Project Help: Electrical

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:02 pm

I want to put a heavy duty power supply panel in the backend of the KJ. This may or may not be in conjunction with the back seat being taken out. I'm thinking it will come out and extend the floor up to the front seat. Not a lot of thought yet as to what all I want though.

I want to put in a power inverter and maybe a couple of good 6v batteries for the inverter. (Life Line sealed glass Mat)

Very heavy cable from the engine compartment back.

Air Compressor w/tank

Lots of hook up points for lights etc.

Any leads on what to use would really be appreciated. This project will not be done for quite some time. I have other things to do first. I just don't want to rush into it. I want to do it rite the first time!

Terry

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:30 am

Why would you use 6volt batteries? Going to hook them up in series or what?

Best thing to do would be to get an optima yellow top, maybe even blue top.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:54 am

By using 2 6 volt batteries you have a lot more amps to work with. The ones I'm thinking about are deep cycle. I used them in my motorhome. When I was out in the boonies with no hookups I could run everything except the 2 air conditioners off them. Even the micro wave. Once every evening I would recharge them by running the genset. Draw down the batts. the next day and charge them back up at night. Never did hurt them any. I used 4 of them.

I also don't really trust any other battery to be inside with me. The glass mat Life Line were developed originally for the military. You can mount them in any direction, even upside down. They can take a direct hit by a bullet, going all the way through, and there will be no acid flying around. In case of an accident I don't want acid adding to the problems.

Terry

dgeist · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2008 12:26 pm

I like the idea of having one (or perhaps 2) of these:
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11240887&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&lang=en-US

for all the AC stuff, then a small onboard-air system for your tools. The great thing about the air tools is you can have a tank underneath or wherever that holds pressure for a good long time and doesn't run down the batteries while you're pressure is high enough. You already know that, though. I think the big onboard-air manufacturers now are folks like viair and some others who may use the same OEMs for their gear. If you google for viair, you'll probably find articles comparing them to others.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:09 pm

Thanks I'll check them out. I want some kind of power strip for 12v that I can make runs off of. Any ideas?

Terry

jerseykj · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2008 1:11 pm

you can still go with an optima battery, they are jelled and wont leak any acid. and they are an extremly hard battery to kill, i've seen trucks run over them and no damage. and you can mount it any way you want. i use one for camping and love it. won trust any other battery.

jinstall · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:23 pm

jerseykj wrote:

you can still go with an optima battery, they are jelled and wont leak any acid. and they are an extremly hard battery to kill, i've seen trucks run over them and no damage. and you can mount it any way you want. i use one for camping and love it. won trust any other battery.

Optima's are not Gel batteries.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:02 pm

The Optima and the Life Line are built the same. They are both glass mat gel batteries. Life Line has been around a lot longer.

Here is why I want to go with 2 six volt batteries: compare the 66lbs. 6v to the 65 lbs.12v. Look at the discharge table and amps.

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:42 pm

Project Help: Electrical

Who is online