Outback Dual or Isolated Battery Setup

[turing]

hi All,

This seemed the most appropriate forum for my question, apologies if not: I have a '15 Outback which I've got lifted, and am doing a custom top rack platform for, under armor, the like.

Which brought me to a battery setup. I need a battery setup that will meet the following requirements:

• Allow me to charge fairly large batteries for production equipment in the wilderness
• Later, allow me to power a simple HAM setup
• Support a fridge, if I go that route
• Allow me to use a fairly simple solar panel charge setup for longer trips.
• Prevent me from draining the starting battery through normal use

I see lots of suggestions like "get a group 24 big battery it will be fine" "why do you need two batteries" etc etc... but I haven't seen a lot of people posting details of subaru isolated battery setups.

Has anyone used a Northstar marine "dual" Starting/Cycling battery? Any specific recommendations for configuration?

If you had enough electronic gear (including specialized batteries!) that you needed to charge that was sufficient to completely drain even a group24 over a week, and you wanted to charge from the vehicle if possible... what would you do?

External power packs that aren't integrated into the vehicle's systems aren't useful to me in the context of this discussion. I know they exist and will use them as appropriate.

Thanks!

 

[gonzoy5]

Update? Just because I have an Outback and am curious of potential 2nd battery solution.

 

[turing]

As a first step, I've purchased:

• https://overlandsolar.com/products/15-amp-os-mppt-charge-controller-bundle
  
• https://overlandsolar.com/collections/portable-solar-for-adventure/products/120-watt-nylon-folding-solar-charger

Because I know, regardless of the end battery setup, I want to be able to maintain the battery with a reasonably big panel, or jack the panel into a lithium accessory battery.

If I replace the battery, it will probably be with this: https://www.impactbattery.com/nsb-agm24.html — and likely a second interior battery jacked into the same charging system. I haven't heard great things about the red or yellow tops, and it looks like there would need to be something inside the cabin.

Bottom line: I didn't find anyone selling anything remotely resembling a complete overland power system for Subarus, but Brian @ Overland was *super* helpful.

Next up are some riser bars for a proper-sized rack that will hold a spare, some propane, some rotopax, maxtrax and some soft goods.