Friday, December 1, 2017

Genesis Offroad JK Dual Battery Kit - Pre Installation Overview and Review

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Grct0iNpso&w=640&h=360]

Completely pre-wired out of the box
Fits 3.8L, 3.6L, Hemi 5.7L & 6.4L, LS, and European diesel engines
Boost switch included - jump start your vehicle off your second battery
Power & Ground bus bars make it easy to connect accessories
Smart Isolator automatically handles all charging functions
NEW FEATURE! Interface port pre-wired for the G Screen monitoring system
Integrated fuse box holder and evap solenoid holder
Best quality wires, tin-plated copper connectors, and sealed heat shrink tubing
Powder coated for durability
Proudly made in the USA

https://www.genesisoffroad.com

The top cover plate has several innovative features in a simple package. All of the wiring has already been done for you, and the smart isolator comes pre-installed. The welded gussets on top have holes with grommets to route the wires directly to the correct battery post, so there's no guess work involved to make the connections. Use the extra grommets for routing your own accessory wires cleanly and neatly to the power and ground bus bars. High quality battery terminal connectors are crimped to the flexible 2 gauge wire connecting the batteries together. With all the wiring integrated into the top plate, servicing your batteries has never been easier. Simply pull the terminals off the battery posts, remove the 4 easily accessible bolts securing the lid, and all the wiring can be lifted up and out of the way to service your batteries when necessary.

The included smart isolator gives you automatic control of all the charging functions with no interaction required.


Here's how it works.

When both your batteries are fully charged at 13.2 volts, they are automatically connected and are charged at the same time.
When you park and turn off the engine, but continue to use accessories such as lights or the stereo or a CB, both batteries begin to drain down.
When your main cranking battery reaches 12.7 volts, the smart isolator separates the batteries, so that your cranking battery will have enough power to start the engine. The second battery continues to power your accessories for as long as it will last.
After you crank the vehicle, your main cranking battery will be charged up to 13.2 volts first, and then the isolator will begin charging your accessory battery. By only charging one battery at a time, your alternator is protected from excessive strain.
What if your cranking battery is somehow drained down too low to be able to start the vehicle? We have a solution for that.

Press the Start Boost button and the isolator will connect both batteries together for 1 minute, acting like built-in jumper cables to jump start your engine off your accessory battery.
As long as the accessory battery has enough power, you'll be able to start your vehicle instead of being stranded with a dead battery!
The alternator will charge both batteries for 1 minute, then switches back over to automatic mode to reduce the strain on your alternator.

37 comments:

  1. Upgrade your alternator, add the big 3 wiring upgrade too. This system is in my rig, with the aforementioned upgrades.

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  2. Not going to be able to upgrade the alternator right now....but... I'll def look into the big 3 upgrade. I've run across this before in my research.

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  3. Now that’s money well spent. With two batteries now you’ll never be left out in the cold unable to start your jeep up. By far the best system I’ve seen out there and his video is very detailed.

    One thing is Your going to have a pain in the ass time dealing with all of the other wiring you already have hooked to your battery

    Just think of it as a Christmas present

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  4. Did they change the battery hold down, do the hold down bolts secure to welded in place nuts? That is a great upgrade as mine came loose and I lost three of the four. I have loc-tite now until I weld the nuts in place.

    Glad to see you went with Genisis. Great product!!

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  5. Is there a video for your snorkel install?

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  6. Wish they had this setup for my tj. Seems like a great company.

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  7. Fantastic overview, couldn't have said it better myself! We should bring you along to the Jeep events to work the booth!

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  8. Awesome!!! Can’t wait to see your install vid!

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  9. Can I do the up grade in two stages? The dual battery system and run it with one battery and add the 2nd battery at a later day?

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  10. This was the first mod i got. love it

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  11. You must be a fan of The Office.

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  12. Are you going to install a 30A DC-DC charging system to be able to charge an AGM battery setup? OEM voltage output is regulated at about 13.8v right? Not high enough for AGM charging. What's your plan?

