I have a second battery installed in the back of my van to power my inverter.I have an isolator installed.My alternator just burned out with only 6500 miles on it.I have a deep cycle battery for the inverter.Recently,I was told that a deep cycle battery is meant to be charged slowly(trickle charged) and that having it hooked up to an alternator is charging it too quickly and could have contributed to my alternator going bad.I have a 105 amp alternator.Can anyone tell me if this is the proper way to have a 2 battery system and if my alternator is big enough to handle it ? thanks!
auxillary battery
- Thread starter tyoung
- Start date
I can't answer your question regarding the cause of the alternator failure, but I can tell you that I have a 135a alternator in my chev van and it's charging two deep cycle batteries thru a solenoid. I recently replaced the alternator after about 500,000 miles. I've had three other vans with similar set-ups and have never experienced premature alternator failure.
Terry
Terry
tyoung, I'm running an isolator in my Chey with a 105 amp altenator. 120,000 miles and no problems. You should still be under warranty. I'd remove the isolator before taking it in.
Terry, I believe you are you using yellow top Optimas. I have a 3 year old yellow top. I would like to add second. would it be wise to mate the new one with the 3 year old or start fresh with two new batteries? What is your average service life for these batteries?
Glad to hear Rene' is doing well!
Terry, I believe you are you using yellow top Optimas. I have a 3 year old yellow top. I would like to add second. would it be wise to mate the new one with the 3 year old or start fresh with two new batteries? What is your average service life for these batteries?
Glad to hear Rene' is doing well!
Moot:
I'm using a couple of 600 CCA deep cycle batteries from COSTCO. They have a pretty good return policy and they're cost effective. I've always replaced them both at the same time because any fault in one could prematurely degrade the other. I have no scientific data to support this theory; I just do it thataway. I seem to use two sets on each van, so I'd say about 3 years+/- or between 275,000 to 300,000 miles.
I use a #6 welders cable between my primary and the aux batteries. It just occurred to me that a premature Alternator failure, if batteries are deemed culpable, might just be an improper conduit 'tween the batteries, and the excessive draw might cause the regulator and alternator to fail. No scientific data for that thought either.
I'm using a couple of 600 CCA deep cycle batteries from COSTCO. They have a pretty good return policy and they're cost effective. I've always replaced them both at the same time because any fault in one could prematurely degrade the other. I have no scientific data to support this theory; I just do it thataway. I seem to use two sets on each van, so I'd say about 3 years+/- or between 275,000 to 300,000 miles.
I use a #6 welders cable between my primary and the aux batteries. It just occurred to me that a premature Alternator failure, if batteries are deemed culpable, might just be an improper conduit 'tween the batteries, and the excessive draw might cause the regulator and alternator to fail. No scientific data for that thought either.
I have 2 yellow top aux. batteries, an isolator and a 105 amp alternator, and haven't had any problems in 150,000 miles. It sounds like you've got things hitched up correctly. I don't think your aux battery caused your alternator failure at just 6500 miles- most likely it was just a bad alternator, which is a fairly common problem.
Vipra
Vipra