Kory04 Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Bodaway said: Just curious why you feel strongly against dual batteries and alternators? Except for the additional things to break down. Its just added expense down the road to replace two batteries, two alternators. Also, its a significant amount of weight to carry around that takes away from payload. It wont' help fuel economy carrying the extra weight around, and spinning one more component on the engine...(I'm sure the decreased mpg is probably insignificant and likely not noticeable, but over the life of the truck, I imagine it would add a little fuel cost). I guess I believe why have it if I don't need it. My plows have worked fine in the past with one battery, and even on this truck with 2 batteries, the plow lights still dim just as much while lifting the plow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Wild Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Turns out it was the snow plow/ camper pkg that added the dual alts and batts. The order guide "recommends" the dual battery option with the snow plow/camper pkg but it's required in the dealer order system. I opted for just the camper pkg and that got rid of the extra battery and alt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
787Toolman Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 When upfitter switches are chosen as an option, as can be seen with above circuits from a 2017, 4x fuses are 25A and 2x are 40A, that's a total current draw of 180A so the second alternator will provide enough current to allow full amp to draw from six different circuits that can be customized. Ford has to build in enough power capacity to allow full capacity on all the circuits simultaneously. Dual batteries are probably required along with dual alternators so as to not exceed max amps draw rate from one battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 If they make you take dual batteries there is usually a good reason and probably a smart idea to take it even if you don’t think you need them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ovalbert Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 I asked my dealer to add upfitter switches to my F350 order and told them to make any other changes necessary, ie dual battery or alternator upgrade. It's been a week and they haven't said anything, I figure if it has dual batteries then I'll simply have more piece of mind should one battery go before the other. I do like the idea of building redundant systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpete12 Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Maybe this is a stupid question, but is there an easy way to isolate one battery if you want to use it at camp or something while the truck is off without running the risk of draining both and not being able to start? It would be nice to be able to do that but still tie them back together when the truck is running for heavy electrical load demands. I am not an electrical engineer, but do understand series vs parallel etc. I am getting the winch and dual batt/alts on my 7.3 order if it ever gets built. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
787Toolman Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 11 hours ago, bpete12 said: Maybe this is a stupid question, but is there an easy way to isolate one battery if you want to use it at camp or something while the truck is off without running the risk of draining both and not being able to start? It would be nice to be able to do that but still tie them back together when the truck is running for heavy electrical load demands. I am not an electrical engineer, but do understand series vs parallel etc. I am getting the winch and dual batt/alts on my 7.3 order if it ever gets built. thanks! bpete, see below, this is for a 2017 6.2L gasser with dual batteries, 7.3L will be slightly different and I think with dual alternators, but I think one could isolate one battery and leave one for starting but as soon as you reconnect it to the other battery, the good battery will quickly start charging the drained battery as they will try to reach same potential or equalize. If you started the truck with the good battery first, and then reconnected the drained battery so not only will good battery start charging the drained one but also the alternators will start charging too. With the price of a spare battery being about $150-$200, why not just buy a spare battery for camping purpose and use the charging circuit of the 7-pin trailer connector to charge the spare battery? 787Toolman 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpete12 Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 On 3/1/2022 at 9:50 PM, 787Toolman said: bpete, see below, this is for a 2017 6.2L gasser with dual batteries, 7.3L will be slightly different and I think with dual alternators, but I think one could isolate one battery and leave one for starting but as soon as you reconnect it to the other battery, the good battery will quickly start charging the drained battery as they will try to reach same potential or equalize. If you started the truck with the good battery first, and then reconnected the drained battery so not only will good battery start charging the drained one but also the alternators will start charging too. With the price of a spare battery being about $150-$200, why not just buy a spare battery for camping purpose and use the charging circuit of the 7-pin trailer connector to charge the spare battery? 787Toolman Toolman, great points and info. Thanks so much for the insight! bpete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thTimer Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Looks like all the schematics show the 2 batteries in parallel so the benefits would be more starting amps and more amps available to run 'things.' Would this extend battery life? Probably not by twice particularly in a hot environment. Would there be a way to determine if one of them was heading south? Would one going bad shorten the other's life or would they typically die together anyway? