Next Project - Inverter and Dual Battery Setup...few questions.

[ree]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jesse:
Here is what I would like to have happen - I am not sure if this is possible.

When we tailgate - we always have our satellite dish hooked up to a portable dish. With one battery we run the dish for about an hour then start the truck and let it run for 20 minutes. We have on a couple of occasions lost track of time and did not have enough juice to start the truck. I am hoping I can have a dual battery setup that can help avoid this. Now here is problem number 2 – when starting the car – the ignition cuts off the current for everything else or at least kills the power to the inverter so that it has to reset. This causes our dish to lose signal and also reset. When this happens the satellite receiver needs to re-acquire all the guide info. This takes 10 minutes and we don’t have 10 minutes.

I am sure any football fans can understand the huge stress this puts on all us tailgaters.

I am hoping the dual battery setup will prevent this from happening. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It sounds like you want to:
- add a deep cycle second battery that you can rundown and recharge often
- use an isolator/switch/combiner/relay to prevent simultaneous discharge of both batteries when the alternator's not charging
- run the inverter and dish off of the second battery
- don't run anything off of the main battery withut the truck running as that would compromise the ability to start the truck