help adding aux battery to Precedent

[ramblin-wreck]

Originally Posted by rinman

When you say the battery level indicator are you referring to the orange battery light that comes on when you start to charge the battery?

So it shares the same ground as your front and rear lights? If so what wire in the harness is it?

With that being the case we could basically connect the blue wire to the aux battery positive and the ground wire that is in the harness attach to the aux battery negative. Then you would also need to run a separate ground to the battery level indicator from where???

Not trying to take over your post......just trying to understand so I can make the change as well.

Thanks!
RI

Hey no problem! Yeah that is pretty much what I understand from what Salt lifeCC sent me. Below are the instructions that Tahoedawg sent him

"Your positive is the blue wire below the controller cover. Make a wire with an inline fuse and hook it to the blue wire, then to the positive of your external battery. Next, you'll see a yellow Bullet connector on a 10gauge Black wire, hooked to the B- post of controller. Unplug it, this is the system ground wire for the lights and battery indicator. Hook the wire the the negative post of your external battery. Next, you'll need to eliminate the Black/Yellow wire behind the dash that is supposed to plug in to the battery indicator light if equipped. You'll no longer need this wire as it's now tied in with the external battery. Just cut it out of the system right next to the connector. If you've got a battery indicator light, you'll have to run a new wire to the main negative post of the battery pack, or the the B- post of controller, same result."

[ramblin-wreck]

Well I worked all day yesterday and got my light kit and radio install done. I'm including some pictures and will be happy to help anyone else if I can. All in all it went great. I cut out the center console and lined it with foam tape to prevent the battery from rattling. I also made up a pigtail to be able to plug into my battery tender. The dash really makes a big difference because I'm able to close it and keep the battery and connections out of sight. You can also see my seat after I got it recovered to match the cart/top.

PS The holes in the underside of the roof are from the factory mesh zipper back thingie. I'll be putting it back on today!

[Gso125]

That looks great. When you cut out for the battery how did you put it in there? How is the battery supported. I was thinking if I put a aux battery in the bag well under my rear seat but your install is cleaner by hiding it. Thanks Gerry

[ramblin-wreck]

Originally Posted by Gso125

That looks great. When you cut out for the battery how did you put it in there? How is the battery supported. I was thinking if I put a aux battery in the bag well under my rear seat but your install is cleaner by hiding it. Thanks Gerry

It was actually pretty easy. The plastic center console tray actually sits inside of another tray. I just removed the upper tray and cut it out to fit the battery and then lined the edge with foam weatherstripping tape to prevent rattles. Then I put the battery in the lower tray and slid the cut out upper on over it. I was originally going to add a battery hold down bracket but since I never go off road and the battery weighs approx 25 pounds I didn't think it was neccessary. Of course the cleanest install would have been to add a fuse block instead of running seperate wires to the battery but since I only have lights and a radio i didn't think it was needed. You can't really tell on the picture of the overhead console but I also added a seperate rocker switch so that i can completely kill the power to the radio. My wife and I rode for probably an hour last night with the lights on listening to football and there were no issues with dimming or the radio cutting out so it looks like the little sealed scooter battery is the way to go. Of course it will die sooner than a larger deep cycle but I think the pros outweigh the cons.

[rinman]

Originally Posted by ramblin-wreck

Hey no problem! Yeah that is pretty much what I understand from what Salt lifeCC sent me. Below are the instructions that Tahoedawg sent him

"Your positive is the blue wire below the controller cover. Make a wire with an inline fuse and hook it to the blue wire, then to the positive of your external battery. Next, you'll see a yellow Bullet connector on a 10gauge Black wire, hooked to the B- post of controller. Unplug it, this is the system ground wire for the lights and battery indicator. Hook the wire the the negative post of your external battery. Next, you'll need to eliminate the Black/Yellow wire behind the dash that is supposed to plug in to the battery indicator light if equipped. You'll no longer need this wire as it's now tied in with the external battery. Just cut it out of the system right next to the connector. If you've got a battery indicator light, you'll have to run a new wire to the main negative post of the battery pack, or the the B- post of controller, same result."

Guys,

Just got around to trying to move my head and tail lights over to my auxiliary battery today....... of course I waited until it was 20 degrees outside to make this change....heated garage made it nice I followed the instructions above. I hooked the blue wire above to my battery + then I disconnected the black wire with the yellow bullet connector and hooked up my battery - to where that goes into the harness. The headlights worked fine, but no taillights. I disconnected and connected back like they were off of the pack and they work fine. Seems I am not getting a ground to the tail lights from my auxiliary battery.

Any suggestions......Tahoe or Ramblin???

Thanks
RI

[ramblin-wreck]

Originally Posted by rinman

Guys,

Just got around to trying to move my head and tail lights over to my auxiliary battery today....... of course I waited until it was 20 degrees outside to make this change....heated garage made it nice I followed the instructions above. I hooked the blue wire above to my battery + then I disconnected the black wire with the yellow bullet connector and hooked up my battery - to where that goes into the harness. The headlights worked fine, but no taillights. I disconnected and connected back like they were off of the pack and they work fine. Seems I am not getting a ground to the tail lights from my auxiliary battery.

Any suggestions......Tahoe or Ramblin???

Thanks
RI

It sounds like your not getting a ground connection for your taillights. Since I installed my battery in the front of the cart (under the dash) I isolated the ground wire for the tailights in the main harness and connected that directly to my aux battery. My understanding is that when you disconnect the yellow bullet connector you are breaking the factory ground for the lights so you then have to reconnect it to your aux battery. I used a multimeter to determine which was the ground at the harness and spliced a new wire in to it and ran it to my aux battery and it works fine. I'm sure this isn't real clear so give me time to have a couple more cups of coffee and I'll try to explain it better!

[rinman]

Ramblin,

That's where I was heading next to isolate the ground in the harness that is in the dash. If you remember where you tied into it let me know. It will save some digging around.

Thanks!
RI

[ramblin-wreck]

Originally Posted by rinman

Ramblin,

That's where I was heading next to isolate the ground in the harness that is in the dash. If you remember where you tied into it let me know. It will save some digging around.

Thanks!
RI

I found it in the main harness under the dash and confirmed it by using a multimeter. I wish I could remember the exact wire it was but i can't. I can pull the dash tonight when i get home though and check for you.

[rinman]

Ramblin,

If you get a chance to take a look this week let me know. I won't get back out there to work on it again until the weekend.

Thanks,
RI

[dece1416]

Scuba and Ramblin Wreck

I'm doing the same set up here with my 2008.5 Precedent. I have the LGT 306E light kit and bucket harness (not installed) I have it all sitting in a box. I want to add an aux battery in the dash like you did Ramblin.

Do I use any of the bucket harness for this set up? Do I need to buy a separate fuse box? If you guys know what items I need to buy to complete this, please advise me. I don't plan on adding anything further to my cart.

I have the same wheels/tires and seat covers as yours Ramblin. Yours looks awesome. Thanks for any info guys!

Originally Posted by scubabud

If you look under the controller cover you'll find a fuse capped in black but with Blue wires. The main blue wire goes to your #4 Battery positive post. That's where I would hook my extra battery postitive post to, once removed from the #4 main battery post. Now for the ground leads... that's something you'll have to find in the main 12v harness to bypass back to your new 12 volt battery for a completely separate 12v circuit.