Eco Diesel Battery question

[John Wooten]

I am looking at putting in a dual battery system on my truck. I haven't really found anything useful for my 1500. As far as I know, and I dont know ****, diesels require 2 batteries. Therefore the 30. Eco should have 2 batteries. So if it has two where do they both mount at?

 

[Htsderek]

I don't know much about diesels either, my understanding was that large displacement diesels used two batteries to help with turning the engine against the higher compression (compared to a gas engine) and to power the grid heater/block heater/glow plugs since there is more metal to warm up. My Ecodiesel only has one battery, I did a little looking and I can't tell if the 2500/3500 with the 6.7L Cummins has a dual battery system either. Unless you're adding a serious audio system or other large drain on the electrical I don't think dual batteries are really needed anymore.

I found a few threads on the 1500 diesel forum about dual batteries in a 1500, one referred back to this thread where the truck had a hemi engine and the owner freed up room under the hood by changing to a vararam intake, another mentions looking for space under the truck to mount the second battery. I'd bet there's room under the cab, or you could remove one of the rear floor storage buckets?

Let us know what you end up doing and how.

 

[crash68]

Not sure why you think the EcoDiesel needs two batteries, none of them ever have been built or offered with a two battery option. One of the reasons the CTD has dual batteries is the grid heater, EcoDiesel use glow plugs. Just because it's a diesel, doesn't mean has to have duals.
The EcoDiesel actually uses a higher capacity AGM battery (800 CCA) vs the flooded lead acid battery (730 CCA) found in the gassers. There have been several EcoD owners who have reported starting their trucks in -20°F down to -35°F without even plugging the block heater in, so the single battery has enough capacity.
You could add a second battery if you want but it would have to be located in the bed or under the truck. Under the hood would take some major rearranging of the air intake and engine modules.
If you want one of the highest capacity batteries that fits in the stock location, you'll want the Odyssey ODP-AGM49 H8 L5 (49-950). I put one earlier this year as the original started to faulter. It is a 950 CCA AGM with a 160 minute reserve capacity,

 

[Dennis Gulau]

I tried to find a dual battery kit for my 15 ED. There seems to be no such thing.
Just not enough room under the hood to even fab my own.

The truck runs just fine with a single battery, even in very cold temperatures.

 

[46RamMan]

I am looking at putting in a dual battery system on my truck. I haven't really found anything useful for my 1500. As far as I know, and I dont know ****, diesels require 2 batteries. Therefore the 30. Eco should have 2 batteries. So if it has two where do they both mount at?

That's because diesels have 24VDC starters.. so it takes 2 batteries in series to get 24 volts

 

[crash68]

That's because diesels have 24VDC starters.. so it takes 2 batteries in series to get 24 volts

24V starter, maybe in semi trucks..
Even the Ram Cummins uses a 12V starter, the batteries are wired in parallel to each other.

 

[John Wooten]

Thanks for the info guys! I want to add a deep cycle battery for my overland setup. I guess I will go back to the drawing board.

 

[46RamMan]

24V starter, maybe in semi trucks..
Even the Ram Cummins uses a 12V starter, the batteries are wired in parallel to each other.

OOP's Thanks for the info.. I thought that all the diesels used a 24 vdc starter and that's why they have two batteries. So Two batteries in parallel will double the amperage capacity to the 12v starter though..

 

[HEMIMANN]

OOP's Thanks for the info.. I thought that all the diesels used a 24 vdc starter and that's why they have two batteries. So Two batteries in parallel will double the amperage capacity to the 12v starter though..

Nope - all the little diesels we had @ 12VDC. 24VDC didn't start until the "C" series. That's cause the little diesels crossed the threshold into consumer fleets, where all the other vehicles were 12VDC.

Corporate pushed us to consolidate, we told them to back off cause the end customers would leave us for Kohler.

 

[crash68]

I want to add a deep cycle battery for my overland setup. I guess I will go back to the drawing board.

You can add a second battery for auxiliary loads, but the truck itself doesn't need dual batteries.
You'll want to use a continuous duty solenoid to isolate the two batteries from each other if the truck isn't running (see picture). Wire an On-Off-On switch to the solenoid so you can select if it's energized with the ignition on, off or on continuous for being able to "self" jump start.
Although the pic shows the ground terminals jumped together, you want to ground the second battery to the frame/body.

 

[John Wooten]

Sorry, just been crazy busy around here. Thats an awesome pic, and I have all that figured out. my big concern was where to put the second battery. I seen a dual setup for optima batteries, but Im not a big fan of being locked into those. I was hoping I could use the same set up as the 3.0 eco guys... but oh well... Thank you for everything!