Best way to have a 12 volt hookup to your truck?

[coldmark]

Whats the best way to have a 12 volt hookup to your truck? Should I use an old extension cord? Jumper cables? I assume I need an outlet on the outside of the shack. And a cord with battery clips on one end and a plug on the other.

[Grainbelter]

I guess I would just carry a seperate battery if i were you if you are using it to power lights and such just so you don't run your truck battery down, although I could think of worse places to be stalled. I use my boat battery with an inverter to power a light and fan once I can drive out.

[BoxMN]

Any chance you have a '98 vintage Chev pickup? Mine has an extra battery area under the hood where you could stick and keep an extra battery, then just charge it when you are back at home.

edit - after seeing Grainbelters idea, and invertor and extra battery seems like good idea. I deleted my old school idea

Good luck.

[coldmark]

Last year I hauled batteries back and forth but it gets to be a pain. This year I have everything propane but would like to have a 12-volt backup plan using my truck. This would be running 1 12-volt lightbulb and maybe a car stereo the last hour of fishing.

[coldmark]

I have an '04 chevy silverado. Wonder if it has an extra battery spot.

[Cootz]

I put an extra battery in a 1985 suburban, a 1991 chevy 1500 and am in the process of putting one in my 1998 k2500. Both of the first times I had to purchase the second battery bracket from Chevy and remount a couple minor things under the hood and then I bought one of those spltter things that charge both batteries while you drive and I ran a heavy gauge wire back to the bed of the truck and drilled a hole in the front of the bed and put a rubber grommet in it so not to cut the new wire. I then wired a male 4 pole trailer wiring harness to it. Then I put a female end on everything I used back there. My pickup bed camper, my topper with 12v lights wired above every door and 55w halogen flood lamps mounted on the top of it to see when you're backing up a duck boat or loading ice fishing stuff. Or anything your mind can immagine that's 12v. And the best part of it is that the battery is charged EVERY time you go to use it and your starting battery is never drawn down because of something you've attached to it. Another bonus to having a second battey is that you can give yourself a jump. Done it a number of times when I've left my lights on. I don't know why every truck just doesn't come with two bateries.

[BoxMN]

Good idea Cootz, I meant to do it when I bought my truck, but haven't done that yet. I will do exactly as you described, though, as it would work great.

[hawkeye43]

I have welder plugs mounted thought the side of the house that hook to the battery in there and on the truck I mounted the quick connects that you would use for a warn winch. I ran oo wire all the way back. Since I put the wind generator on the house I used the plug-in just a few times

[coldmark]

Good stuff Cootz! I'm going to pursue this 2 battery idea. What do you mean by those spltter things that charge both batteries while you drive?

Thanks

[coldmark]

love to hunt,

If you're out there, any chance you can post your info on hooking into my 7-pin trailer hookup again? I don't mean to be a pain, but I didn't print it and now it's gone.

Thanks.

[JigginIsLife]

The splitter charger thing i think is a splitter of the cable from the alternator to the battery that thus charges both batteries while driving, but only using one while starting. but with the splitter you wouldnt need to use a trickle charger or anything to charge it, the alternator would do the work for you.

[ChuckN]

Here's the post:

http://fishingminnesota.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=854121&fpart=1