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PART 11

CHARGE!

Ok, now we’ve got Oscar 80% off-road-ready and we’ve ascertained that we CAN get a 40L Waeco in the boot, we needed to sort out some auxiliary power. If you want to make sure you don’t end up sipping warm chardy’ whilst watching the sun set over Uluru, you need to put the right battery in the right place.

Oscar came with the standard Suzuki battery (meaning it had about enough power to blow your nose and that’s about all), so after having a chat with Graham Hicks at Optima Batteries, it was sorted that we needed a D35 Red Top crank battery and one of their Yellow Top Deep Cycle batteries for the auxiliary.

Graham recommended that we use a smart-isolator with the Optimas, not one of the simpler kits out there, to make sure we got the very best out the system as a whole. So we had a chat with Allen Johnson from Piranha Offroad, who recommended Piranha’s DBE 180-S Dual Battery Management System. So, with the Piranha kit and two Optimas in hand, we set about stuffing it all into the X-90.

The first problem was squeezing the crank battery into the Barbie-battery-sized space under the X-90’s bonnet. There was a lot of in and out, pushing, shoving and a few alterations to the battery tray and brackets, but the D35 Red Top was dropped in and bolted down with a bit of space to spare.

The next issue was finding somewhere to bolt up the Piranha isolator unit. Oscar is as round as a fat kid in a Superman suit, and this includes under-bonnet space. So the isolator was popped up behind the new battery on the passenger-side inner guard. This was probably the most protected spot as well, considering that Oscar likes muddy water as much as the average Labrador does.

The Piranha kit is probably one of the easiest DIY jobs I have ever done. The kit has absolutely everything you need and it was as simple as following the instructions, but I still had the boys over at Mannell Motors give it the once over and fit up the auxiliary plug/fuse pack as a precaution... last thing I needed was a burning X-90 due to my dodgy ‘auto-ec-lectic’ skills. If in doubt, always check with a professional... and you can always call the staff at Piranha Offroad if you get stuck, they are more than happy to assist with any queries... especially if you own a Suzuki as Allen is also a bit of a Zook enthusiast!

Probably the only hard part of the install was getting the auxiliary battery cables to the boot. Yep, there was no way the second battery was going to fit anywhere under the bonnet. It appears Suzuki, once again, didn’t figure on anyone actually using their X-90’s off-road, thus accessories - apart from stuff like nudge bars, rear alloy step bars (don’t go there) and bonnet stone-guards – weren’t really factored into the design.

So, the cables (and a few chunks of knuckle skin) were pushed through the grommet housing the main wiring harness and into the cabin.... where I ‘lost’ them for 20 minutes up under the dash. When, after some more shoving they appeared near the brake pedal, they were re-routed back to the passenger side so I could start destroying my interior.

The passenger-side interior kick panel, sill cover and rear lower B-pillar panel were removed (along with a handful of broken push-clips that I have yet to replace) and the cable was then run up along the side. It’s vital that there is nothing sharp for the cables to rub up against so, as the Dalai Lama once said “chose your path carefully”. If running your cables under paneling isn’t an option, they can also be run up under your carpet, but move them to one side.

Once again, after much pushing, shoving and two-and-a-bit hissy fits, the cables ended up in the boot. Getting them into the boot from the cabin was the easy part as Suzuki, in their infinite wisdom, decided that instead of fabbing up a neat, sealed divider between the cabin and boot space, they would just drop in a clip-in piece of plastic that doubled as something to screw the rear speakers into. Mind you, they did slap a flap of carpet over the bottom edge to neaten it up a bit.

Yep, that 2in gap at the lower lip that brings all that lovely, amplified exhaust noise from the boot into the cabin, actually came in handy! Oh, on that note, keep all this in mind if you are carrying anything noxious in your boot, as the fumes will find their way into the cabin. Mind you, if you ever manage to lock yourself in the boot it wouldn’t be too hard to get out.

Next problem was securing the battery. A quick trip down to Supercheap Auto fixed that, with me walking out of there with a plastic battery box and metal battery tray for under $25. Four holes were drilled into the boot floor (make sure you paint them up to prevent rust and pop a rubber grommet on as well so your boot doesn’t fill up with water on the next river crossing) and the battery tray was bolted into one corner. The battery box had a hold-down strap which was passed under the tray as a securing point.

The Yellow Top was popped in – perfect! I should add too that the removable/replaceable carry handles on the Optimas are bloody brilliant for handling heavy batteries. So much easier to pop them in without crushing fingers in the process, and it makes carting them around a breeze!

I spent the next half hour sitting in the boot measuring out and cutting the cables, then putting the included battery connections on the end. The Piranha Dual Battery Kit even includes the little heat-sealing end covers to ensure nothing self-earths, and all main earth cables/wires in there as well. There is nothing to buy. Depending on what vehicle you drive and what type of setup you require, Piranha has an extensive range of kits to suit every need.

After putting the boot end together, I popped back under the bonnet to secure the earth and power wires, then setup the connection to the main crank battery. I’d already grabbed a 12V plug, which I’d mounted in the rear of the centre console – seeing as it was so easy to run leads from the boot to the cabin via a bloody-great gap under the rear panel – so it could be used from any angle. As I said before, the boys at Mannell’s did some final fitting and checking and it was set to go!

I chucked the Waeco in the back, plugged her in and fired her up. If you have a Waeco yourself, you will notice any voltage drop will bring up an error on the LED. If your wiring isn’t up to scratch, it will soon tell you. Using a quality cable or lead with good, thick wiring like the Piranha kit is the way to go. No errors came up... all good!

Got a Suzuki? Do yourself a favour and swap out the Barbie-car battery, since the Red Top went in Oscar has fired up better every go. The Optima D51 is perfect for really squeezy fits, but you can also get a D35 to suit, which is simply 30mm broader over the D51. Both batteries are gel-cell, so they can be mounted anywhere as they don’t leak or corrode... you can even interior-mount them if you wish.

Apart from the fact that it wouldn’t fit anywhere else, an advantage of having the battery sit in a boot-box, is that when we go away we can just pop the battery out of the box and put it in the tent alcove to run the fridge off. We went away over Easter and the Yellow Top kept the fridge and lighting running happily for three days before we had to recharge it, which was as easy as dropping it back in and reconnecting it to the Piranha system.

Ok, we have power... let’s get those Calmini headers on, eh?