Not unless you really need the extra power

 

I have a warn power plant winch / air compressor but no lights yet. I will get a set of lights soon but that's probably it.

 

For me personally it's to make sure I can run my ARB fridge/freezer, camp lights and fan in my roof top tent (when camping in hot weather) without running the main battery down.. I do not want to be 50 miles away from civilization and not have enough juice to start the Jeep in the morning. The Automatic Charging Relay I am using will separate the Auxillary battery from the main battery when either one drops below 12.75V. Then I can drain the Auxillary battery as much as I want and still have a full Main battery for starting the Jeep.

Another advantage is of course being able to run the Winch longer because of the reserve capacity of the Auxillary battery (The Automatic Charging Relay will allow you to manually and temporarely combine both batteries even if the voltage drops below the set threshold). It will also allow you to start of the Auxillary battery if your Main battery dies from old age or vibratioin encountered while off roading.

In my opinion I do not think it's necessary to run a dual battery if you wheel with other people or keep fairly close to other people when wheeling + do not typically run accessories thru out the night while camping. You can run a winch just fine with the one factory battery. You have to have a good reason to add another 65-70lbs to the Jeep (53lbs for battery + 10-15lbs for the metal dual battery tray and Automatic Charging Relay).

 

I'm in the dual battery club now.

I'm using the MORE tray, perfect switch isolator, and 2 optima blue tops. Also installed an sPOD while I was it.

 

Your Jeep will not run without a battery. If you go to places where you are wheeling with others and aren't too far from civilization (or one of those you wheel with has dual-batteries), then if a battery fails while out it's a minor annoyance (assuming the guy with two batteries lets you borrow one). However, if you get out by yourself (I know, don't do it, but what about when you're on vacation to Colorado or Utah or wherever?), or if you're with a group and you're 125 4WD miles from the nearest parts source, having a spare battery can be a real necessity. That's why they are probably more appropriate for expedition rigs than for the rock crawlers. Add in the need for expedition rigs to run certain accessories 24 hours (fridge, etc), and I think you'll see that having a second battery is a pretty good idea for some of us.

My dual-battery install (manufacturer is out of business, so don't ask who; and no, that's not me in the picture) ...

 

They went outta' business after they found all the body parts in that guy's yard.

 

I just see it as extra useless weight. Now with LED's taking off . I don't see use for duel, unless your winching every weekend and need the juice.

I dunno my.02


Sent from my i5 using just one thumb and tapatalk

 

I agree with Mark: if you're running a fridge and have an overlanding setup, it's imperative to have dual batteries.

 

Me too. I am going to be figuring what dual battery setup I'm going with. I know I'm using spiral cell batteries, either motomaster or optima. I'm adding dual or triple batteries on my off road pop up trailer too.

 

So will you be running 5 batteries? Wow.