P500 Dual battery

[JCart]

I cannot afford the P-500 build to be my primary occupation.

I get it, still struggling to finalize the rear cab wall and rear window as well as a skirt at bottom of cab wall that ties into seat base to minimize dust, water etc., into cab. I've made the rear 1/2 of cab roof, rear wall, from 3mm black UHMW and it looks nice, have cut a hole for rear window that follows the rear ROPS bars (like a "V"). The front 1/2 remaining roof is clear Lexan bolted with nut-serts to the ROPS, (a sun roof heh heh). Just sorting how to attach the synthetic (truckers tarp) material and clear vinyl to the 3mm thick UHMW sheet of material. Been chewing on this for some time. Eventually will have full doors too, that's a ways off... At the rate I'm going sigh... I'll put up pix when closer to completion.

jrc

 

[Montecresto]

I get it, still struggling to finalize the rear cab wall and rear window as well as a skirt at bottom of cab wall that ties into seat base to minimize dust, water etc., into cab. I've made the rear 1/2 of cab roof, rear wall, from 3mm black UHMW and it looks nice, have cut a hole for rear window that follows the rear ROPS bars (like a "V"). The front 1/2 remaining roof is clear Lexan bolted with nut-serts to the ROPS, (a sun roof heh heh). Just sorting how to attach the synthetic (truckers tarp) material and clear vinyl to the 3mm thick UHMW sheet of material. Been chewing on this for some time. Eventually will have full doors too, that's a ways off... At the rate I'm going sigh... I'll put up pix when closer to completion.

jrc

That's too cool. It truly is a blast building these things out. And I have a buddy that bought one after he saw mine and so often we have them side by side in the shop together piddling on them, mostly drinking beer talking about piddling on them, lol. Like you, I too will post pics after it all comes together. Good luck with you're progression!

 

[Gem99Ultra]

Anybody done a dual battery setup on the P-500 that has instructions and pictures?

Haven't added a dual battery - BUT sure wish I had! Left the key on yesterday overnight. Next day - the dinky little 16ca battery was totally dead. Naturally, just simply taking the battery cover off and hooking up the charger wasn't so simple at all. One of the cover bolts simply spun the backup nut. And as luck would have it, the nut wasn't in a place where one could get in behind it to hold it while loosening the bolt.

Oh, it's the little things in life that makes every day interesting.

My hat's off to you for going that extra mile and adding a second battery. Not an easy task!

 

[Montecresto]

Haven't added a dual battery - BUT sure wish I had! Left the key on yesterday overnight. Next day - the dinky little 16ca battery was totally dead. Naturally, just simply taking the battery cover off and hooking up the charger wasn't so simple at all. One of the cover bolts simply spun the backup nut. And as luck would have it, the nut wasn't in a place where one could get in behind it to hold it while loosening the bolt.

Oh, it's the little things in life that makes every day interesting.

My hat's off to you for going that extra mile and adding a second battery. Not an easy task!

Thanks Gem. I think jrc works out of his, I can certainly understand his need. The location of the OEM battery is what makes it particularly hard and expensive. My PoPo will be a cake walk. The battery is under the hood and a tray for a dual battery was provided by Polaris, but I know we're not suppose to mention such things here.

 

[Montecresto]

I get it, still struggling to finalize the rear cab wall and rear window as well as a skirt at bottom of cab wall that ties into seat base to minimize dust, water etc., into cab. I've made the rear 1/2 of cab roof, rear wall, from 3mm black UHMW and it looks nice, have cut a hole for rear window that follows the rear ROPS bars (like a "V"). The front 1/2 remaining roof is clear Lexan bolted with nut-serts to the ROPS, (a sun roof heh heh). Just sorting how to attach the synthetic (truckers tarp) material and clear vinyl to the 3mm thick UHMW sheet of material. Been chewing on this for some time. Eventually will have full doors too, that's a ways off... At the rate I'm going sigh... I'll put up pix when closer to completion.

jrc

So I have everything hooked up for the dual battery system except making the connections at the stock battery which I intend to do today. Then I'll turn the Mini switch on and set the circuit breakers and then check operation. I will let you know what happens. If all's well, I'll take photos of it all and post them up.

