Electrically challenged....Help me design a house battery system

[gtbensley]

In theory this should be a simple task, however I seem to be going around in circles in my head trying to figure it out. The vehicle is a 1995 Ford E350 7.3 ambulance with just a basic high top. Vehicle has two starting batteries that are under the hood and wired in parallel. When the house uses the batteries its draining the starting ones (same batteries). I do have a master switch under my drivers seat that kills SOME power but some things still work like interior lights.

I would like to install a house battery and separate it from the starting ones. Because the coach is wired to the starting ones I am having trouble wrapping my head around how to wire the system in? I have an inverter in the rear with cable run up front somewhere for power. Can I just put a isolator on that wire and install a second battery?

Thanks

 

[silvrzuki77]

Type in your favorite search "engine dual battery setup expedition portal" you will get a great link on what to do for doing an isolated house system. Grab some frame mounted battery trays for your van. Good to go.


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[gtbensley]

I have read that. But if I do it that way wont I not have any power to the coach?

 

[Bbasso]

Look into a Blueseas ACR.

 

[KYC]

Go to the Power Systems section.

There is a wealth of information.

Are you going to run solar? or is the house battery going to be charged by the alternator?

 

[simple]

Use a blue sea isolator between house batteries and starting batteries. All batteries will be wired in parallel. Connect any accessories that you don't want to drain the starting batteries to the house batteries.
You can drain the house batteries down without draining the starting batteries. When you run the engine, the isolator will see charging current going from the alternator to the starting batteries and will then automatically close the switch and charge the house batteries.

 

[flightcancled]

You could take a look at how I did it. My setup basically was the same, although for some reason they installed a battery selector switch to separate the left and right batteries under the hood. Maybe this was a cheap solution for short period use?

I simply ganged the batteries under the hood under the 1 position and then ran cable to a rear compartment where I put my house battery bank which became position 2 on the selector. An ACR charges the house while I am running or I can charge by idling with the high idle controller on.

If I could to it again I would use the rail mount boxes for the batteries instead of wasting compartment space. I will probably move them in the future.

Edit: Here's a link to when I was banging my head against the walls trying to figure this out. Pat made some excellent suggestions. If you need more photos of my wiring let me know.

 

[gtbensley]

what I am hearing is I just need to attache the items I want to run to the house batteries and there is nothing more to it. Simple enough I think. Ill post back with progress when I start.

 

[Gunner207]

I second the blue seas ACR, noco makes marine battery boxes that are great also. Find a West Marine store, they should have a blue seas catalog you can look at. Great diagrams and descriptions in their catalog.

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[mikracer]

I think you should first determine how much of a battery bank you need for the house. What appliances do you have? What do they draw? Etc... If you need more than 100ah, you will need to go with 2 mid size batteries (group 27 or 31) or one large battery (4d) or wire in some solar to charge.

 

[simple]

I think you should first determine how much of a battery bank you need for the house. What appliances do you have? What do they draw? Etc... If you need more than 100ah, you will need to go with 2 mid size batteries (group 27 or 31) or one large battery (4d) or wire in some solar to charge.

Good point. I've found that I can run LED's, heater furnace fan, water pump for 2-3days on one group 27 battery. Add a 12volt fridge like ARB and a second battery would be good. You could also charge a laptop using a small inverter. If you plan to run any major sized inverter and other 110 volt AC items, maybe some calculations are in order.

 

[gtbensley]

I already have determined my battery bank size and will have 100 watts solar to top it off. No fridge and the inventor will only be used when running probably. Just using batteries for lights, phone charging, and possibly a small fan in the summer.

 

[4Fox]

Have you considered just using a Go Zero set up? I'm thinking about just getting a Yeti for the simplicity and portability

 

[gtbensley]

I have and would love one....but I already have batteries and that keeps my cost pretty low to install a system.

 

[Evil Patrick]

I think the problem is that the currently installed system is already somehow wired to the house. As far as I can tell, no one has replied to state that you will first need to determine how to disconnect the house system from the paralleled, under-hood batteries. After that, you can install a simple isolator switch (if you intend the charging system to be the alternator), install a dedicated, separate house system, and you're good to go.