[Refry]

Just picked up my General Deluxe this past weekend and was glad to find this forum. I haven't had a chance to take it out except for right around the house. After perusing this forum, I will do a full, once-over first to make sure any issues noted by other new General owners are detected and addressed early.

Looking forward to learning and experimenting with mods (like finding the best place to put a second battery).

-Rick in North Texas

 

[Lennie]

Welcome too the forum

 

[Alaskan47]

Welcome Rick! You and I think alike. There is a compact battery that's out that is small and proclaim will start a dead car. Many dead cars. I'm thinking of mounting it under the hood and installing a battery switch in case I leave the ZOMBI lights on. I'll try to post a link.

 

[Alaskan47]

View attachment 2506
Many choices to chose from.

 

[Trapper]

Welcome Refry I carry a small battery That comes in a zippered case with jumpers or 12 volt plug or cell phones they say it will jump a dead diesel in the winter. I bought it to carry on my 4 stroke sled they do not have a pull start. I will post the brand at another time. I have seen this on amazon for about 135.00

 

[BCGeneral]

Welcome Rick!

 

[PolarBear]

Welcome the forum Rick! Any other mods on your mind besides a second battery?

 

[deertraks]

Welcome Rick!

 

[dozerdude]

Welcome Rick:grin2:

 

[Forti5edGeneral]

Welcome to the forum, glad to have someone here that can help see to it that issues we have will get dealt with sooner than later.

 

[Trapper]

Welcome Refry I carry a small battery That comes in a zippered case with jumpers or 12 volt plug or cell phones they say it will jump a dead diesel in the winter. I bought it to carry on my 4 stroke sled they do not have a pull start. I will post the brand at another time. I have seen this on amazon for about 135.00

the battery I bought

 

[Alaskan47]

Hey, take a look under the drivers seat in your battery box. You can fit another battery in there. It's wide.

 

[Refry]

Hey, take a look under the drivers seat in your battery box. You can fit another battery in there. It's wide.

I agree, there is plenty of room to stick another battery under there - probably need to fab or rig up a small bracket to secure it.

While I like the idea of carrying a small, jumper battery, I'd like to hook a second battery for accessories.

My ultimate plan is to stick a second battery next to the stock battery with an isolator. I would then like to move the positive cable (running to the under-hood terminal block) over to the second battery. I could then add a fuse block under the hood and run the winch and added accessories off the second battery (attaching added lights to the fuse block). Anyone see potential problems with that plan?

 

[coalbucket]

Welcome Rick

 

[Alaskan47]

I split the load between 2 buss bars under the hood because they only gave us one. I added up the draw on all my accessories and with everything on I'm still charging. Don't think I will have all my lightbars on stereo blaring while I'm winching myself up the side of a mountain. Hey you might! What I need is the ability to get home, and a second battery source out in the boonies could make the difference. I like your isolator idea to keep it charged but no draw until I switch the load to that battery or run with both batteries. Small 3 position battery switch readily availible.
What are you adding for load? Lights etc..

 

[Refry]

Alaskan47,

Right now, I have a 32" light bar for the roof, a couple spots for the front bumper (may get a 12" light bar to use instead), and a couple floods for the bed/rear. The 12v lighter plug in the center armrest storage is also getting replaced with a dual USB outlet.

I'm also going to look for rear winch options - overkill, I know, but I don't want to get stuck out in the boonies either. I'd like all that potential load on a second battery (along with the factory winch, radio and other things I might add later) for peace of mind.

I just ordered a True UTV dual battery isolator which should keep my main battery fully charged no matter how much I draw down the second battery. Next step, pick up a second battery and find a way to secure it next to the factory battery.

 

[GJCOMMANDO]

How about this. I did this to 6 RV's in the past. Take 2ea 6 volt batteries and hook them up in series for 12 volt output. Gives you a ton more usable amps. Real easy to do as well. Link attached below


We use 6 volt deep cycle golf cart batteries. It helps so much on battery longevity in a camper or trailer. OR 2ea 12 volts hooked up in series.


If there is enough room in the battery box.


Battery Wire Diagram

 

[GJCOMMANDO]

Verbage was wrong. 2ea 6 volt in series or 2ea 12 volt in parallel. Either way you get amps, which is what counts. Just look over the link in the above post for correct wiring diagrams for the desired results.

 

[Refry]

How about this. I did this to 6 RV's in the past. Take 2ea 6 volt batteries and hook them up in series for 12 volt output. Gives you a ton more usable amps. Real easy to do as well. Link attached below


We use 6 volt deep cycle golf cart batteries. It helps so much on battery longevity in a camper or trailer. OR 2ea 12 volts hooked up in series.


If there is enough room in the battery box.


Battery Wire Diagram

I like it! :grin2: I'm guessing hooking together the 6V batteries in series would allow you to use the same 12V isolator (and allow charging of those once the main battery was charged up to the set voltage - basically like a 12V battery with half the cells separated into two enclosures)...having flashbacks to grade school science fair projects & basic electric circuits...lol.

I ended up ordering an Odyssey PC925 a little bit ago, as it has a pretty small footprint and it shouldn't be too difficult to make a little platform to secure it next to the factory battery. A bit more money than I wanted to spend, but it seems to be a tried and true battery.

 

[Alaskan47]

Alaskan47,

Right now, I have a 32" light bar for the roof, a couple spots for the front bumper (may get a 12" light bar to use instead), and a couple floods for the bed/rear. The 12v lighter plug in the center armrest storage is also getting replaced with a dual USB outlet.

I'm also going to look for rear winch options - overkill, I know, but I don't want to get stuck out in the boonies either. I'd like all that potential load on a second battery (along with the factory winch, radio and other things I might add later) for peace of mind.

I just ordered a True UTV dual battery isolator which should keep my main battery fully charged no matter how much I draw down the second battery. Next step, pick up a second battery and find a way to secure it next to the factory battery.

Sounds like a solid plan. Battery hold down should be simple enough. Just copy the one that's there.