Big Red

Things Are Going Well

Day two I’m quite happy with adding the second accessory battery to my truck. The extra reserve capacity seems to be really helping. While I concede the arrangement of the batteries leaves a bit to be desired, so far things have worked well. I have left the two accessory batteries disconnected from the alternator — all power is coming through the solar. But I can flip a switch, and connect things back to the alternator, but except for cloudy day or dark weather and extended drives, I doubt that is necessary. I haven’t noticed any hydrogen building up in the cap, and with the grommets pulled around the battery, I’ve not noticed much water splashing in despite the heavy rain we had this afternoon.

Doubled the size of the assessory battery bank (2x Group 24 DC) in my truck.

A Third Battery for Big Red?

I’ve been thinking a bit about adding a second accessory battery, in the bed of my truck to double the battery reserve while camping. This would provide additional power for camping, especially camping multiple days during the winter when there is little solar radiation, or even camping at campsites with a lot of shade. I want to be able to camp multiple days with ample power.

Solar panel installed to top off battery when camping multiple days

I would probably get another matching Group 24 battery, stick it in the bed of my truck in a marine battery box, and just tap it into the system via the bus bar I have mounted in the shelf on my truck cap.

Second (Inverter) Battery, Battery Isolator (Relay), Second Fuse Tap

I could probably do it for around $120, as I have the wire and fuse, but would need the battery, a marine battery box, and a fuse holder.

A few things that give me pause …

  1. A Group 24 battery weights 45 lb.Β  While that’s not a lot of weight for a 7,000 lb pickup truck, it does add some weight, and could make things a bit further out of balance and require moving around the weight in the bed.
  2. The third battery would be mounted in the bed and take up space. While I have a fair of space, and things could put on top the battery box, it still more space taken up by the battery, plus additional wires, fuses, etc.
  3. Different age batteries could fight. I don’t really want to replace the other accessory battery, so fighting batteries could reduce the charge that they both would take. But I tend to think the advantage of the additional battery would be greater then losses from fighting.
  4. Batteries produces hydrogen when the they charge. I don’t want to be smelling hydrogen sulfide when I sleep, or have it be burning me. While I think the bed is fairly well ventilated, I don’t want hydrogen to build up in the cap and go bang like the Hindenburg blimp.
  5. The second accessory battery would be beyond the low voltage shut-off, as it would be connected directly to bus bar that powers the accessories in the truck cap. That means I wouldn’t have under-voltage protection for that battery, but with the two batteries for reserve, my very modest load, and the solar, I doubt I would have too many under-voltage conditions.
  6. It’s additional load on alternator and solar panel, which means it will take longer to charge two batteries even if it takes longer to discharge, and discharge cycles will be less deep.
  7. Plus it’s $120 bucks that wouldn’t be in my wallet anymore. While I would get a lot of use out of it, and I could use the battery box for other projects, batteries don’t last forever.

Big Red

I want to give this a bit more thought, but if I do set this up, I’d like to have it all working and fully tested before my Independence Weekend trip up to Moose River Plains.

I love cruise control

I am so glad I got the cruise control fully restored ok my truck by replacing the brake switch. I use cruise control virtually non stop, especially in the 30 mph speed zones when traffic is relatively light. Cruise control makes it easy to stay below the speed limit, you reach near speed limit hit a button and it continues on at the same speed until you hit the brake. No worries about the speed gradually speeding up while going along, the computer controls it nicely. Traffic slows, you hit the brake. I love cruise control, I can’t imagine not having it these days with there being so many speed zones.

Georges Garage – GMC Chevy GM Truck Brake Switch Replacement

Been having trouble with cruise control, and in freezing weather, my truck not wanting to come out of park or the ABS/stablitrak light coming on. Fortunately, it appears I can fix all these issues in a few minutes, with a $20 switch. That makes me happy as a pig in shit, because I'm cheap and I like my cruise control to work, as I use it constantly. Here is a shorter video by KRE87 that I also studied.