Gator4

I have a 2005 2500 diesel, the batteries are close to being shot, I was wanting to run a 1 battery setup mostly due to cost. it is fairly warm here with weather very seldom gets below 30 degrees. What do I need to do or be watching for when going to a 1 battery setup, I have read some where someone had a charging problem when going to a 1 battery setup as i read the alternator tries to charge the drivers side battery first, should there be anything I would mess up by going to a 1 battery setup.
Like I said earlier times are hard and wanted to save some money with battery prices going out the roof.
Thanks for the advice ahead of time

Dodgezilla

I was having cranking issues when just one of my batteries was going bad and the other one was fine. I don't think a one battery system will work well.

I'm tight too and if only one battery was going bad then that's all I would replace regardless of what everybody will tell you. Just make sure the specs on the new battery are the same as the old one. This is exactly what I did recently and everything is fine. Now, if both batteries are indeed going South then replacing one will not do much good because the bad one will drain the good one and leave you in the same position.

Rednecktastic

Get off brand batteries that meet the factory specs or are near it. I think it is group 65 size and 650 CCA. So that means a one battery set up would require a rewire and 1300 CCA, probably cost a lot more than going stock set up.

Really isn't that much money. $150-175 for 2 lower end batteries in this style?

nickg

have them load tested to see which is bad, and if funds are tight, replace the bad one first, and as money becomes available buy a second one later.

I believe the only way a single battery will work, is the new/good battery would need to be on the drivers side, the faulty battery would need to be in the pass side, then unhook the pass negative cable and leave it off. this would allow the alternator to get the current to the drv side battery, and the bad battery wont drag the new/good battery down. by keeping the old battery in place you wont need to hack up any battery cabling.

the alt charges the pass side battery, and the ECM reads the voltage from the drv side battery, and the drv side battery feeds the starter...after thinking about it I guess you could just remove the negative cable off what ever battery was bad. (providing the good battery has a good ground)

this is a disclaimer, the above is not recommended and beware should something go wrong/or not work.

other things to think about is in cold weather(and it does not have to be all that cold out for them to cycle, and they also will cycle on a hot engine restart) the grids will cycle and put a huge strain on a single battery set up, grids use 90amps each!

Gator4

Thanks, I didn't no there was so much going on. I thought just remove drivers side battery and just worrry if one would crank it, which I wasn't worried. I will just replace both when these go out. The longer I keep this truck the more I wish I had not bought it, everything cost like rip, Fuel, Oil, Filters and my goodness tires. Although nothing has torn up yet and my original tires went a tad over 80,000 it still adds up. I only pull a 16 ft lawn trailer and a 1/2 ton chevy would have worked as good and cheaper.
Thanks again for the advice and tips.

wellmax

my buddy got two batteries for his dodge diesel at rural king,
cost was $65 ea and the batteries met the size requirements

i got two for my truck at autozone
duralast gold tops,
100 cca more than std but they cost $139 each, but sure do kick the old cummins over good on a cold morning.

need to do a full check on going to one battery system, this may cost you more in the long run.

CatDiesel_762

With today's electronics in our engines you are going to need both batteries. From the engine to the cigar lighter requires the voltage and amperage to run. It does not matter if you live in a warm climate or cold. Both Heat and Cold can kill your batteries. Sometimes, heat is worst than cold.

I recommend that you go to a local parts store and have them load test your batteries and check your charging system too. Most places do not charge for this at least around here. While at the parts store, take a look at the batteries they have and either buy what you can afford (low end -12 mth warranty), or save your money and buy a top of the line battery (high end - 48 mth warranty). All brands of batteries are made at one of only 13 manufactures world wide (I think...), so brand does not really matter. Just make sure the battery can handle the CCA. Best to match or increase the amperage to the factory specs.

Shawn

Rednecktastic

Definately you should sell the diesel and buy a gasser. Or put a classified link on here and try to trade someone, you would probably come out ahead.