Getting more from the electrical charging system

[Kumabear]

Anyone know if this is doable on a NW?

[Peter5111]

One more question for people, regarding the smart alternator. Am i going to screw up the charging system if I add an additional earth from the battery negative to the chassis/body and one from the engine block to the body.

Short answer, yes you will potentially cause problems.

If you look at the negative terminal on the factory battery, there is a clip around the entire earth cable. That clip is a current sensor that the computers use as part of the battery charge system.

All of your earth return current must pass through that sensor (including all of your audio current draw). Your aux batteries should be wired directly to the crank battery terminals (with appropriate fusing) and running 0AWG for positive and negative. (I didn't catch if you ran 0AWG for the aux batt negatives)

I honestly don't know the magnitude of the impact from having earth return current bypassing the current sensor, but I figure the sensor is there for a reason.