 

[Montecresto]

Here are the pics of my dual battery install and all the infrastructure for my various accessories. The biggest challenge and cost was the proximity of the batteries, one to another. The leads from the factory sub harness run to the rockers and from the rockers through the small fuse box to the various loads, so those are all switch powered loads. My sound bar will come off of the house battery fuse box in order to listen to music for extended periods while relaxing next to a creek grilling a hot dog in a hastily made fire without being stranded with a dead battery. A power inverter and other items are likely to receive power from there as well. There are three 100 amp circuit breakers, one in the start battery box and two under the hood. The OEM start battery is only a 16 ah. I have installed a voltage meter in the dash supplied by switch power and conducted a test yesterday. I turned the key on with one accessory on for eight minutes which dropped the start battery to 11.4. I then started the engine, turned everything off and let it run charging the battery for 5 minutes observing that it was charging at 14.3 volts. Then I turned the engine off with key on and the battery voltage was 12.8. Such is the use and recovery of the OEM battery. The added house battery is 36 ah. The rocker switch panel is missing one rocker as I'm awaiting receipt of my sound bar. I also added a dual port USB, opposite the voltage meter.

 

[JCart]

Whooa Montecresto wicked nice workmanship holy! Well thought and laid out, especially like the 100 amp circuit breakers. Very nice indeed....

jrc

 

[Montecresto]

Whooa Montecresto wicked nice workmanship holy! Well thought and laid out, especially like the 100 amp circuit breakers. Very nice indeed....

jrc

Thank you sir, I had an experienced tutor.

 

[JCart]

Thank you sir, I had an experienced tutor.

No worries and you're welcome, that's the beauties of the net and sites like this, helping out.... I've a couple 7.3 diesel power stroke trucks and guys have supported me over the years. So much so I wouldn't have the trucks if not for their collective efforts, I've learned so much along the way too. Looking forward to your inverter install!

jrc

 

[JCart]

Monte.... Where did you get the 100 amp breakers from? They are waterproof yes?

Thanx jrc

 

[tjoreo]

What a very nice setup. Now if you could just get your hands on a 700 and let me know how you would set it up, I would greatly appreciate it. I guess I will just have to muddle through it, but that thread has given me great ideas and answered a lot of questions. Thank you's to all of you.

 

[Montecresto]

Monte.... Where did you get the 100 amp breakers from? They are waterproof yes?

They are indeed waterproof!

http://www.amazon.com/Bussmann-CB185-100-Type-Circuit-Breaker/dp/B00139FQSS/?tag=sxsweb24-20

 

[JCart]

Thanks for the quick response! Im gonna start a 7.3 diesel power stroke project and wanna clean up underhood auxiliary electrical and your breakers would be a great addition for a positive bus bar.

Thanks again,

jrc

 

[Montecresto]

Thanks for the quick response! Im gonna start a 7.3 diesel power stroke project and wanna clean up underhood auxiliary electrical and your breakers would be a great addition for a positive bus bar.

Thanks again,

jrc

You're welcome. I wish FORD still used the 7.3.

 

[JCart]

You're welcome. I wish FORD still used the 7.3.

Yes awesome engines for the most part. Looked under the hood of a 6.4 a few years ago..... Recognized the battery that's all, the rest... Man oh man. I'd not own a powerstoke except for online resources where I've learned a wealth of info from. Least with the 7.3 a shade tree like me can still make them run, the newer one not so sure.

jrc

 

[d_b]

Very nice. Your hired to do my wiring.lol

 

[WBCC]

Awesome. Thanks for the link. Did you have to run those large cables all the way to the battery, or did you come off of the power hub?

I know this is an old post, but where is the power hub located on the P500?

 

[Montecresto]

I know this is an old post, but where is the power hub located on the P500?

Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean outside of the battery box. When you do an auxiliary battery, if that’s your plan, you’ll then be installing one under the hood that you’ll use for distribution of everything going forward. In your battery box just in front of the rear passenger side tire is a 40 amp main fuse.

 

[trigger]

you’ll then be installing one under the hood

Or under the seat.

 

[WBCC]

Or under the seat.

Ok, I was just wondering if there was already a power up front that I missed. I wired from the ignition to a buss bar. So all my accessories would be key hot. Everything ties directly to the 40amp fuse. Runs my amplifier/Bluetooth stereo and eventually my leds when I get them. May do a second battery at some point. My winch is direct to the battery.