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPistons Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 On 3/1/2022 at 10:09 AM, bpete12 said: is there an easy way to isolate one battery if you want to use it at camp or something while the truck is off without running the risk of draining both Yes. It is called a "smart isolator". They are inexpensive and are designed to do exactly that. Simple install too. The diagram shown above, any load on either battery will drain both. If the intent is to use one battery for (insert accessory or attachment here) only while off, and add extra umph for starts, then a proper isolator is the only real way to do it, dual alternators or not. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpete12 Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 2 hours ago, NoPistons said: Yes. It is called a "smart isolator". They are inexpensive and are designed to do exactly that. Simple install too. The diagram shown above, any load on either battery will drain both. If the intent is to use one battery for (insert accessory or attachment here) only while off, and add extra umph for starts, then a proper isolator is the only real way to do it, dual alternators or not. Awesome thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good2eat Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 On 2/27/2022 at 3:40 PM, ovalbert said: I asked my dealer to add upfitter switches to my F350 order and told them to make any other changes necessary, ie dual battery or alternator upgrade. It's been a week and they haven't said anything, I figure if it has dual batteries then I'll simply have more piece of mind should one battery go before the other. I do like the idea of building redundant systems. My 06 250 has duel batteries but I don’t think I would consider them redundant. While it has to provide more available power, in that system I wouldn’t use battery power for much of anything with the engine not running. Personal experience has taught me the draw to start the truck combined with the potential for FICM damage via low voltage is just not worth risking, Also, when one battery goes south, it is highly recommended that both are replaced at the same time. Maybe the system is better on the new trucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
787Toolman Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 On 3/2/2022 at 11:54 PM, bpete12 said: Toolman, great points and info. Thanks so much for the insight! bpete Something else that I should have mentioned, and it came to me after reading the last post from Good2eat is if you buy a battery for camping and charge it from the 7-pin trailer connector, you should definitely purchase a deep cycle battery as they are meant to drain down to a low level whereas a regular starting battery is meant for short bursts and then recharge, hence starting battery. This is another reason to not use a truck starting battery for general high level draining like what will happen for using as a power source for camping. Deep cycle batteries are often used for boats and trolling motors where you will run it down very low, hence deep cycle. I'm no battery expert so if I said something that isn't 100% perfect, I guess I'll get called out for misinformation, but it is free advice, lol. 787Toolman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpete12 Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 37 minutes ago, 787Toolman said: Something else that I should have mentioned, and it came to me after reading the last post from Good2eat is if you buy a battery for camping and charge it from the 7-pin trailer connector, you should definitely purchase a deep cycle battery as they are meant to drain down to a low level whereas a regular starting battery is meant for short bursts and then recharge, hence starting battery. This is another reason to not use a truck starting battery for general high level draining like what will happen for using as a power source for camping. Deep cycle batteries are often used for boats and trolling motors where you will run it down very low, hence deep cycle. I'm no battery expert so if I said something that isn't 100% perfect, I guess I'll get called out for misinformation, but it is free advice, lol. 787Toolman Tool, Solid insight. Just trying to look at my options to optimize capability, so I really appreciate all points of view. bpete 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
road turtle Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 On 3/6/2022 at 5:25 PM, 787Toolman said: Deep cycle batteries are often used for boats and trolling motors where you will run it down very low, hence deep cycle. I'm no battery expert so if I said something that isn't 100% perfect, I guess I'll get called out for misinformation, but it is free advice, lol. 787Toolman What you're calling deep cycle batteries really aren't. Still want to keep discharge to no more than 50%. True deep cycle in wet batteries would be (2) 6V GC2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
787Toolman Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 44 minutes ago, road turtle said: What you're calling deep cycle batteries really aren't. Still want to keep discharge to no more than 50%. True deep cycle in wet batteries would be (2) 6V GC2. I guess this is why many golf carts run with 6V batteries in various combinations of series and parallel to get desired voltage and Ah capacity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
road turtle Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 1 hour ago, 787Toolman said: I guess this is why many golf carts run with 6V batteries in various combinations of series and parallel to get desired voltage and Ah capacity? My golf cart uses six 8V batteries. Yes, GC batteries have much thicker and denser plates. They are better equipped to handle being further discharged than either starting or so called deep discharge batteries. 12V GC style batteries are ridiculously heavy and expensive. When I have to replace batteries in the new 5th wheel, Lithium will be on my shopping list. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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