few questions on alternator,big 3 and extra battries.

[ninos306]

hey guys, quick few questions!

1. my parents 09 tahoe has 2 battery banks under the hood, (truck is stock) if i were to add another battery into that extra battery bank how would i hook it up? positive from the stock bat into positive in the extra? then just ground it to the frame?

2. when you have extra batterys in the rear of your vehicle do you need to charge them? or will the positive runs from the front batts charge them and keep them charged?

3. when doing the big 3, do you need to fuse the alternator > positive on batt cable?

thanks guys! appreciate it!

[loudNlow87]

1) Yes

2) They'll charge so long as your alts working properly

3) If you've ever had a wire melt, you'd fuse anything that comes from batterys positive lead. Yes even the wire going to the third battery.

[jeffm4688]

hey guys, quick few questions!

1. my parents 09 tahoe has 2 battery banks under the hood, (truck is stock) if i were to add another battery into that extra battery bank how would i hook it up? positive from the stock bat into positive in the extra? then just ground it to the frame?

2. when you have extra batterys in the rear of your vehicle do you need to charge them? or will the positive runs from the front batts charge them and keep them charged?

3. when doing the big 3, do you need to fuse the alternator > positive on batt cable?

thanks guys! appreciate it!

1. If you put a second battery in the slot up front I would hook it up to the positive on the first battery yes, but I would ground it to the same spot as my first battery.

2. When you have any extra batteries at all even the second one in the front it gets charged by the alternator, it just all depends on how big your alt is and how many batteries you plan on adding. While I *do not* have experience when dealing with multiple batteries on a stock alt, I have heard of people needing to charge them because the stock alt won't per say charge 2 or 3 group 31 batteries quickly. I have a 270A alt and that's all I've ever ran with my group 31's.

3. When doing the big three in theory yes you should fuse the alternator positive to bat positive. I would only run a new positive to the main battery and then just have 1/0 going to the second and so on. So there is a almost a chain of electrical flow between your amps and your alt.

Of course though, I would plan on your system before simply adding more batteries and doing a big 3. Take it from me, buying a smaller then normal battery to save yourself $40-50 is nice, but sometimes you find yourself wishing you had just spent the money on the next best battery.

[ninos306]

okay thanks, just what i wanted to hear. but how would the 2nd battery charge if its not hooked up to the alt?

the alt is hooked up to the stock batt from a positive cable. then from the stock batt a positive cable to the 2nd batt. that would charge it?

just saying oh if i put in a 400amp or 350amp alt to replace the stock one it would charge those.

[jmander11]

If there is a positive cable from the alt to the 1st battery then the first battery will charge. If there is a power cable from the first battery to the second battery then their charges will level out and the alternator will charge both batteries.

If you put in a bigger alternator it will charge them faster, but the flow of current will be the same.

[ninos306]

If there is a positive cable from the alt to the 1st battery then the first battery will charge. If there is a power cable from the first battery to the second battery then their charges will level out and the alternator will charge both batteries.

If you put in a bigger alternator it will charge them faster, but the flow of current will be the same.

thanks homie, im from stoon. were u at?

[jmander11]

thanks homie, im from stoon. were u at?

Hah! Same lol.