Roaddude
Long time off-grid vanlife adventurist
GMC Savanas and Chevy Express diesel vans (at least older diesels like my 6.6 Duramax) have one starting battery under the hood and the other along the frame under the driver's side, wired in parallel; doubling capacity but keeping the same voltage.
I'd like to add a 100ah AGM Odyssey house/leisure batt in its own tray alongside the one on the frame (or perhaps in the living space) to store solar power when away from my trailer and its deep cycles and solar setup. I'll have a redundant solar system and charge controllers. I'd like to let it charge when underway, and will isolate it when parked. I'm familiar with how to isolate simply, what gauge wire to use, and appropriate fusing.
My concern is wiring it correctly. Wondering if one place or another is better to splice my house batt into the dual starting batts via isolator, if I chose to let it charge when underway. Do I need to tap in closer to the batt under the hood for any reason or can I simply tap in at the batt on the frame?
Extensive searching over time has resulted in no results from folks who have actually added a house batt to a dual batt starting system.
Anyone here have actual hands-on experience with what I'm looking to do?
.
I'd like to add a 100ah AGM Odyssey house/leisure batt in its own tray alongside the one on the frame (or perhaps in the living space) to store solar power when away from my trailer and its deep cycles and solar setup. I'll have a redundant solar system and charge controllers. I'd like to let it charge when underway, and will isolate it when parked. I'm familiar with how to isolate simply, what gauge wire to use, and appropriate fusing.
My concern is wiring it correctly. Wondering if one place or another is better to splice my house batt into the dual starting batts via isolator, if I chose to let it charge when underway. Do I need to tap in closer to the batt under the hood for any reason or can I simply tap in at the batt on the frame?
Extensive searching over time has resulted in no results from folks who have actually added a house batt to a dual batt starting system.
Anyone here have actual hands-on experience with what I'm looking to do?
.
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