Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

I have looked up the dimensions and they do seem to just add height in most cases to add volume. That said space is at a premium in these trucks so I am wary. Also seems like an item that you would want to buy from the manufacturer /retailer direct because of warranty issues and so on. There is an engel51for 380$ in my area....... on fence about it. That's roughly 50% retail+tax, but the lack of warranty scares me

 

Yeah I like the stats on the battery, but over 150 lbs is a little more than I'd like to toss in the trailer. I've been looking at Trojan golf cart batteries, but can't find any sealed models.

 

Golf cart battery’s won’t be sealed since they need water constintaly added to them. Your best bet wound be a large marine /deep cycle battery.

 

That would explain why I can't find any sealed ones.....

 

Bahhh. Get creative!!

 

I get it. Started in an XJ, then a KJ CRD, then had a kiddo, and the taco came into our lives. Then kiddo number two, and the habitat was bought.

Now I sit here with a bag of peas in my lap, because I can't afford an earthroamer damn it!

 

Headed down to Death Valley a couple weeks ago; finally got photos edited and the story written up... enjoy

Death Valley 2018: Intro & Day 1
A Day of Driving

We’d gotten everything ready to go the day before – meals pre-cooked,
truck completely packed – including the fridge (plugged into the 120v
in the garage) – so that as soon as we dropped off @mini.turbodb at school,
@mrs.turbodb and I could head south.

By 7:45am, we were on the road.

READ ON ... A Day of Driving


​

 

I am located in Texas so while it does get cold here it doesn’t get below 20*F here often. I’ll either be running this battery in an insulated box in the bed of the truck/trailer with an incandescent light (3157 bulb) in it to keep the area warm or I’ll remove the plastic trays behind the rear seat and mount them there. I should be able to keep them above 50*F.

I run all of my camp lights off of it, fridge, coffee pot (cheaper than jet boil fuel),1500w 12v heater (for RTT), 3000w inverter (had this from another project), 8000 BTU air conditioner (for summer trips with the wife). I am at peace camping and don’t need any of that stuff but my wife on the other hand isn’t going without it. Happy wife, happy life.

The weight is not a big deal. The space is at a premium in a DCSB two of these are half the size of my generator. Two of these Is less than the weight of my welding machine (Miller 225 amp) and one is the same as my generator (3500 watt champion). Generators are not allowed after dark or at all in some of the places we camp. This is a quiet, green solution to the electrical needs and I am ok with it.


Edit: A coworker of mine uses these for his off grid setup at his home I borrowed 2 of theses and verified that they would power the inverter, AC unit and fridge for 8 hours before needing charged. suits my needs. Low power threshold shut off the inverter at almost 9 hours.

 

There is no reason to insulate or heat a battery box. And I wound stay away from putting that in the back seat, while it is sealed it’s still a lead acid battery. Drawing that much power heat or ac will kill the battery fast, and like doording mentioned look into an alternator upgrade.

 

The battery box will be ventilated but with this type battery (VRLA) it is not necessary as it is a non vented sealed battery that can be mounted in any orientation. The light that keeps the area at a decent temperature is on a pair uxcell thermal switch’s so that it only runs when needed.

For changing I have 100 watts of solar currently to assist with maintaining the batteries along with the alternator on the truck.

 

The insulated box with a single 3157 bulb on a 50* lower limit 80* upper limit thermal switch setup worked flawlessly on the tongue of my enclosed trailer for 7-8 years with four 55AH VRAL batteries. Remember these are not wet cell batteries and they are not vented. I am simply moving it to the truck and eventually on to my trailer once built.

The in cab mounting is only a possible mounting location if push comes to shove.

These batteries are designed for 80% discharge cycles. 400 Ah can sustain a heavy constant load for a good amount of time. Two 200Ah batteries parallel= 400Ah/20hours=20 amps/hour draw maximum. My max draw is 17.2A, this is only with all lights, coffee pot, inverter on and both fridge/AC unit compressors running. The normal current draw is 6.3A and 12.4 with AC compressor running. 90% of the time I am running at the 6.3-6.9A range depending on the lights I have running.

The truck already has a 130A alternator on it so I am going to see how it does inconjunction with my 100 watt solar setup that is expandable up to 400 watts. If it needs more solar I’ll add another panel or a larger alternator I’ll swap to the 160A alternator off of a Limited T4R.

 

I said that the orientation can be changed I did not say I was going to. I to believe they should be kept in normal orientation.

The power consumption is going to be limiting. For permanent setup to sustain this system indefinitely yes it needs some serious upgrades. How ever to keep the wife happy on the trails or down at the beach for a day or three it has worked fine in the past.

My old solar set up on my 20’ enclosed trailer was 400 watts feeding six 55 Ah batteries. This would run the house AC through the night and a fan during the day while parked. I’ll see how this new setup does.

 

With that little draw, why not get a small wind powered altimator on a mast?

 

Done the motor home thing. It sucks! I have had a class A coach and several travel trailers over the years. All of them limited the hell out of where we could go.
A 35’ motor home has no place at the beach or up a trail in Colorado. Neither does a 1 ton pulling a 32’ 5th wheel or a 20’ enclosed car hauler with living quarters.


I also do work out of this truck and the power supply will be handy running battery chargers for my Milwaukee and Ingersall Rand cordless tools.

The thought has crossed my mind.
I already have a removable work light mast.

 

That's a nice setup!

I made a platform out of MDF that has 2 sections that allows the option of using the bigger rear seat or not.

 

Thank you.

I used some wood at first as a proof of concept. It's the same tray I was using in our Jeep Liberty but i modified it for the tacoma's architecture.

The tray is steel and mounts to the truck using the stock bolts/ locations where both halves of the back seat pivots. So there are four points for truck to tray. The fridge uses cinch straps like you did.

This allowed us to keep the kiddo's diono in a rear face behind passenger, with enough room for my wife to jump back there on looong trips. When on the trail we flipped his seat to forward facing on the middle position for safety, better views, and we could tend to him easier.

It helps with the limited space of the truck's cab. And allows use of the rear boxes better. We store our spare and unused paper maps under the fridge on the trail.

Now we have two little ones, the fridge is s bed mount. Doh!

 

Nice! What size fridge is that?

 

It's a 50L

 

I've got a 50 in my access cab. My back seats were useless anyways the only person who liked them was my fiances dog. I wanna totally redo my platform/storage system.



Quick and dirty. Ideally I want to ute my truck with a dedicated tool box/fridge compartment pull out, but nooo I had to decided to get married and go to Iceland for 17 days.

 

Adulting