Chevy & GMC Vans

Hello, I have a 94 awd with rear ac/heat.

I will do the 'big 3' upgrade, I plan to replace the wires.
I will be upgrading the alternator with a High output model.
I will install a second battery. and upgrade both to deep cell.
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In the future I want to add devices such as audio amps, off road lights, maybe a mini fridge, etc. to make wiring these in latter easier, I was told I needed a distribution block near the battery. Can anyone provide a link to a build thread for installing one? im sure its simple but?? OR even a link to product to buy? I tried searching, but apparently there is a stock distribution block already and the overload of results had me confused, since i am not 100% sure what I am looking for anyway.

also I would like some way to monitor battery levels, from the dash. but am again not sure what I need to make that happen.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help advise on this.

Try marine supply stores, battery shops, or the biggest department store in cyberspace ... eBay. You can get voltmeters for a few bucks.

Stinger has voltmeters in blue and red. They are usually pretty cheap priced, but you have to calibrate them over time.
There is a cheap priced volt meter on Ebay that you can get for less than $20 and free shipping. It comes from China. I've got one that I really need to install.

You don't really need to have a distribution block for the batteries. You can install an isolator that will separate you main battery from the other batteries, in effect keeping you main battery from being drained.

Ive ran a 14 battery bank, with a battery under the hood. I have 4/0 welding cable going from the main battery, under the van, and into the back of the van (comes in right at before driver side tire well) for the battery bank. Right now I am slowly loading batteries back into the van, using (of all things) 12volt lawnmower batteries (about $45 each new from O'reillys). I'll be running around 20, or more, of them... over time.

The safe thing to do, if you do not install a battery isolator, is to use fuses. With 1ft from the main battery under the hood AND within 1ft from the battery(ies) in the other part of the van. What this does is keep your van safe from any possible shorts (fire) in the future.

Hope this helps a little bit. Oh, and definitely do the big 3 with a minimum of 4gauge wiring. The bigger wire, the better.

And on the topic of safety-

Don't forget to provide venting to any battery being used within the passenger cabin to prevent the build up of hydrogen gases found with traditional car batteries, unless you're using gel cells or sealed type batteries.

And, yes, use an inline fuse as close to the main battery as you can get it. I use a 60A fuse right off the battery and long before it is near of penetrates anything. With out that fuse, you get a huge, heavy and hot heating element from the short to the battery that will start a fire before you can pull over and disconnect it.

Thanks for the great replies.

quick question about the voltmeter for monitoring battery. This will allow me to monitor how many hours of charge is left in the battery? for when I should charge etc?

in my mind I was picturing the meter would read a percentage of charge. however the voltmeters on eBay seem to just monitor the voltage from the battery? How is that useful? sorry for the noob questions just want to understand it all before I start in on the van.

From Wikipedia ...

I don't think I've seen anything reasonably priced that would include any sort of predictive discharge read out for a car battery. You could go with or adapt something like this to be able to monitor what's going on in real time:

http://www.iequus.com/Product/Detail/9D ... FE755F3483

I think there's also something similar called Battery Mole. I also seem to recall a product that would shut down the output of your battery when the voltage dropped too low to prevent it from draining completely.

I want to be able to add solar panels to recharge the batteries, I will be using closed cell bats that require no venting. a bit more expensive but a lot safer and easier to install I think.

I just need a way to maintain battery levels, and charge levels and stuff..maybe I should ask in a RV forum.

http://www.iRV2.com

is a good site.

I picked up one of these off amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Indicator ... tery+meter
I don't have my aux battery installed in the van yet (currently staining and varnishing the cabinet that it will sit in) but I wired up the battery to my fuse block and hooked up the meter with a rocker switch to turn it on/off and so far it seems accurate when compared with the voltage reading I get off of it.

Digger wrote:I want to be able to add solar panels to recharge the batteries, I will be using closed cell bats that require no venting. a bit more expensive but a lot safer and easier to install I think.

I just need a way to maintain battery levels, and charge levels and stuff..maybe I should ask in a RV forum.

Thanks for sharing such nice suggestion..I will try to use solar panels now and hope for some good outcomes..

LyleHuff wrote:

Digger wrote:I want to be able to add solar panels to recharge the batteries, I will be using closed cell bats that require no venting. a bit more expensive but a lot safer and easier to install I think.

I just need a way to maintain battery levels, and charge levels and stuff..maybe I should ask in a RV forum.

Thanks for sharing such nice suggestion..I will try to use solar panels now and hope for some good outcomes..

Using solar panels is ideal way to generate clean and cheap electricity.. Even I am considering solar panels soon

Electrical engineering hurts my brain, here is the setup I used, along with the great info for alternative options, all recommended by people on expo far better at this than I am. You may be able to use some of this with your setup if your still working on it, though I see you started this back in March. I had a dual battery system with solar panel powering an ARB fridge, charging a netbook, iphone, cameras, inverter, and lights. I think the solar panel was 120 watts if I recall.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/t ... g-question

they even drew me a pretty diagram