Help wiring a second battery...

[tobz 10+ year member]

I am wiring a second battery in my car. Do I just run a 4 ga fused power wire from my main + to my second + terminal, and then ground it? And then run my amps off of my second battery?

I want my rear battery to be able to be charged by my alternator.

I am going to run two amps and with running the one amp I already got dimmage. I am also looking into upgrading my alternator.

I would appreciate some input from someone who has done this "correctly" before and if there is anything else I need to watch out for. I think that I will also get some sort of digital LED output so I can see what volts I'm running and be able to see what different upgrades affect it and how.

Thanks.

T.J.

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[lexus rx 10+ year member]

buy an isolator. it has three posts on it. your power wire from your alt. to battery goes on the center post. run another wire from the right post on the isolator to your alt. power output. just hook your power wire you have hooked to your battery for your amps in the back to the left post. i dont know if certain isolators have there posts configured differently but that is how most of them i have seen work. that way your back battery is dedicated to only powering your stereo system. and your front battery can take care of the rest of the car. and you dont have to worry about one battery draining the other one either.

 

[InhumanAcura 5,000+ posts]

buy an isolator. it has three posts on it. your power wire from your alt. to battery goes on the center post. run another wire from the right post on the isolator to your alt. power output. just hook your power wire you have hooked to your battery for your amps in the back to the left post. i dont know if certain isolators have there posts configured differently but that is how most of them i have seen work. that way your back battery is dedicated to only powering your stereo system. and your front battery can take care of the rest of the car. and you dont have to worry about one battery draining the other one either.

Hes got you covered as far as the correct installation goes, but if you want to keep track of the voltage you have lots of options. You could buy an autometer, vdo, ect gauge, the stinger expert line has a battery terminal with a led built in. There is lots of dist blocks with read outs as well.

You would only have to run a fuse from the power of the deicated battery to the amps.