EVILXJ

Starting to look at options for a second battery for when I get my winch bumper fabbed up.

I don't want to loose the air box because my snorkel uses it but I am going to ditch everything for the a/c

So. Anyone running dual batteries?

jcwclm

Put it in the back. I'm thinking about doing this. Alread have to run 2 awg wire back there anyway so why not...

biker_nicks

That's what I've done, very simple to do

highwater

I'm running a nice boat battery seems to do ok

btm24

What year XJ do you have?

Brandon

thehighlander123

Hey guys with the battery in the back, where are you hiding it?

I would like to do the same with an optima deep cycle battery but its kinda tough to find a good place to stash it without loosing storage space or making it look like crap.

OttawaXJ

I bolted both my batteries in the back right to the floor. You loose some space but not much.

warrpath4x4

I don't have my dual batteries in yet but I will be running 2 batteries and a snorkel. Only thing though is I am having to build my own filter housing so I can run the second battery in the location of the stock air cleaner.

alpine.adrenaline

I wonder what the minimum size battery would be to power, say, a 9500lb winch? I mean if there's a deep cycle that's smaller but still big enough to power the winch, there's quite a few places you could put it in the engine bay. Especially if it was a dry cell and you could mount it on its side...

stereodesigner

If your taking your stock air box out im sure you can fab up something to fit a second battery up under the hood.....BUT if your planning on running a second battery in the back INSIDE the jeep make sure you get a SEALED battery (sealed batteries can be mounted in any direction and also do not put off hazardous fumes like regular batteries do) thats how we have to do it in car audio never run regular batteries in the back not good for the health

merdock69

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Snap-Top-E...y-Box/16781380

Wal mart sells those marine battery boxes that would work great for locating a spare battery in the cargo area.

LegalizeFreedom

A good aftermarket high output alternator and one good optima or exide or kinetic is plenty. But if you do go for the dual battery make sure they are atleast around the same quality.

The reason i say this is my last car had a 5500 watt true rated sound system. I had 2 Orion H2's, some mids and bullet tweeters and 2 mono block amps and a 4 channel, with a 280amp alternator and three batterys. I went with two Kinetic 2400's in the trunk and double 0 gauge wire everywhere. I left the stock original battery up front.

Well i would always bump as loud as i can get untill my little volt gauge would drop below 13 as this is when the load has gotten past the alternator's capabilities and is now being powered by the battery's.

So on to my point...
One day a buddy needed to borrow a battery for testing his whatever, so i gave him the one up front seeing as everything is in wired in series it didnt matter. So latter that day im driving around and i figure "lets see what these 2 $300+ batterys can do"

And wouldn't-you-know-it, I could bump louder then ever before, I mean 2 times louder, like wtf loud. And the volt gauge needle didn't ever budge. I racked my brain and i came up with this...
When the load is over the weakest batterys capabilities, even if you have 2 other top-of-the-line batterys, the voltage goes south, and all of the strong batterys juice goes right into the weak battery and does nothing for your components. So long story short lol your only as strong as your weakest link.

and if you do all this make sure you update your wires and grounds. The engine block to body ground is the most overlooked, as it is the main ground for your alternator. And as you may know, never run high load stuff with the car off. It takes 7 minutes of driving for your battery to recharge just from starting the car. Batterys dont make power, they are a load that holds it.

Sorry so long, i type fast and get carried away.

cruiser54

You want 2 identical batteries and upgrade all your grounds. www.kelleyswip.com has everything you need if you don't wanna make your own.

I have had winches on a few rigs over the years and I ran one battery on the first two rigs and two batteries on the last one. Two batteries make all the difference in winching power.

DocOrng XJ

I was thinking about running duals in the back.

Is there any reason I cant just get rid of the battery under the hood (free up space for other stuff) ?
And put 2 in the back to power engine & accessories?
Im assuming with proper gauge wire it can be done?

Agent_Oragnge

ditch the air box and run the air from inside the cabin of the rig. it's damned near failsafe as far as cool dry air goes. then you don't have corrosive potentially dangerous batteries in the cab with you. just my .02