Assaulting the batteries

Armed with an (insert sponsor's name here)* battery tray, a (insert sponsor's name here)* 4WD battery, a (insert, blah blah blah)*150 amp isolator and a couple of miles of loom tube, I set out to make our troopy (almost) proof against getting a flat battery in the Simpson Desert - and to get high wattage power into the back.



The tray just fitted between the existing battery and the scary octopus of high-tech electrics that comes out of the passenger's fire-wall.



Interestingly the tray uses one of the captive nuts on the mudguard - unfortunately the same one I'll need for the relay on the bull bar indicator harness when I put that in. But I guess it's OK to use the same bolt for the tray and the relay.



Finding a spot for the isolator wasn't quite as easy. Every place I tried was either too near the exhaust, too narrow or too far away. I finally settled on wedging it between the second battery and the mudguard - using the little mounting bracket that comes with it. The bracket isn't exactly sturdy (OK so maybe don't insert sponsor's name here) so I've gunked it up with liquid nails before assembling it onto the bracket to minimise it flapping around. Hopefully the solid state electrics won't mind a bit of movement.



Then it was a just a matter of getting some heavy cable from the boys at Battery World (oops, I mean insert sponsor's name etc etc) and putting it through one of the complex grommets that Toyota had helpfully put in the firewall. Or at least it would have been simple if I hadn't installed a huge battery right where you need to put your hand to get things in and out of the firewall grommet. Lubricating the cable and tapering it down to only one of two wires made it a lot easier to get it started - then you could get a grip and pull it through - being careful not to rip the whole assembly out of the firewall!



The cable then runs along the passernger's door sill and then inside the left hand wall to the rear of the truck. It's all wrapped in loom-tube and cable-tied so it doesn't rub too hard on any fire-inducing metal bits.



Wired up our 40 year old Engel and it worked - amazing!



So we're just about organised enough to tackle the Flinder's ranges and Cameron's Corner. Should leave tomorrow - assumingwe get organised.





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