acer9876

so i have removed my storage box, and i am ready to drop in a second battery. i have 2 kicker amps runing in my truck, and they need 14.4v each. heres the delima. im not an electrician......
battery outputs 12v, and the alternator brings everything up to 14v. which is still not enough. i have a single 2 farad capacitor wired to both amps and the battery is still draining bad.
i have done some research, and learned that wiring the 2 batteries in series will give you 24v. and parallel will remain 12v, but the second battery will act as a capacitor. both ideas sound appeasing to me, but could the truck handle 24v.? would it be bad for the alternator.? or even the batteries.?

oldchevy

You don't want 24 volts. You will ruin everything in the truck and probably get stuck when it quits running. If you must have a second battery go with a parallel hookup. Anyway you should be trying to fix the problem and not just band-aid it with a bad band-aid.

Allan In NE

Add another battery and then you'll just have two of 'em draining,

You need a bigger alternator. Or a second alternator like on ambulance applicatons.

Allan

JK23112

DO NOT DO A 24V SETUP!!!! You'll be sorry, and are likely to void any warranty you might have on the truck.

As far as I know, the only Chevrolet application that (properly) uses two batteries is the Silverado HD with the optional Duramax diesel engine. Diesels require a lot of juice for the glow plugs on cold days, so they come set up that way from the factory.

I drive heavy-duty diesel trucks at work and most of them have two batteries. The big rigs have three of them! It does take a lot of cojones to crank over 12 liters of Cummins power, though.

workaholic

I suggest not taking the stereo manufacturer too literally. I'm sure they would like to have 14.4vdc, but the system should operate with 14 if it's a decent set up. After all, no vehicle is going to maintain 14.4 at all times. Leave the batteries parallel ( + to + and - to - ). And leave the caps hooked up according to manufacturer specs. If you need an alternator, you'll know.

acer9876

thanks for the input. and i know they dont need 14.4, but thats when they would operate best. mainly im trying not to put to much of a drain on my battery.
so, now batteries. i need one with the same cca as the battery i have now. correct? and ive heard alot about red/yellow tops.
whats the preference and why?

acer9876

i found the difference. red tops are mainly for starting your vehicle.
yellow tops are for general purpose. starting, and maintaining while the vehicle is running

jeffsw6

No, you can use batteries with different amp ratings. As a battery ages, the amps it can supply reduces with age, so every time you see a truck with one new battery and another one a couple years old, you've seen a truck with radically different batteries just because one is aged.

I don't think you actually have a problem. Go ahead and hook up the amps and see if your electrical system still shows around 14V with the stereo on. If it bounces around a lot you may require a second capacitor. If it steadily drops from 14V after extended use of the amp, then you need a more powerful alternator. I don't think you will actually have either of these problems but if you do they are not too hard to solve, just throw parts at it.

justimagination

Times 2.........Alternator.

workaholic

Generally speaking, if you add a battery, you don't necessarily have to add an alternator or a high amp alternator. If you have a really bangin' stereo, and the voltage just drops off constantly then yes, you need more charging watts. But don't go there before you have a couple heavy batteries and caps.
That's like getting the buggy ahead of the horse. Personally, I've seen a lot of bad luck with those light weight gel cell batteries. They cost a lot and they have a lot of problems, and they seem to wear on an alternator.