P1000 Dial battery setup, volt meter on dash still drops

[Smitty71]

New to this forum, any help would be appreciated
Completed dual battery setup, with True Isolator. Aux battery negative connected to main battery negative. Rear LED lights and Light bar connected to aux battery. Have not installed stinger relay nor fuse box yet, not dual volt meter.
Dont know if this his a problem or not, but when I start machine , and turn on LED lights, my dash board volt meter still drops to 13.7 as before I installed aux battery. Is this a problem in my wiring ?

 

[Admin]

 

[Smitty71]

New to this forum, any help would be appreciated
Completed dual battery setup, with True Isolator. Aux battery negative connected to main battery negative. Rear LED lights and Light bar connected to aux battery. Have not installed stinger relay nor fuse box yet, not dual volt meter.
Dont know if this his a problem or not, but when I start machine , and turn on LED lights, my dash board volt meter still drops to 13.7 as before I installed aux battery. Is this a problem in my wiring ?

I guess I should have mentioned, 2024 Honda P1K5 forest

 

[Scoop]

Sorry, don't have a '24.

Dashboard voltmeter? From the factory display?

How many voltmeters do you have?

You need one for each battery or a dual voltmeter that is connected to each independently.

 

[Remington]

New to this forum, any help would be appreciated

Well Welcome from Michigan then!
To serve you better with your issue, we like pics of your rig especially when you first join. POIDH
Also with the issue at hand, pics of the set up. This will help us and you get some answers.
Please and Thank You much!

 

[Remington]

when I start machine , and turn on LED lights, my dash board volt meter still drops to 13.7

What is it before? 13.7 aint bad, Id be happy with that.
Maybe disconnect the LED lights and see what that gets you? Maybe too much draw from them?
Also, should have the lights switched with there own relay and preferably from a fuse box thats fed from the aux battery. This will help alot of things.
Again pics help us imagineers alot

 

[Smitty71]

What is it before? 13.7 aint bad, Id be happy with that.
Maybe disconnect the LED lights and see what that gets you? Maybe too much draw from them?
Also, should have the lights switched with there own relay and preferably from a fuse box thats fed from the aux battery. This will help alot of things.
Again pics help us imagineers alot

14.0 - 14.1, all lights off

 

[Remington]

14.0 - 14.1, all lights off

Sounds good to me!
Again, id look into not hooking them direct but with a fuse panel and relay.
Don't forget those pics! We are helping you, help us

 

[bumperm]

A lead acid battery won't be 14.1 volts unless it is being charged or the voltage is read shortly after the battery charging stops. It may well be that your voltmeter is reading is suspect and reading higher than it should.

 

[ChadD]

 

[Smitty71]

Well Welcome from Michigan then!
To serve you better with your issue, we like pics of your rig especially when you first join. POIDH
Also with the issue at hand, pics of the set up. This will help us and you get some answers.
Please and Thank You much!

 

[Smitty71]

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14.2 volts shown on display is no lights at all.
13.9 volts shown is display is with rear LED’s added with LED lights bar, all on aux battery

13.7 volts shown is with headlights (on main battery) , front light bar and rear LED lights on aux battery.

 

[Smitty71]

14.2 volts shown on display is no lights at all.
13.9 volts shown is display is with rear LED’s added with LED lights bar, all on aux battery

13.7 volts shown is with headlights (on main battery) , front light bar and rear LED lights on aux battery.

Factory battery, and aux battery is a mighty max, SLA AGM

 

[dweber23tr]

That all sounds normal to me when sitting there idling.

 

[Hillbillytnt]

You should expect some drop when running different things. How big are the lights your running

 

[bumperm]

Yes, with the engine idling the alternator is charging the battery (albeit at a lower rate) so unless the battery is way low, like might be the case after using the winch, you would expect the battery to read higher than at-rest with no load. Note that the alternator's full output of 50 amps is rated at 5,000 rpm. Output is much lower at idle (though I don't know what that spec is.

So, bottom line is voltage measurements vs battery state of charge vs loading is all just a WAG unless you also include the conditions under which voltage measurements are obtained.

 

[Smitty71]

You should expect some drop when running different things. How big are the lights your running

Rear LED are only 18 watts each, x’s 2
Front light bar is pulling about 7-8 amperes (NiLight , 16 awg wire, so I am guessing 7-8 amperes).

 

[Smitty71]

That all sounds normal to me when sitting there idling.

Thank you for your reply. This might all be very well and “normal”, I just didn’t expect a voltage drop at the factory display.

Next week, I will be tackling the 80 ampere relay, and adding the fusebox , and dual volt meter that fits in the rocker switch “pop-out” cover, as well as the on/off relay. I like that “rocker “ style dual bolt meter more than round one that comes with the True System.

 

[Remington]

This might all be very well and “normal”

 

[bumperm]

Thank you for your reply. This might all be very well and “normal”, I just didn’t expect a voltage drop at the factory display.

Next week, I will be tackling the 80 ampere relay, and adding the fusebox , and dual volt meter that fits in the rocker switch “pop-out” cover, as well as the on/off relay. I like that “rocker “ style dual bolt meter more than round one that comes with the True System.

Most dual voltmeters have two positive inputs, one for each battery, and a common ground that is connected to the voltmeter through a relay, so it only comes on with the ignition on. That's all good, but sometimes I want to check the batteries without turning on the ignition. This also provides a more "honest" voltage reading with both batteries no-load. This is easily accomplished by adding a momentary push button to apply a momentary ground to the voltmeter's negative terminal. Easy, slick, and convenient.