High Voltage

The disco continues its long slog to off-road tourer nirvana, with the fitment of a piranha off-road dual-battery management system.

- Justin Walker

IT’S BEEN a busy few months for the mobile gold brick, with a couple of big drives down to the NSW far south coast, as well as a slightly closer amble to Fraser Stronach’s stomping grounds in the NSW southern highlands. Lots of on-road kays has seen impressively low fuel-consumption; I even managed 1100km out of one tank (the Disco has a 95L jobbie) on a return haul to Tathra and back to Sydney via freeway/highway routes… and still no oil leaks.

The modification process has been lengthy, but that’s been my fault as I do way too much research and ask way too many questions before fitting anything to the Disco. Plus, my budget ain’t huge, so every accessory fitted has to offer plenty of bang for bucks. One thing that’s been on the top of my accessory list is a Dual Battery Management System (DBMS). For anyone considering a camping trip of longer than a weekend, an ice-filled Esky simply won’t cut it when it comes to keeping food and drinks fresh and cold. A fridge/freezer is the only way to go, and it (and any other power-dependent accessories) needs power, hence the need for an auxiliary battery.

Piranha Off Road has been producing top-notch 4x4 electrical products (and loads of other gear) for more than 30 years, with owner Al Johnson and his team highly regarded when it comes to products that work exceptionally well – a direct result of Al’s passion and his many decades of off-road touring experience, where he gets to see equipment working ‘in the field’.

Al suggested the DBE140SF dual battery management system for a number of reasons. “That particular unit is designed and manufactured right here in Australia” he said. “It has a 140amp input capacity, which effectively means you can run up to a 140amp alternator, which will suit most 4WDs. The DBE140SF allows the use of the surplus capacity of the alternator, which can be up to 40 amps or more.”