I decided that a better power source was needed for my fridge and navigation laptop. My main charging system consisting of the 130/140A(??) alternator and the two yellow top Optimas was sufficient under normal circumstances, but for extended periods of time not running or running the fridge in hotter weather, more piece of mind would be had with an auxilliary battery that could be isolated from the main charging system. What to do?? Where to put it?? What to use?? Meh, I'll figure something out.
A little history; I have always carried two spare tires. Now, mind you, I have never needed one, much less two, but I always had the second. Well, that second tire takes up quite a bit of valuable real estate. I was convinced by my buddy Lance that I only need one. It was not an easy convincing, but with the purchase of one of
these at the Overland Expo, I was able to let the security blanket of that second tire go.
So, with one tire gone, what to do now?? I got rid of the stock size tire that I carried in the spare tire well. My other spare rides under the sleeping platform. I decided that since the larger spare would not fit in the spare tire well, that would be a good place to start renovations.
I pulled the spare tire well out and cut the back half of the radius out.
I wanted to do the front of the well, but that part of the well forms the lower part of the fenderwell for the right rear tire and I thought it would look goofy. It's all about the looks. I then welded some filler pieces to the sides of the open radii.
I then took some sheetmetal and made a piece to fit in the bottom and in the rear area:
Now it is fully enclosed. I then went and jacked the battery out of my Nova figuring if I am somewhere needing this power, I can't be driving the Nova simultaneously, so I decided to share its AGM Deka battery. I got some high amperage disconnects and made some cables out of super-fine strand 1/0 welding cable with the military battery lugs. This pic is a final test-fit of the goods--not a final assembly)
I have it wired so everything that is hooked to it can be used whether the battery is there or not. That way if we are doing a quick overnighter, I don't need to have a battery in there and everything will still pull off the main charging system, but if we are going on a longer run, I can drop the battery in and everything will run off of it. So, for that to happen I need soe sort of an isolator.
I looked at various styles and decided they were either too much money or not enough quality. I have never been a real fan of automatic units--not syaing there are not some decent ones out there, I just don't particularly care for them. I decided to use an old, dumb, battery master switch. Yep, clunk, on and clunk, off. It doesn't get much simpler than that. I do not have to worry about whether it is connected or disconnected when it should or should not be. Stupid simple. My favorite kind of part. I mounted it at the base of the driver seat.
I also put a junk drawer under the seat. It is a nice addition as sometimes the stuff under the seat would come out under braking while going down hill. Not a good stiuation.