The Badger Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Got 4 Warn spots to add to the roof rack, was gonna wire them to the main starter battery. You think this is ok, as I have some light force running off that too. The battery is a Red top Optima. Got a yello top for the winch and extras. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotian Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 What wattage bulbs are you using? I've got 7 100w bulbs running on mine and with the fan on its too much for the altinator to keep up with charging but the battery is ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Badger Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 What wattage bulbs are you using? I've got 7 100w bulbs running on mine and with the fan on its too much for the altinator to keep up with charging but the battery is ok. The bulbs are 100/90 watt, Im gonna change the main lights to HID lights to save a bit of power, and my side lights are already LED's, along with the rest of the lights / indicators etc the light force are Lightforce 240 XGT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotian Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 I would have said you would be fine with normal bulbs but as I said, I'm having trouble with the 100s in. Your battery should be fine with it just need to make sure its charging enough with a powerfull enough alt. Somone on here I'm sure will come up with the correct formula to calculate power draw and battery capacity/alt power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob90 Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 I dont know if the way I do it is right but I run my lights, fridge, heated screen etc of the second winch battery, so the battery gets some use i.e. gets drained and recharged, as apose to just sitting there watting for me to use my winch which is rare, My thinking is that it is better to use a battery rather than having it connected to the charge system but never put under load. As I said I might be wrong just my thinking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Badger Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 I dont know if the way I do it is right but I run my lights, fridge, heated screen etc of the second winch battery, so the battery gets some use i.e. gets drained and recharged, as apose to just sitting there watting for me to use my winch which is rare, My thinking is that it is better to use a battery rather than having it connected to the charge system but never put under load. As I said I might be wrong just my thinking Yeah that is what I was thinking? At the moment I have the light force running off the other battery as they are only used rarely. I guess the trouble might be is if you are winching in the dark? I think the HID main lights, so I can then switch the lightforce onto the the main one. And at least I can then winch in the dark ish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mortus Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Rob90 im unsure whether that applys to car battery's as they are different to others like your mobile phone battery. i know your mobile battery should be charged to the top then COMPLETELY drained before recharging, as just top up charging seriously shortens the battery's life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotian Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 No. Car batteries are nothing like recharable batteries found in phones. They dont have memory like the Li-ion batteries do and they dont need or like to be totally drained of power then recharged. If they do the lead plates inside will start to corrode with the large amount of charging required for a flat battery (if done too often) Best to have them just used a little and topped up (as normally happens with using them in a car). The red top battery is a cranking one that is designed to give max output for a short time . The Yellow top ones (we are talking optima batteries here) are deep cycle batteries and they cope better with being discharged alot. They are also designed to give more even power over a long time at lower amps than the red tops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Badger Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 Hey Scotian yeah I thought that, hence the optima as they are like gel batteries you can use for power storage when using solar power in you home (well im pretty sure). anyhow, I was consideirng getting a small solar pannel and fiting it to a roof box, and wiring these up to the batteries with an on/off switch, is it called a battery maintainer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob90 Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Rob90 im unsure whether that applys to car battery's as they are different to others like your mobile phone battery.i know your mobile battery should be charged to the top then COMPLETELY drained before recharging, as just top up charging seriously shortens the battery's life. I didnt mean to completly discarge the battery that would be just silly having said that my logic was along the lines of... A) sencond battery conected to split charge system used rearly,always fully charged and getting small charge constantly from the alternater. B)getting some use from the assesories and being topped up. Just seems logical that the battery would benifit from some regular use rather than only used once in a blue moon, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveBo Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Here is a useful source of info on all types of battery http://www.axeonpower.com/ My understanding is with Scotian, although some new batteries are using similar technology to pc / mobile types so some have similar characteristics i.e. some memory effect. Most batteries have a finite life with tolerances based around use. Most car batteries are designed to provide a powerful kick for starting then to be topped up asap so they don't like to be drained too much or for too long. I'm planning to install a second battery to run acessories and so will switch my additional fuse/relay box to the second battery to protect the main starter battery. However, I plan to add a hydraulic winch so won't have the problem of too much drain from lights and winch (would you really expect to be winching in the dark?). Maybe you could keep one pair of lights on the main battery to solve the winching problem then keep the high power driving lights on the second battery to avoid drain on the main battery overtaking the alternator? I wonder if anyone makes an intelligent switch to manage power drain similar to a charge management system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Badger Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 Here is a useful source of info on all types of battery http://www.axeonpower.com/ I wonder if anyone makes an intelligent switch to manage power drain similar to a charge management system? I have this Genisis system that does this, you can set it to winch assist where it connect both batteries togther if you want more power, or you can set it to start assist, where it connect the two again incase the main one is out of charge. Usually it just manages the split charge and totally works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badlands Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I have 6 spots and main lights on the front of mine, and its fine, Btw, get the roof spots wired for the side lights, it looks lush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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