Nathan @ XSpower

What vehicle is it going in? Competition or daily use? Big 3 will benefit you greatly.

Replied to your PM. For daily use a D5100r under the hood would work for you. If you want a little more capacity, then I would put another 5100 in the back.

Biggest you can get under the hood and 2 D3100.

No Prob! Great charger!!!

You may be able to fit a D3100 under the hood. You would just have to see how much room you have to work with.

Water resistant but not water proof.

Glad you like it Steve, and yes it is much smaller than the 1005 12/16V charger. Actually it is a much more efficient charger as well. It is a High Frequency 12V 15amp charger. Very simple to use. Just hook up the clamps, plug it in, and turn it on. The charger will do all the rest. It is an intellicharger, so just like the 1004 (16V charger) and 1005 (12/16V charger) it will charge the batteries and then maintain them in a float charge. The thing I like about the HF1215 the most is how compact it is compared to the 1005 and it is no where close to as loud when charging. I actually have one hooked up under my desk charging some batteries and the customers on the phone cant even hear it. This model charger is available in 12V, 14V and 16V and is priced at the much more affordable price of $199 plus shipping. Of course any of our dealers have these available.

As said above the 3400 should fit pretty easily. Just check out what room you have to work with and see if you have about a 1/2" on each side length wise.

I tried to look it up, but we do not have the loaders in the manual. If you can tell me what Group Size the battery is that fits the stock location I can get you some options that will work.

I do not recommend isolators in any car audio install, unless you are going to be running the system with the vehicle off and just pulling from the battery bank. Even then it is not necessary. Is it going to hurt running one...... No not really. You will drop a little voltage going through the isolator and it will cost some $$$, but if that is ok with you then run one. As far as your application it will not hurt the batteries at all to not use an isolator. Different sizes of the same batteries doesn't matter and will not hurt the batteries. There are many installs where you can only get a D1200 under the hood, but you can load up the D3100 in the back. It will not hurt the D1200 to do it like that.

We will have stuff at a lot of shows this whole year. Of course we will be at SBN and a few of the other big shows. The small decals that come in the box with the battery are not very good for putting on your vehicle. The new 3" and 8" decals are better for that.

If it is being stored indoors then you should be good for a few weeks before it starts to get to the 12.6V range, then charge it back up. I would just put it on the charger and leave it, but that may not be a good idea depending on the charger you have.

Oh yes the decals....................... We have recently switched to a different company for those, so the new ones should be much better. We should have the new decals at the shows this season though, so grab some and try them out. I am actually glad this post came up, because it is things like this we need to hear about in order to correct them.

I would recommend the D3400 under the hood and then at least 2 D3100 in the back for competition use. If you are running side terminals on the battery under the hood or top posts, then you will need the 551 or 555 iBar kit for side posts. If you are just running top posts then the 580 or 586 will work for you.

What vehicle (year/make/model/engine size) are the batteries going in? Is it for competition/demos or for daily use?

Another great install man!!!

As said above the S3400 and D3400 are the same exact battery. Only differences are the S3400 has red decals and comes with automotive posts. The D3400 has blue decals and comes with hardware to run ring terminals. If you would rather have the blue decals and run it under the hood with automotive terminals, then you can purchase a set of 580 SAE Automotive Posts. If you are running side posts then you may want to look at the 551 or 555 iBar kits. If you have any other questions just let me know.

Competition or daily use? mostly daily... maybe a few local competitions... A D3100 would be good for daily.

Depending upon what charger you were using and what rates (amperage and voltage) it was charging at you will get different readings. If you are charging at a low amperage (5 amps or under) then the charger may say it is fully charged, but you actually did not get a deep charge on the cells. On the other side of it if you charge at too high of an amperage (20amps or higher), then you will get a quick charge that doesn't fully charge the cells. Both of these situations can cause the battery to not hold the voltage as good. Your battery sounds like it will be fine. Just keep it charged up until you install it and you shouldn't have any problems.

Competition or daily use?

25 amps continuous and 50 amps max. All you have to do is clamp it with everything on that you are going to run on 12V.

Looks good.

Most can fit a 3400 in there, but just check to see if you have the clearance.

For a daily set up Option # 2 is easier by far and the safest way to go. Tommy and Pipo have been doing it for years this way. You can go with option # 1 and it can work great for you. You will just need to put the step downs in there, which are rated for 25amps continuous power and 50amps max. Most vehicles need at least 2 step downs. D1600 is rated for 1500watts for competition and 3000watts for daily use.

Depends on what year it is, but most of the time the D5100R will work fine for the Escorts. Just check and see how your terminals are. The D5100R will give you the reversed terminals that you probably need. If it meets the size requirements of your stock battery, then you should be good. We do not have the prices listed, because we do not have an online store. We have online dealers you can purchase from though. SSA MechMan Dave The Box Guy and a few others if you need them just let me know.