Living in a climate where it's warm/HOT! 9 months out the year I've decided to eliminate the stock grid heater while building my own 3" round tube intake airhorn for better flow. Now the question is, can I get away with having only one battery? Thanks, Dave.

 

If it does get cold enough there's always the block heater to plug in.

 

So is running 1 battery a bad idea?

 

I would think you need the second battery for the extra cranking capacity, running dual batteries should make it more effecient than running a single.

 

With one battery you could have low amps and could end up bruning up your stater

 

since your in a warm climate, if you get a quality battery like an optima you should be fine!

brett

 

Oopps ment starter

 

I'm running dual red tops right now and also have 2 yellow tops that are not being used. I thought I'd try 1 yellow although they don't like to used in short bursts like the red's according to Optima.

 

The yellow-tops flat out suck as a starting battery. I bought one of the biggest sizes they have and it won't even start my Toyota on a cool day.

Why do you need to remove 1 battery for a grid heater delete and aftermarket air horn anyway?

 

If you are trying to gain some additional room under the hood, you could re-locate the battery/s (Optima) against one of the frame rails under the cab. I have seen this and it worked well. The optima does not care about what position it is mounted in so there should not be any issues.

 

Have you ever looked inside the stock intake airhorn. It's a joke! 3"x1.75".
One of the main reasons for having 2 batteries is for the amp draw of the grid heater. I understand that having 2 batteries would give me a longer reserve while cranking the engine if I ever had problems but I don't see the need with a CR. If it dose'nt start there's no need to keep cranking untill it's repaired. Call me it's ok.

 

Yeah, it's very restrictive. That's why I have a GDP intake horn on mine.

I thought the real reason most diesels have 2 batteries is to help start the higher compression engines?

 

2 batteries do help starting the high compression but we also have a gear reduction starter that helps with that.