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  13. So, I've been doing a lot of research lately on the Jeep JK (2015) charging system. I'm not done yet, but I'm learning a lot. My alternator output voltage hits 15v no problem after a long night of discharge (parasitic from the camera system). It only hits that level for a few minutes after starting, and as I drive, slowly drops to a more typical 14.3-ish range. Here's a pic from this morning's coffee run where it hit 15.1 https://i.imgur.com/8t1Rmz9.png <- It doesn''t do that very often...but the Jeep was parked for a longer than normal time yesterday. I was worried about too HIGH of an alternator output, but my research is showing that 15v is the top end of AGM battery preferred charging ranges. As you suggest, the AGMs seem to like a higher voltage output to successfully fully charge. It appears that my stock 160A alternator in the Jeep is capable of keeping these batteries happy. Again...I am learning as I go here, and there is a LOT of information to digest and interpret.

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  14. Ha! Merry Christmas to me! lol I don't think the currently attacched wiring will be too much of a pain. I'll just simply move them to the accessory posts on the Genesis... and it should be fine.

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  15. loved the office!!! Good eye!

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  16. I'm not sure how this is possible... I take that back... I'm sure it is, but might require some rigging to make it work.

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  17. Ha! See you at SEMA! lol (kidding) (unless you are paying) (kidding) (not kidding) lol - Anyway... you said it all first... I was just regurgitating what I learned from your website!!! :-)

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  18. No question!

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  19. Kinda... never published. One of these days I need to try and dig up the footage and post it.

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  20. Yeah... these have built in threaded sections for the hold down bolts. I'm glad they changed that!!

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  21. OVERCLOCK3D Jeeps yeah, that is a great change! You may want to add a small amount of blue loctite. The only other thing I can think of is grab some waterproof #10 ring terminals to re-terminate any wiring. They make it easy to help keep engine bay looking nice. Have fun!

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  22. The stock (JK-all years)setup will charge dual AGMs just fine. I had heard this somewhere else as well and after testing the output and batteries after long battery draining pulls everything was absolutely A-OK.

    That said I do recommend a good AGM specific charger/booster/maintainer for the shop. As it is much better for the batteries. They can also revive some dead batteries including lead plate ones. I do that and use them in a solar setup in my ice house as for me once a battery has died I don't trust it enough to put back in a vehicle.

    Just my two cents...

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  23. I m going to be broke because of you lol....now I want this too

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  24. Rome' Chelmo thank you for the insight. And... I do have a charger on the way!

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  25. Sunny Sharif Believe it or not... I go broke because of YOU ALL! I always get suggestions and advice that costs me money.... And this is an example. Everyone was like "you should go dual batteries!!!!". Lol. It's a two way street for sure.

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  26. speaking of a TJ... CPO, whats going on with your sons TJ? Havent seen any vids on it.

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  27. LMAO.... well THIS escalated quickly. hahahaa.... Everything I've read indicates the kit you got is pretty good.

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  28. More PFM!... Awesome!

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  29. Indeed it did!

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  30. Yes, you can run one battery by the firewall as your cranking battery. You'll just want to remove or cover the wire that normally connects to the second battery's positive so it doesn't accidentally short out on anything. We have some customers that do this with our DIY tray so they can mount an air compressor or other stuff where the second battery goes.

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  31. I was wondering how that negative cable would connect...but it looks like that cable to tie the two batteries neg posts together would work just fine for that, right?

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  32. Yes, the long ground cable will go from the cranking battery's negative over to the factory ground post clamp - which won't be attached to anything since there's no second battery there. Just secure it so it's not flopping around.

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  33. Perfect! Thanks for the info!!!

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  34. Is it possible to view battery status from this system on the Seicane head unit you previously installed?

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  35. Not unless maybe they make a bluetooth add-on for the G Screen Monitoring System. I didn't really talk about this in the video, but there is a display you can run: http://www.genesisoffroad.com/Genesis-Offroad-G-Screen-p/141-gs.htm

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  36. Alternator in the vehicle isn't really considered a charger for an AGM. It can maintain an AGM, but it's not likely to ever fully charge it to 100%. I would install a DC-DC charge controller under the hood if you have to go with AGM or just use a stand alone AGM profile capable battery charger at your house to top off the AGM as needed. Redarc makes a nice DC-DC in-vehicle charger as does Ctek. If you install one of those, they accept/regulate solar input as well. If you don't want an AGM, your Genesis setup will work fine with a dual lead acid setup.

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