Spotlighting set ups

[bigfellascott]

What's the bib made out of?

[MISSED]

Flip made it for me out of Aluminium bloody awesome

[bigfellascott]

Thanks for that Missed.

[DSD]

I don't put my light on my secondary battery as it is purely for a fridge and a handful of work lights. If your alternator and wiring is up to standards you shouldn't have any dramas with running out of battery on your main. Another thing that can be worth doing is adding in a switch to jump the main battery with your secondary if something happens for whatever reason.

I am the opposite if it did not come standard on the vehicle, other than the winch it runs on the extra batteries.
One of the shooting vehicles a friend has for trevorts rally cross shooting has so many lights on it that when you turn thrm on you can hear the alternator struggling and complaining. The weird thing about it is it also drops 150-200 rpm which I do not understand as it has a manual fuel pump and I thought alternators provide little resistance. Maybe someone else can answer that 1.

[Smee]

An engine fan can use up to 15 hp to run and an alternator about the same when charging.

That is why modern engines use thermo fans and variable output alternators.

[Flip]

Good to know it's working for you Missed. Still trying to get the others knocked up. The one I had sitting here for you has Been used for a bit or R and D. I now only need to make the one size as it will fit both 9 and 11'' lights. I'll try to get it off to you soon. And Camel's too. iust been a bit side tracked with the new kid and work

Flip

[MISSED]

Cheers Flip you forgot to add the new rifle.

[Flip]

Oh yeah that too ..

[Jacko9]

I don't put my light on my secondary battery as it is purely for a fridge and a handful of work lights. If your alternator and wiring is up to standards you shouldn't have any dramas with running out of battery on your main. Another thing that can be worth doing is adding in a switch to jump the main battery with your secondary if something happens for whatever reason.

I am the opposite if it did not come standard on the vehicle, other than the winch it runs on the extra batteries.
One of the shooting vehicles a friend has for trevorts rally cross shooting has so many lights on it that when you turn thrm on you can hear the alternator struggling and complaining. The weird thing about it is it also drops 150-200 rpm which I do not understand as it has a manual fuel pump and I thought alternators provide little resistance. Maybe someone else can answer that 1.

I don't think a million lights are needed. A decent pair of driving lights and a decent set of globes in your headlights should suffice. My second battery is a deep cycle, so it's not suited for running lights off in my opinion.

All our vehicles have 2x driving lights, a repeater uhf, car kit and some have work lights, all wired to the main battery.

My own runs the work lights on the dual battery, my way of thinking, is if your going to use it whilst driving, run it off the main battery, so really I just use my work lights for working or camping and my fridge off the second battery, never had any alternator issues, and it works for me

[Camel]

Yeah Jacko, I think that way as well. The second battery runs the other gear, and your main does what it was put there for, running the vehicle only. Been caught running my gutting lights off the main once, not a good feeling at 3am 90km from town and 50km from the homestead.

[Dr G]

We run two roof mounted HID spotlights, 2 vehicle (driving) spotlights, 2 fridges, and aircon. Because of the need to stay on track we spend a lot of time stationary, while the shooter walks out to recover the cat or fox. In the summer when the temp never gets below 37 I was having a lot of duty cycling issues resulting in me killing enough batteries that the local auto pro told me they wouldn't honour any more warranty replacements until I sorted it out. I went the whole hog and replaced my dual system with one I built myself. Two optima batteries, 200amp inline fuses, 200amp red arc isolator that also links the batteries for winching and provides a jump start button in the cab. I was also going to replace the stock alternator with a higher output one but this setup solved the battery life issues (my dad can rewind them, he hates doing it so it was to be a Christmas present instead he rebuilt a clunker winch motor a mate gave me for parts ).