Where would be the best place to go to have a dual battery system installed?

 

i would guess someplace that does auto audio, or an rv shop may be better.

 

Any locals with recommendations?

 

I do belive that Summit Racing or Quadratec has a kit for a Dual Battery Connection.

Here is one from Quadratec: http://www.quadratec.com/products/17004_200.htm

 

may i ask. why you want a dual battery set up?!

 

I run a laptop in my car on a daily basis, sitting parked most of the time, the battery runs down quite often. especially if i forget to start the engine and idle.

 

WOW, Do laptops draw that much power? How long do you have the laptop on? Not being a smart$ss just that I don't know about this stuff and would have never guest that it would kill the battery that fast.

 

On a normal work day, my laptop could be on 6-7 hours, with car parked. I connected a solar panel to the battery, (a maintainer) but it does not provide enough input to keep battery from draining, I still have to start the car every couple of hours to prevent draining battery completely. I know this cant be good on the battery.

 

Get a deep cycle Optima.

 

I'd suspect the battery. Check the electrolite for density. Laptops take little power and should hibernate when not in use.

My battery, just over a year old, was probably neglected when the car was not used for about a year. It does not seem to have much capacity. In addition I don't make any trips over about 3 km to charge it.

However, if the question is simply about a second battery in parallel, that should be doable. There is space for it. You have to secure it. And the computer should not know what you did.