Moving some components to second battery

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Nick2253

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Nov 12, 2019
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Location
Southern Oregon, USA
I have a '99 Yukon, and I'm looking to add a second battery. I camp regularly in the Yukon in some extremely remote locations, and I would like to set up the second battery as a "house" battery for lighting, 12v ports (cig lighter), etc. That way, I won't drain down the starter battery.

I've been reading a bunch of threads about adding a second battery, and I think I'm pretty comfortable doing that. I know the "factory default" option about wiring the battery directly into the Aux pins of the engine fuse compartment, however I'm pretty sure I'm going to wire it in separately so I can use an isolator or solenoid (triggered by ignition) to prevent draining down my starting battery.

However, I'm not sure the right way to get the existing dome lights and 12v ports onto this battery, and this is where I'm looking for some feedback.

I haven't gotten into the dash yet, so I don't know exactly how the instrument panel fuse box is wired up, but I was wondering if I could use the existing fuses and spaces, and just switch their "hot" legs to the second battery? I know that, worst case, I could cut the wires in the harness and add inline fuses under the dash, but I'd much prefer to use the existing fuse locations.

Alternatively, what if I switched *everything* except for the starter over to the second battery? Would that be a mistake? It would be so much easier (just switching the one connector into the engine compartment fuse box), but I'm worried that it could cause problems for starting the rig if I run that battery down to nothing.
 
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