Second Battery installed! Now part of the Dual Battery Club.

After many Gin and Tonics, I finally got this part of the project done.

For the impatient.






I went back on forth on 4 options:

Dual 35's under the hood - Didn't love this option because of the headlight, wiring harness and the way the core support is rounded.

Battery in the Bed - I want a decked slider system so this kinda was a no go.

Battery under the rear bed quarters - I think my air tanks are gonna go there.

Mounted to the frame on the passenger side - I liked this option best as it was wasted space but the concern was the battery height and arcing on the cab.

I ended up with under the cab because it's the best use of space on the truck. I am going to undercoat the cab there for a bit of safety margin and if I'm feeling froggy I might make some HDPE pucks to cover the posts. There is about 1.5 inches from the top of the post to the bottom of the cab and if something is going to make that battery arc, I'm going to have bigger issues anyway. I am going to place a few welds at the bottom of the battery bracket to the frame to lock it in place and keep it from wiggling around when off-road.

Anyhow, hope it helps others that are looking for some place put a battery.


Oh, btw, that's a Northstar Group 31. AKA, BAMF - It's a 1150CCA with a 103Ah rating.
A Group 27(Factory Tundra Size) is 930CCA/92Ah, and a Group 35 is 740CCA/60Ah.
I went that way because I am going to run a front and a rear winch for extra MallExpo Points.
I have a Warn 12-S platinum waiting for my Expo One bumper to show up, and then I got a ghetto ass Harbor Freight Badlands 12K for the rear. Should give me plenty of capacity to drag as many Jeeps out of the mud as needed.

 

Thanks! It does squish the battery pretty hard, but I plan on finishing the tie down next week - you can see the provision on the side - It's just going to be some angle iron across the far edge running back to that bracket.

 

Very nice setup!! I like the battery choice!
Any reason why you didn’t want to mount it in the bed?
Is the frame mounted battery solely for accessories-rear winch, and main will control front winch?

 

I plan on doing the Decked system so it seemed like would limit battery choices, plus that's a ways out budget wise so I needed to find something I wouldn't have to re-do. I have two distribution panels in the truck and the plan is anything that didn't come from the factory runs of the secondary battery.

Underhood panel that the secondary battery will connect to.
This will power the front winch, ARB, Lights etc.



Under carpet - passenger floorboard panel
Today this powers the amp, HAM radio, 5 port USB charger - it will also power the stuff for the bed and fridge.

 

Great job!

 

This is one hell of a setup, Awesome work boss!!!

I randomly came across something on Amazon that was marketed as some kind of dash cam auxiliary vehicle battery. So I immediately started thinking to myself, "hey, why don't I try to search on google for larger and more advance auxiliary vehicle batteries?" then I thought "hmm, I wonder if anyone out there has tried to mount an auxiliary battery to the frame of the truck itself, opposite of the huge gas tank that's on Tundras?" - I was changing out my rear transmission mount a few days ago, and while under the tuck, I was noticing just how much space is under the vehicle, on the frame, that could mount lots of goodies.

Anyhow, I saw your post among the search results. I should have just checked this forum first, since I'm always on here looking for new ideas. Oh, I have a 2016 Tundra in Radiant Red, Crewmax, SR5, 4x4.

 

any issues with the battery location after a few years? im looking to do the same