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Using a second Battleborn Battery in Tab320 with a Victron Controller

Rick24Rick24 Member Posts: 16
in Battery/Electrical & Solar
If I have a Tab320 with Victron controller and I get a second Battleborn battery, what do I need to do to switch batteries when one runs low? Do I need to flip a switch on the Victron to use the other battery? What about charging the second battery. If the first battery is charged, how do I switch the Victron to charge the second battery? If I get an external solar panel, can I charge both batteries at the same time?
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Comments

  • Gomers2Gomers2 Member Posts: 105
    You would be able to use them simultaneously, wired in parallel, and they would act as one larger battery, no switching required.... With the following caveats: they should be the same make and model and ideally of similar age and/or cycle count. [I know this because I was looking to double up my existing BB100ah. I've been very satisfied with it and had no issues. Ultimately I bought one new 300ah battery, so the100ah BB that came with my trailer is going up for sale, in case you're interested😉]
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  • pthomas745pthomas745 Administrator, Moderator Posts: 4,496
    There are examples of owners who installed switches to run batteries separately.  It would also be possible to wire a Victron controller with a switch that would charge one battery at a time.  (You wouldn't have to have a switch on the solar panel wiring, just the wiring between the batteries and the controller).
    Before the invasion of the lithium battery setups and their improved amp hour capacity, and relatively easy solar setups, many owners shared ways to have a "spare" battery to be used for extra power when the first battery might be running low.  There are several different ways, which are shared in the Spare Battery thread below.  ScottG in this thread has a battery selector switch and showed how it was wired.
    The other ways to add a battery with no real rewiring involve the 12V "plugs" in the trailer: the 12V "cigarette" lighter plugs, the 7 pin connector, and the SAE port, are all "2 way devices".  They can be used to provide 12v power to the trailer, or to take 12V power from the trailer battery.  In the thread above, there are examples of how to wire a 7 pin "adapter", and examples of batteries powering the trailer with simple male to male 12V cables plugged directly into the 12V plug.  (The battery switch is best to be off when doing this).  I've powered my trailer with a 7 pin connector adapter and through one of the 12V ports with my "spare" battery.  I can, if I needed to, use my "spare" battery to run the trailer, while the solar recharges my trailer's battery.  
    Other owners have taken their Jackeries or Ecoworthy "power stations" and used the 12V to 12V plug idea to run the trailer with them, and in the spare battery thread, one owner sorted out how to wire a separate plug into the trailer's 12V system for a Bluetti device.  A lot cleaner idea than the 12V cables strung around the trailer. 
    I have a solar panel and separate solar controller that is not "mounted", but arranged in a water proof box.  I can use various cables to either charge the trailer through the SAE port, charge a separate battery with battery clamp cables, etc.
    Anyway...lots of different ways to add amp hours with a spare battery, but like Gomers said: the 300 amp hour small batteries on the market now will be the next wave of battery installs in the trailers, it seems.  There are 'Wattcycle" 314 amp hour batteries that get great reviews and are selling as fast as they can make them.

    2017 Outback
    Towed by 2014 Touareg TDi
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