KJ dual battery - Installed!

[Roger Daws]

I'll take some pics myself of the finished product this weekend in the daylight and post them up.

Thanks for the update, will look forward to the pics.

[froop]

As promised, here are a couple of pics. You can see how tight it is in there, with the junction box shifted around to the side, and the ECU moved across on an angle right next to the A/C accumulator. There is slight contant between the ECU mount and the A/C evaporator line, so I need to put a small section of rubber hose to protect it.

You can just see the isolator mounted between the aux battery and the accumulator.

[Roger Daws]

THanks, looks good.

[johnv]

Thanks Froop, I have recently purchased the same model and am going through the same anxieties. Pirahna until now have not been over helpful, in so much as they want me to bring my Jeep to Melbourne and I want my local auto spark to do the job. After some pressure from the local Pirahna dealer (Ballarat, Vic) they have finally agreed they can supply a kit after all, after stuffing me around with double talk since I first spoke to them at the Melbourne Camping & Fishing Show back in October.
I have a corncern, however about the ECU being so close to the condenser, perhaps not so bad in Victoria, but planning to travel "around the block" the aircon should get some work in the "Top End" -
Did Pirahna or your local Jeep dealer suggest or place some form of Insulation material against the ECU to protect it ??
many thanks, Johnv

[kjman]

i have 2005 kj 2.8 diesil i thinking about same as u about a second battery but now i might think a bit about $900 seems a lot to spend!

[johnv]

i agree Kjman, pirahna's kit costs around $150 and although I would use an AGM type battery such as optima (probably yellow or blue) there is no pre-requisite to do this. You can just use a standard deep cycle under the bonnett as fumes are not a concern.
I think that you can get the cost down substantially less than that with a little bit of labour and a local auto electrician, however my concern remains about proximity to the condensor and placement of some insulating material - cheers (2003 KJ 2.8 diesel)

[johnv]

Finally got an answer out of Piranha - they claim proximity of ECU to Air Condensor pipr will not be a proplem due to the amount of heat generated under the bonnet - ordered the Dual Battery Tray "kit" from them thr local dealer - when it finally arrived it had no brackets to mount the DB180 Management Unit and connect to the ECU bracket - also no bracket to re-hang the power distribution box in its new position and the rear section of the tray does not accept an optima battery - so there is a little manufacturing to do - also Piranha only supply 2 - A4 sheets with very poor B&W photos no other instructions - great help - nevertheless it's DONE - 1 hr at the auto electrician after initial installation - both the spark and the local Jeep service manager were quite impressed (me too don't brag much)
Anyone who would like some serious detailed instructions give me a reply and I'll sit down and commit them to detail -
cheers johnv - 2003 KJ CRD Limited