Battery wiring/chargong help

[outsideshot23 10+ year member]

alright. I got a sierra ext cab. 2 RE Mt18's, 2 US amps ax3200DE amps... rebuilt alt to 260 amps, big 3 done. Just bought 3 hc2000's that im going to run in the bed. my question is should i run a wire str8 from alt to one battery then power amps with the other 2... they are all wired together... whats the best way to get power from the front batt/alt to these things to keep the power flowing good and which batts hsould i use to power my 2 amps... and how many runs of wire?? using all 1/0 btw... Just want to keep it all charged... thanks

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[smoka 10+ year member]

I would do 2 runs of 0ga for power, and 1 run of 0ga for ground along with a good chassis ground. If you have concerns of getting a good chassis ground in the bed, then just run 2 lines of 0ga for ground.

If all the batts are close together and connected correctly, it won't matter which batt you connect your amps to.

Btw I would get rid of the starting batt since you'll have a high capacity of batts in the bed. If all batts aren't identical, it could shorten the lifespan for them.

 

[outsideshot23 10+ year member]

ya i still got the orig. batt but i think im going to replace it with another hc2000

 

[smoka 10+ year member]

sorry, I edited my post before you replied.

 

[outsideshot23 10+ year member]

so one batt will be getting power from alt then going to amp and one will not... will that make a diff... or do i need to do 3 runs so each abtt gets equal power??? then will they stay charged good or will i need to hook up a charger to them on occasion??? and if so how do i hook a charger up??? leave them all connected and just hook it to one??? sorry for all the questions... just curious

 

[smoka 10+ year member]

If the batteries are wired in parallel and are placed close to each other and the power/gnd connections are relatively short, then the 3 batts will act like 1 large batt.

Its hard to say if you need to charge them. Unless you listen to your system balls out they should be fine. You'll just want to keep an eye on their resting voltage (when the cars off). If they rest below 12.5v then you'll need to use a charger.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

There is a couple of ways to do this from the picture I have up loaded. The yellow wire isolates the front battery from a possible bottle neck with the front battery. If done this way the multiple runs of 0 ga pos power wire can be avoided (from the front battery to the back). Since your vehicle is a full frame grounding to the chassis should work but if you notice heavy dimming you could always go to the front chassis ground where the electrical system is grounded to up front.

Make sure your fuses are within 18" of the battery and as close as you can for the alt.

 

[outsideshot23 10+ year member]

So iw ould need to fuse from the alt to the batts???? wouldnt that cause more resistance??? iw as just going to fuse from the batts to the amps

 

[outsideshot23 10+ year member]

thanks for teh diagram... very helpful

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

I would fuse in case of a short. If you get a short in your wire/wires it would/could cause damage to the alt and stop a fire from the batteries discharging/arcing from the short.