ive been thinking about running a dual battery setup lately and my question is this..... i know that the yellow tops are more for systems that draw a lot of amps such as big stereos lots of lights and whatever else you can think of while the red tops are more of a starting battery .. but they both work well for whatever. so i guess my question is , is there a way to use a batt. isolator and make the red do most of the starting and cranking while the yellow handles most of the light a stereo stuff... keep in mind that these both need to be ran off the same alternator.. so i guess im trying to figure out what kind of switch i could use to be able to switch from red to yellow and then maybe run red and yellow at the same time. damn that was alot of typing :kissmyass:
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dual optimas
- Thread starter jjduedall
- Start date
Not Jobless
Mr Funbags
One Red or Yellow top is more than enough battery for wheelin...including winch, lights, stereo, etc...
i was just wondering because i plan on getting a bigger amp here very soon and i have a buddy with a real big amp( not sure how big exactly) and he has a red top and the capacitator for the amp is in there and its all wired correctly and on the way home from work when he turned the stereo up all his electrical in his truck shut off for a second. i guess the battery didnt have enough juice
KarlVP
Love that TOYOTA
I run dual red tops and don't have any problems.
I Do, rotate the batterys from "house/winch" every 6 months.
I Do, rotate the batterys from "house/winch" every 6 months.
84Toyota4x4
Well-Known Member
1 farad per 1000 watts is what I was told a while ago, just FYI.
Some people have different schools of thoughts on the capacitors, some say that capacitors just drain the system more since for that one big voltage draw, its charge is emptied, so now the alt needs to recharge the cap as well as maintain voltage to the amp at the same time. Therefor, its no more than a "band aid" for a poor charging system. Others say they work great. Also just FYI.
IMO, an upgraged alternator for the same price as a second Optima might be the way to go. 100 amp single wire or so from Summit racing for about $100, drop that sucker in there and go. If the stock truck runs on a 40 amp alt, that means you would still have 60 ADDITIONAL amps to use for accessories before you "break even" with the output of the alt.
Then, if you still get a second battery, at least you have an alt thats capable of running the truck, any accessories, and charging both and probably then some.
Do you have one Optima already?
~T.J.
Some people have different schools of thoughts on the capacitors, some say that capacitors just drain the system more since for that one big voltage draw, its charge is emptied, so now the alt needs to recharge the cap as well as maintain voltage to the amp at the same time. Therefor, its no more than a "band aid" for a poor charging system. Others say they work great. Also just FYI.
IMO, an upgraged alternator for the same price as a second Optima might be the way to go. 100 amp single wire or so from Summit racing for about $100, drop that sucker in there and go. If the stock truck runs on a 40 amp alt, that means you would still have 60 ADDITIONAL amps to use for accessories before you "break even" with the output of the alt.
Then, if you still get a second battery, at least you have an alt thats capable of running the truck, any accessories, and charging both and probably then some.
Do you have one Optima already?
~T.J.
84Toyota4x4
Well-Known Member
Batteries are just a reservoir of power. The problem is the stereo (or other accessory) drains the battery faster than the alt can keep it charged.jjduedall said:
If the truck has a 40 amp alt, and its using close to that, say your driving at night while its snowing so you have the headlights, heater, wipers, etc on. Then you turn on your stereo and draw another 40 amps for a 500 watt or so amp, sure it will work for a little while, but eventually the battery will drop down because you're pulling the power out faster than the alt can put it in.
Adding a second battery increases this reservoir size obviously. This works well for when you use a winch or anything that might draw a large amount of power because as soon as your done, the alt can recover both batteries since the extra draw is gone, but you didn't over draw your single battery because you were drawing off both at the same time.
Also, keep in mind that as the voltage drops, the amperage goes up. So if your battery drops in voltage, something drawing from it is going to pull more amperage to make up the difference, which can cause big problems, blow fuses, melt wires, etc. A 500 watt amp running at a healthy 13.5 volts is 37 amps roughly, but once the battery drops to say 12.5 or 12 volts, your up to a 42 amp draw now.
~T.J.
EDIT: What I'm trying to say, is that you could have lots of batteries, but if you have an alt thats too small, the batteries will only take you so far before you run into the same problem.
Obviously people run all kinds of setups and they work, but in my experience with stereos (which Ive built more than I can remember), the alternator is one of the first things I look to upgrade.
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IMO, forget the red and the yellow top, go with the blue top deep cycle, I have not been able to kill these batteries, they seem to have great long lasting power no matter what you hook to them, none of this one battery for this and another battery for that, just sounds like a headache to me.:devil2:
