Dual battery?

[Jay3537]

When using my winch today on my 2020 powerwagon, the altenator and battery would not keep up. The battery light came on and everything inside powered down. eventually when left to idle for a couple minutes everything came back on. Is there a way to convert from single battery to dual on the 2020 PW? or how do you compensate for lack of battery reserve?

 

[crash68]

You could add a Tazer Ram module that has a winch mode which elevates the idle RPMs

Tazer RAM

Description Not currently compatible with 2022 or newer models due to a conflict with the UConnect 5 radio. A firmware update to fix this is in the works. Tazer Ram User Guide The Tazer Ram is an electronic OBD2 plug-in device for changing vehicle settings and adding some extra functions that...

www.zautomotive.com

It has a whole bunch of other options available that it's capable of

 

[rzr6-4]

To my knowledge there's no such thing as "converting" from single battery to dual, it's just a matter of finding a place for it and running a couple wires.

 

[markabby]

how old is the current battery?

 

[4xdad]

+ to+ -to- it’s pretty easy. i think the big thing is going to be where you can mount it. i would recommend looking at some big ram diesels that have 2 batteries to see how they do it. i dont know if the big diesels have dual batteries. i am sure someone will say. i think its definitely worth a look

 

[4xdad]

i’m going to look at my 15 now to see what i can figure out

 

[4xdad]

i know on 15pw there was a (spacer/tray)? i turfed it and i could run a bit bigger battery. i think the bigger tray is for diesel and the smaller is to save money on the manufacturer

 

[crash68]

that have 2 batteries to see how they do it. i dont know if the big diesels have dual batteries. i am sure someone will say.

Yes the Cummins trucks have dual batteries, one on each side of the engine bay.
May have to relocate some things to get the second tray in under the hood for the Hemi trucks. It's possible to even mount the second battery under the truck.
The op would also need to add a battery isolator and rewire the winch to run off the second battery. Probably still going to need to elevate the idle to get full current output from the alternator.

 

[4xdad]

or a boat switch. i used to have a 84 chevy blazer. at the time it was our only vehicle and i would work out of town alot. we had two small kids and my son is autistic. the car had to start even at -40c. i could run off one battery or both or shut both off completely.

 

[4xdad]

that blazer had two block heaters too

 

[62Blazer]

Keep in mind that adding a second battery is the same as installing a bigger gas tank....if you are draining the single battery you will also drain the system with dual batteries, it will just let you use the winch longer before it goes dead. The alternator is what is supplying the electrical power but it doesn't produce enough to power the winch. The extra power the winch requires is then taken from the battery. The winch requires more power the higher the load is on it. It's not an "on or off" situation. For example if you are pulling 6,000 lbs. it is drawing around 300 amps but if you are pulling at the max 12,000 lbs. it requires close to 500 amps. For comparison the typical alternator output on these is around 200 amp max. The alternator output also varies with engine RPM as the faster the engine is running the higher the output. This means that if your alternator is rated at 200 amp that is only at higher RPM ranges. At idle a "200 amp" alternator is probably only producing 100 amps or less. Point being that even at max output most alternators cannot keep up with a winch being used under much load and thus will be draining the battery. Getting the engine at a higher RPM while winching will help
Regarding the comments about isolators, I think there is some misunderstanding or confusion here. You do not NEED an isolator for dual batteries. Directly connecting two batteries together is about the same as installing one big battery. If you install an isolator between the batteries and hook the winch up to the second battery, that's not helping out the original problem listed in this post. You are then only pulling power from one battery and it won't be any different than before. The only reason to do this is so the winch (or other accessories) don't drain the main battery. You don't get any extra power for the winch, it's just so if the winch kills the one battery you still have the other battery to start the truck.

 

[Docwagon1776]

I have the dual alternator option, which helps a lot. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to retrofit if you don't have it. I suspect more bother than it's worth, but just throwing it out there.

 

[RamDiver]

Keep in mind that adding a second battery is the same as installing a bigger gas tank....if you are draining the single battery you will also drain the system with dual batteries, it will just let you use the winch longer before it goes dead. The alternator is what is supplying the electrical power but it doesn't produce enough to power the winch. The extra power the winch requires is then taken from the battery. The winch requires more power the higher the load is on it. It's not an "on or off" situation. For example if you are pulling 6,000 lbs. it is drawing around 300 amps but if you are pulling at the max 12,000 lbs. it requires close to 500 amps. For comparison the typical alternator output on these is around 200 amp max. The alternator output also varies with engine RPM as the faster the engine is running the higher the output. This means that if your alternator is rated at 200 amp that is only at higher RPM ranges. At idle a "200 amp" alternator is probably only producing 100 amps or less. Point being that even at max output most alternators cannot keep up with a winch being used under much load and thus will be draining the battery. Getting the engine at a higher RPM while winching will help
Regarding the comments about isolators, I think there is some misunderstanding or confusion here. You do not NEED an isolator for dual batteries. Directly connecting two batteries together is about the same as installing one big battery. If you install an isolator between the batteries and hook the winch up to the second battery, that's not helping out the original problem listed in this post. You are then only pulling power from one battery and it won't be any different than before. The only reason to do this is so the winch (or other accessories) don't drain the main battery. You don't get any extra power for the winch, it's just so if the winch kills the one battery you still have the other battery to start the truck.

Further to your block of words.
More line breaks would be easier to read and greatly appreciated.





The attached PDF lists performance graphs for several different Ram alternators by current size.

.

 

[Grams]

My litte Kubota RTV X900 has a winch..and the former owner had installed a dual-battery setup to handle it which involves an isolator of some sort to allow both batteries to charge when the alternator is running…but only the battery directly connected to the winch to power that winch…leaving the main/oem battery for the vehicle itself. (This means that the winch will still die when that battery dies. Doh.)

The winch was only used one time…. when the son in law went where no sensible person would go unless they thought…”Hey..I’ve got a WINCH!…. No Problem! … I can do ANYTHING!” …. and I had to pull him out with a tractor. (If he’d been less-reliant on the possibility of the winch…he’d never have attempted to slog-across-that-mud-hole.)

When the dual batteries died in old-age…. I removed the system…. because it was unnecessarily-complicated….returning the vehicle to the original single-battery.

Never regretted the decision.