trickle charging batteries

[wishIhada5.0]

How do I go about putting a trickle charger on one of these trucks? (obviously positive to positive, negative to negative...im not that retarded lol) I have never owned anything with dual batteries before so Im a little lost on this one. Do I charge one at a time or will putting it on one charge both?

[JesseKK]

My battery tender came with a permanent attachment. Of course i had to extend it, i went from positive of one battery to negative of teh other battery. I found in this forum that thats how some were running it.

[Echo]

The batteries are wired in parallel which means the positive of one battery is connected to the positive of the other and same with the negatives. Whether you hook it up like that or just hook it to one of the batteries they will both get charged.

[JesseKK]

^^ thats very tru. Echo, any chance ur also on teh s10 forum ?

[351fifty]

the negatives are grounded to the frame arent they? and the block?

[jermcd]

good info...

[Echo]

Originally Posted by JesseKK

^^ thats very tru. Echo, any chance ur also on teh s10 forum ?

Yes I'm on s10 forum, name is LowerdXpectations on there.


Yes the negatives from the batteries are grounded to both the frame and the block. But they are both grounded to the same frame and block so if you look at it circuit wise the negatives are technically hooked together.

[wishIhada5.0]

sweet...thanks guys

[madpogue]

Think of the dual batteries as one big 12V battery, with the _current_ capacity being the _sum_ of the current capacities of the two. This is also why it's important for the two batteries to remain in about the same condition, and why you should always replace them in pairs.

I've read that with dry cell batteries (like NiMH and Li-Ion household batteries), it's not good to charge them in parallel from one charge source. But of course, we do that every day of the week with the alternator. Perhaps with flooded batteries it's different. The only way you could charge our batteries separately would be to disconnect one of the negatives, and put a separate trickle charger on each one. That's just not worth the trouble, esp. for something that supplies such small current as a trickle charger. The whole point of a trickle charger is to be able to unplug it, jump in the truck and go.

So just put it on one battery, on whichever side is gonna be closer to where you plug it in most of the time. Or on whichever side will be most convenient to reach