Twin battery set up in the UK spec Colorado

[Gav Peter]

What ho chaps

This latest cold snap has finished off the batteries in the wife's Collie... I've read a couple of threads saying the twin battery setup is unnecessary (& even undesirable) in the Collie so was wondering what steps would be necessary to run with a single battery...

Could I literally just take the two out & fit one in the drivers side space & leave the wiring as is to the passenger side slot??? Taped up for protection of course

Cheers
Gav

 

[diggerdave]

I don't know about the whys and wherefores of deleting one of the batteries. However mine only ever had a single battery set-up from the factory and I've never had any problems no matter what the weather or temperature.

Also, the space where my second battery would have been (in a different spec vehicle) now houses an ammunition box bolted securely in place which just fits two bottle jacks inside...

 

[Shayne]

How is it a bad thing ?

Its still a 12v system and it just gives you back up for 12v accessories , if your going to pull out the wiring i would be glad to add it and a second battery to my truck .

 

[StarCruiser]

How is it a bad thing ?

Its still a 12v system and it just gives you back up for 12v accessories , if your going to pull out the wiring i would be glad to add it and a second battery to my truck .

Batteries in parallel can drain one another if there's a fault on one. If I remember rightly the batteries are in parallel so there should be no detrimental effect in running one battery. EXCEPT that you will have less cranking amps available and put twice the load on one battery during start.

So, question for those with Collies on one battery, what size battery do you have? It may be that the single battery setup has a larger capacity battery. I would say, put a good quality single size battery on your truck and see how it goes.

 

[Shayne]

I run a varta G8 95ah and i've had a varta G7 sat in the kitchen for a year waiting for me to buy a slip charger

 

[Chris]

It was part of the Winter pack and can certainly be removed. Tens of thousands, in fact tens of millions of cars only have one battery and they work just fine don't they. You don't need a bigger battery. Many of the Collies only had one. Mine did and I added a second. Why? Very good question. It was utter vanity. From the experience of many, I think we agreed that when one dies the other get dragged down too. So you always need two batteries and best to have the matched as it were. So go for it Gav. Rip that sucker out and free yourself ..

 

[diggerdave]

i've got a varta e12 74ah 680a
it's not quite the correct shape (it sits on a spacer to lift it a bit) but its always worked fine

 

[Bob]

I have a 750a - 110ah truck battery in there... When I was replacing the original, a buddy of mine working in a farm machinery shop got it at good money for me. Poles match, though it's a little taller, so had to re make the bracket. But it's in there 8 years and started in everything from -17 to +41.

I understand the principle behind dual batteries, maybe of benefit in the Boreal or something with constant Arctic temperature.

 

[StarCruiser]

There's your answer.
Just be absolutely certain you insulate the redundant cables or if practical remove them. Better still, consider a leisure battery setup if that's what you want to do.

 

[pyemaster]

Yeah I had the winter pack on my Hilux, when I lost one battery and it took the other with it I used it as an opportunity to sort out all my electrics.

Replaced one starter with a 110ah marine battery, and split-charged it from my new starter, an 830CCA beast.

Definitely worth it in my opinion, though you'll need to modify a sheath for where the cable attached to the second battery on its way to the starter. You don't want that kicking about.

Owen

 

[Gav Peter]

Thanks for the input guys - will look at pricing up a single battery & a few rolls of insulation tape rather than two batteries!!!

 

[Gav Peter]

So this afternoon I have removed the passenger side battery & tried to jump start again off a friends car with no success, even disconnecting the remaining battery & connecting the jump leads directly to the cables... Still no start...

I'm starting to get worried here that if I even go & buy a new battery it won't start... Any other pearls of wisdom guys???

 

[Chris]

Gav, I'm shocked.








A friend you say?

 

[Iwan]

So this afternoon I have removed the passenger side battery & tried to jump start again off a friends car with no success, even disconnecting the remaining battery & connecting the jump leads directly to the cables... Still no start...

I'm starting to get worried here that if I even go & buy a new battery it won't start... Any other pearls of wisdom guys???

I've the same typical problem coming into winter battery issues, been forced to use my 1kzt powered 71, due to big end bearing failure on my 1hdft 81 (very annoyed!). I fitted the single battery bundera tray.... fine in the summer... a blast of frost and 16" of snow... sodding cruiser will not start!! Snowed in and 20 miles to the nearest battery seller. Yesterday had the exact issue as your having Gav. I even changed the starter! It's amazing how much time can be lost "messing around with summer batteries!"
I charged the battery over night in the house became snowed in again.. I managed to get the car going and moved closer to the 71 jumpers hooked up.. still no start! Left it hooked up to the car running for 1 hr went back after breakfast and half a turn on the starter... fired up! Time to go drifting and reopen up the lane!

Best to put the jumper negative on the block somewhere so the battery isn't soaking the power and give a bit more time! It WILL start mate!

 

[Gav Peter]

Work colleague then Chris

 

[Gr8Yota]

A little off topic, and a little late, but in case it’s of interest... I had twin set up on my KZJ70, pretty much the same. My FJ has a single unit. I had starting issues even though the battery was new. Replaced it and probem solved but I also installed a dual battery set up with a Blue Sea magnetic latch ACR which is fully auto with manual overide. It will automatically isolate the aux battery when the voltage drops just a few 10th of a volt, reconnect when alternator is charging (or the solar panel) and I can jump start myself just by pressing the switch on the dash...which I had to do before replacing the OE battery and it worked prefectly.

 

[Gav Peter]

Aye, there's plenty you can do with these things but as the wife's shopping trolley, I just want to get it started

An aside... If there were no antifreeze in the coolant & it froze up, would that prevent the thing turning over?

 

[Chris]

Probably yes Gav. If the water pump was frozen the impeller wouldn't be able to turn, but it would have to be pretty cold to do that - even with just water in there. But it could. If that was the case it would try to turn over. It's sound pretty tortured - certainly wouldn't just go click. The starter teeth would be banging on the flywheel ring I'm sure.

 

[Gav Peter]

There's none of that tortured noise Chris, just a quick whimper, jolt and die quietly... Dash lights up pretty well on the key then disappears on the key...

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

did you check the battery voltages Gav? How sure are you that the jump leads were making a good connection?