Second battery?

[elmateorino]

Has anyone had any experience with a second battery in parallel? Thinking about getting a second battery for "house" electrical. Any ideas on location for mounting? Thanks!

[o2batsea]

Yes. What is it going into?

[elmateorino]

'63 IIa 109 5 door

[o2batsea]

Does your under seat box have the battery tray in it? On diesel models, this is where they put the second 6 volt battery. So it may be that you have the battery tray in the engine area and a second one under the seat.
There are two ways to do this. One is to have both batteries in parallel acting as one giant single battery. The other is to isolate both batteries from each other but have them both get charged fom the alternator. Then you put an emergency paralleling switch between them in case the starting battery goes flat.
Which way did you plan to use?

[elmateorino]

I was actually thinking about isolating them, having the alternator charge both, and putting the transfer switch between them..basically the same set up as a fire/rescue truck or boat. I think I might have to beef-up the alternator too, what is the best size for the 2.6L Petrol?

[o2batsea]

Well, as you have probably figured out there are about ten gazillion ways to do this. I can give you my own recommendations, but you'll really have to decide for yourself what is best for you.
For batteries, I prefer Deka Odyssey or Trojan. You can't go wrong using a marine deep cycle AGM type for both banks as they will give you great performance and life.
I use a Balmar/Xantrex alternator controller (voltage regulator and battery charger all inone) and a Yandina combiner. This is about as fire-and-forget as it comes. The Yandina has an emergency parallelling feature that you can wire to a toggle switch on the dash, so you never have to fool with rotating switches. It'll handle 130 amps charging, so it is robust and is small enough to fit just about anywhere. Also look at the Blue Sea systems ACR.
I get my battery supplies from Genuinedealz.com. Buy the mil-spec heat shrink tubing for the battery terminals. They can also make up custom cables for a few extra bucks.

[elmateorino]

Awesome, straight forward enough. Thanks for the input!!