advice.. adding and additional battery to the charging system

[moonhead911]

been thinking about fitting another battery in my top box just to charge a few accessory's when the bike is not running.
so what would be the best way of wiring it up. with a relay on the ignition
whats your views

thanks

 

[Rick 1600]

Multi 12v cigarette lighter socket or usb socket or both wired to the bikes battery. Drill a small hole in your box for the wires to pass through. Fit a connector outside the box so you can remove it if you wish.

 

[moonhead911]

I would want the battery to disconnect from the bikes battery when the bike is off so I don't flatten the battery or would you say I'm just complicating things. Would the battery have to be the same as in the bike or can I use a smaller one

 

[Bungy]

Do you mean a split charge relay?

 

[moonhead911]

Yes that sounds about right I'll have a Google Now

 

[moonhead911]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=371368799053&alt=web] this should work for what I need it for

 

[AberdeenAngus]

If you're talking about split charger to a second battery then presumably you're talking about a second lead acid battery. Waaay over the top if you just need to charge a few things. Get a power monkey.

 

[spanner monkey]

I have an intelligent split charge relay to charge the leisure battery on my camper, very easy to wire up and works a treat. it just connects the two batteries in parallel as soon as it sees 13.5 ish volts (alternator charging) and cuts out within 30 seconds or so when the voltage drops below a set trigger point. The only down side to any split charge system is that if your second battery has been run very low then it will be force fed everything that your alternator can spare when it first connects as there is no limiter to keep it down to lower (kinder) current. You just need to bear that in mind when selecting your second battery as some gel types cannot take high charge or discharge rates very well.
On my camper, if the leisure battery is really low then the initial surge can peak at over 40 amps charge rate, it only lasts a few seconds and then drops rapidly to a far more reasonable figure, however that is to charge a 110ah leisure battery.
if it is just a spare power source for charging phones and sat navs etc then a power monkey or similar may prove a better (and much lighter) option.