when you are dealing with three 0-gauge wires you cannot simply decide to relocate it -- it stays there...
So, now I am running with a single battery, but with a whole circuit set up for another battery that I need to permanently hard wire, but I can't do that till I figure out how to deal with the breaker switch. |
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Craig Miller
Posts:11799
| | 05 Aug 2007 05:01 PM |
| you lost me. |
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Ben Bailey
Veteran Member
Posts:2561
| | 05 Aug 2007 08:50 PM |
| Ya. Sorry. My bad mud of a paragraph there.
Try this: - Two batteries, hooked up to one post on a 4-post isolator... go figure...
- Both batteries at about 20% capacity, so they are too weak to start the truck in the morning...
- Attempted to attach the two batteries to the isolator correctly -- caught fire... Bad exciter wire, possible bad isolator.
- Bought new battery, installed it in original battery position, without isolator. I then wired the positive from the aux battery to the positive of the new main battery, but just left the aux battery position empty. This means the main battery is driving the stuff in both battery positions -- everything works great now...
- ...except the aux battery position has a manual breaker switch under the hood. I cannot listen to the radio unless this is closed. But when it is closed there is a significant drain on the system...
- Cannot rewire that switch to a new position, wires are too big, too complicated of a task.
- Need to find a breaker that will go on and off automatically, or I need a switch and relay type set up to wire in. I just don't know where and what to really start looking for.
- This is your Rover on drugs.
- Any questions?
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Ben Bailey
Veteran Member
Posts:2561
| | 05 Aug 2007 09:06 PM |
| Here is a caveman rendition of what I have now in the aux battery position... no battery, just the wires capped off. The second pic is what I would like to do... essentially I want a master switch in the cabin, not under the hood. |
 Attachment: wiring.JPG
Attachment: wiring2.JPG
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Ben Bailey
Veteran Member
Posts:2561
| | 05 Aug 2007 09:08 PM |
| Or, how about this...
I hook up the positive to the isolator, leave the switch on, do not use a battery in the aux postion. Put the alternator to the same post on the isolator as the main battery, leave the alternator post blank and the exciter post blank. Would this utilize the isolator as a way of getting power when the key is on, but of isolating it when the key is off? Maybe... I will have to experiment tomorrow. |
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Tony Sims
Veteran Member
Posts:1231
| | 05 Aug 2007 09:34 PM |
| Ben, you're giving me a headache... ;-)
Advice completely contrary to my El Cheapo nature -- Wire up a normal single battery circuit until you can either rewire properly through the isolator, or, even better, spring for a Hellroaring unit. I sense you are on the verge of letting the smoke out of a lot of critical wires...
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Ben Bailey
Veteran Member
Posts:2561
| | 05 Aug 2007 10:41 PM |
| Wire up a normal single battery circuit until you can either rewire properly through the isolator
That's what I have now. Believe me, you do not want to deal with the wiring they put in this truck. On the aux battery alone there were four 0 gauge wires and two bundles of other. I would have to reroute all that in order to put this current switch into the cabin. I need a switch that activates a relay. Then I could put the relay in place of the breaker I have, and put the switch in the cabin easily. Like I show in the second cave drawing. I need to find a large enough relay to run the main positive battery cable through -- do any of you know where one is, where I can buy one, and most importantly -- what am I actually looking for? Amps? Poles? What? This is what I have now, under the hood, it is manually operated: Switch I need to replace it with something I can activate from the cabin. |
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