Do you need two batteries?

 

I run a lot of accessories and felt like running them off there own battery would be better then using only the starting battery

 

but if they are in parallel, doesnt that mean that they are connected and your electrical system will always carry the highest of the two voltages if for example one has 12.8V charge and the other has 12.6V.

Additionally you are doubling your amps so I dont know how you are not blowing up things..

Maybe you have different circuit all together for your accessories and the two batteries are not connected the same circuit?

 

If the charging system is strong enough to keep two batteries charged I would think it's strong enough to run whatever accessories you have? Just a thought is all. I know "back in the day" when I used to have expensive car stereo's guys used to run two batteries but I believe that was for when the car wasn't running so they didn't run the primary down. Once the starter battery is recharged your charging system isn't doing much unless you're lights are on.

 

To michalip, to put it simply, running 2 batteries in parallel doesn't double the amperage that runs through the circuit (what the ATV uses). The second battery essentially allows more time (or power available) before the batteries die.

thanks for the tip - It's something interesting that I need to look into ...just for fun.

 

You can add a diode between the positive terminal of the batteries. This allows the quad to charge both batteries but anything connected to the second battery will only drain the second battery.

Trucks have been doing for years. If you need help finding the part let me know and I'll dig something up for you.

 

A friend of mine just gave me a 70 amp battery isolator to instal between the 2 batteries. That should help with the drainage of power while using the accessories.

 

My local battery shop told me it is a waste of time putting two on a quad. I cant remember all the details, but I think he said the second would not charge properly and end up wrecking both of them. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Reason I belived him is that he talked himself out of a pretty big sale. 2-odyssey battaries and all wiring and hardware to go with the install. Dont know enough about it to give my opinion on the subject though.

 

Thanks for the info. I know there is some others on this site that DO run 2 batteries though, maybe they have something special setup, i have no idea though.

BigOutlaw is one of them i know for sure, you could ask him if you really want 2 bateries

 

Ya this is where I got the Idea from for two batteries. There is quit a bit of reading on the subject and I thought it was a great idea untill the guy talked me out of it. Like I said though, I dont know a whole lot on the subject and cant tell you if it is a good or bad Idea. Just wanted to tell you what I was told.

 

No prob man. I just know others are doing it so it must be somewhat possible in a none destructive sense. I just didn't want you to feel too discouraged from doing it if you really wanted to. There is lots of threads on it in here if you search them out you can see how/where they installed them and the exact wiring and what else they all used to make it work properly.

I know, i read through them all the end of last year, lol

 

Ya I've been through them when I was thinking of doing it. A year ago or more. I was having lo batt problems every time I used my winch. Got rid of the stock winch and installed a Viper max, stock battery is still good, runs my daughters Jeep hotwheels now. I run a odyssey now

 

Heck yea man, that battery you run (from your sig.) is superior by far. I know the older bikes like that had the smaller magneto's/Alternators and others had troubles with power as well. Maybe you could run a bigger wire from that to the battery? I don't know man, don't listen to me, lol, i have no idea, just wishful thinking.

Is your winch bigger than the other one you had, Dimensions i mean. 5k winch wow!

 

I honestly don't see the 2 batteries being an issue. I'm going to do it myself mainly for the winch and for winter starting. It really won't take anymore to charge because it's not going to use anymore juice except maybe when you run the winch long it will take longer to charge up the two batteries. No big deal. It's not going to hurt

 

Please post pics. when you get all done. how do you plan on wiring it? I am just curious is all.

Where are people putting the second battery? Does it fit in the rear storage? lol (G1)

 

Here's where I'm going to put it. This is a G2 though. I relocated my rad and that leaves more that enough room to throw a battery in there. I'm just going to wire it in series. I may throw a battery disconnect in there too for the second battery mainly because I plan on putting a stereo in and running it off the second battery when the bike isn't running. I'm doing a manual disconnect mainly because I can get nice ones for free

On another note I'm going to throw another battery in my truck as well and do it the same way only without the disconnect. My truck only gets run 1 week a month and in the winter it takes a toll on batteries. Just going to try to avoid having to boost it when I get back after two or three weeks on the road

 

I'm just going to wire it in series.

If you wire it in series (positive to negative), you''ll turn the 12 volt system into a 24 volt system and likely blow many of the electrical components.

You need to wire it in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative.)

Something else to keep in mind is that the alternator (magneto) cannot charge the batteries to 100%. It CAN get up to about 85-90% but if you want it fully charged, you'll need to put it on a trickle charger. This holds true for cars, too.

 

Sorry parallel is what I meant. Had a bit of a cloudy head that night.

 

Up here in Ak some people that drive there wheelers year round add 2 things- A small oil pan heater, and a small battery tender hard wired and mounted on the unit. They just plug in at night, and vola! The next morning their rides turn over and start the next morning, even at -25F temps.

 

On my 1st atv I put a second battery, but I put a marine switch in, so I can switch it from battery 1 to battery 2 to both and off. I had a bad battery and it went dead on me at the trail head on a day ride but luckly I was able to start it with the pull starter, but after that I wanted a backup battery in case that happened again. I may have to do something like that with my 1000, or maybe some jumper cables.

 

What marine switch are you talking about? I am thinking of running dual batteries and am curious how to do that

 

What marine switch are you talking about? I am thinking of running dual batteries and am curious how to do that

This is the one that I used...

Blue SEA Marine BATTERY Switch m-Series # 6007 Selector 4 Position | eBay