charging deepcycle trolling battery with Truck

Hello.

I have a 12 volt a Deep Cycle Boat trolling motor battery I'd like to keep charged via my chevy s10 v6 blazer. I currently have two 4 guage wires running about 6 feet to the back of the car connecting the primary battery to an 800watt inverter. With the engine running I can I drill, cut wood, make popcorn and and fry fish on an electric skillet - it's awesome.

I'd also like to charge that trolling battery as I drive around. I know most will tell me to get a fancy isolator and connect it to all sorts of places in the truck. WHY? Any way I can safely hook it up to that 4 gauge wire with diodes and pull from both batteries and the alternator when using the inverter, but never ever pull from the trolling battery or the inverter for anything relating to the car. I figure any small amount of current to the second battery will keep it topped off, but any risk of loosing normal draw for starting or normal operation of the viechle. Any chance the guys at best buy will be able to put this simple solution for me? they originally install the inverted and did a great job for $50. What are the risks?

Many thanks for *any* help or information.

Reply to
jason
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The simplest way is to just run the trolling battery wires thru a relay and make the rely 'on' only when the key is in the run position. That way you'll avoid the 0.7 volt drop across any isolator diodes and you won't have the trolling battery connected when the car is off and you are using the inverter.

Reply to
AZGuy

Thanks for response! The car must be running to get any real kind of current from the inverter. Does that matter? Run the relay to the ignition switch? Mind drawing a high level diagram with these and other items? Just clear info for the installers.

  • primary bat -

  • alternator -

  • ignition switch -

  • relay -

  • aux battery -

Thanks again!

Reply to
jason

Why not just use a small automatic battery charger. That way you won't overcharge and boil dry the battery as is a strong possibility paralleling it to the vehicle battery...

Reply to
BillW

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