battery relocate

Has anyone done a battery relocate in their 1st gen? I'm thinking about doing a dual battery set up in the back or leaving a battery up front and adding one in the rear. Ideas input or reasons why this idea might be dumb lol

 

Yup. Pulled the airbox when I put the 3RZ in, my second battery goes there now.



A second battery isn't dumb, assuming you take the time to do it right. The question is whether having the second battery is worth the time and effort to install. In my case I don't need it at all, but I had the hole in the engine bay anyway, had the second battery on the shelf and used a cheapy solenoid and some old welding cable to hook it all up, so it didn't cost me much.

 

Do you have a write up on how you did yours? That's a good looking setup you have there!!

 

No, no writeup. I put a 200a solenoid on the drivers fender, ran 4ga from the original battery to the solenoid and another one from the solenoid to the second battery. I also have a powered 14ga wire from the second battery to the trigger post on the solenoid, and another 12ga to a switch in the cab, and then to ground.

With this setup, when I flip the switch the batteries are tied together - they charge together and they discharge together. Flip the switch again and the second battery is cut from the system and can't be drawn down. There's more sophisticated setups out there for sure, but this was quick and easy, and gives me the ability to jumpstart myself if the primary battery goes down, and that's all I need from it.

 

That's kinda what I was thinking about too. Being able to jump start my self and knowing I have that extra battery should the. Need arise. I just figured having the batterys in the back would free up engine compartment space and I would have one less thing to worry about damaging on the trail. I like the idea of having a switch to turn one on and off as needed.