Tacofort's 2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD PRO Build with AT Habitat

I was trying to figure out the purpose of putting solar on top of the hab's shell.

In our case. The only time we would need solar to keep stuff going is in camp.... when the tent is deployed.

I apologize for calling your trucks oem electrical system, "stock."

 

No apologies needed. I didn't mean it that way. Just wasn't sure what you were asking. The panel will be helpful to keep the batteries topped off during normal life. If I choose to park the truck for a week and drive another vehicle or park it at the airport for 2 weeks , I won't need to worry about parasitic loads. Mostly, I want cold water bottles on demand. LOL.
For camp, I will be purchasing a folding portable panel that will tie into the same system to provide camp power.

Most of my camping trips, I am moving everyday. The alternator will top off the batteries. I am focused on protecting my battery investment with the fixed solar panel. A folding panel will provide the camp power.

My buddy wanted me to have a hinge and pivot system for the panel mount, so that I could flip the habitat open, then pivot out to a side the panel, but that seems almost excessive to me and a fixed panel won't be as good a a portable that I can adjust to catch more sun.

Hope that makes sense. And no worries.

 

That makes more sense.

Someone this past weekend had suggested I put a panel on the roof. It was my argument was, why for the same reasons.

I am running a stock sized AGM and don't have issue with not starting in the morning. Admiditly after some of my adds to the hab I might need to add a battery. The auxiliary power feed to the bed is already plumbed in with a blue sea sub panel in the bed; 6 circuits availability and running a fridge

 

So figured I should update from last weekend before next weekend.

Spent Saturday morning recovering and hanging out with a buddy planning the next phase of mods. Wandered over to @Jibbs to bs and grind on his truck for a bit as he swapped UCAs and hang out. Mostly just prepped wires for routing on Sunday. Played with my new Adventure Trailers Nemo awning to try and get some shade in the heat of the day. Josh was a great host and thanks again for letting us come out.


While we were out there, we spotted a rare siting. We were visited by the capless mud duck and @mwc273.

Also, one of Josh's friends brought over a slick little toy. A Morgan.

Good time all around. Lots of laughs.

On Sunday, wandered over to my buddy's place and continued the work.

Got the solar panel mounted and wired in. Also started work on the bluetooth speakers.

Monday after work, picked up my new fridge freezer Snomaster CL56D. Very excited and wired it up yesterday. Still doing plenty of testing.

 

Clean and nice!@

 

So I've been doing some fridge testing. I was surprised to learn there are a few important things to realize about these things in vehicles. I knew our stock alternator needed help which will be a later topic, but for now I have a Optima Bluetop group 31M battery as my primary, an optima group 34 yellowtop for my house battery. Unfortunately, 75AH and 55AH may not be enough depending on how I manage it. Before any trip I will load the fridge with cold stuff and be sure the fridge is cold having been on AC power. This is super important. My first test was a 24 pack of 500mL water bottles just bought from the store. 12 liters or more than 3 gallons of water at room temperature to bring down to temperature. The power system had no chance. The critical thing to know is that these systems will cool, but are really better at maintaining temperature as opposed to chilling warm things.

I believe what I'm trying to say is that vehicle fridge management is more important/difficult than cooler or home fridge management. My goal is to be able to safely refrigerate and store items for more than a day with no intervention by myself or the alternator. Cold beer anywhere, anytime.

The end result will hopefully be a system that works year round and doesn't require too much fuss. I plan to expand first the battery systems and install a 200AH AGM battery in the bed. This will allow for a level of reliability in the system. I will also install an additional 100 W panel to fully provide the needs for the system. This should allow for multiple days and still safely charge everything. Here's the

$355 Renogy Deep Cycle AGM Battery 12 Volt 200Ah, 3% Self-Discharge Rate, 2000A Max Discharge Current, Safe Charge Most Home Appliances for RV, Camping, Cabin, Marine and Off-Grid System, Maintenance-Free

battery.


Also, for the awning, it came with some channel for mounting onto the truck. I'm choosing to use L track instead. I will be mounting these all over the place. I can use these

$42 (10 PACK) L-TRACK SINGLE STUD FITTING WITH ROUND RING (Black)

clips to attach pretty much anything to.

 

Great point, I have been needing to get around to calculating the impact of having a fridge onboard. I have a "shore tie" setup for AC power that I can plug into home or RV park. Another idea I had been thinking as an option is getting dry ice to help in pulling that initial heat out of the fridge for those last minute trips where you have minimal time to prep. You won't be left with a soupy mess after it melts as well. Can you see your solar production on the Renogy panel as far as amperes/watts?

 

I can, but it provides an instantaneous number as opposed to a totalized amount. Other than that, I'm very happy with the menu and clarity of the charge controller. I'd definitely recommend Renogy panels and their Rover controller, though, give me a year to solidify that.
I have a 66W compressor on my fridge that in theory needs to run 50% of the time, so this ends up being it will require 66 amp hours a day to maintain cool. My batteries isolate and my 55AH battery won't provide 66AH. Batteries should never lose more than 50% charge, so I require a minimum of 132 amp hours, add a few LED lights and such and round up a bit and I figure a 200AH battery is just about perfect.

For pulling the initial heat out, keep some water bottles in the freezer at home, chuck them in everywhere, should help.

 

Did you make the roof crossbars yourself or order from AT with the habitat? @tacofort

 

There are some great measuring tools on the market for a pretty decent price. Adding a shunt and monitor, you can track your systems input and output.

$18 bayite DC 6.5-100V 0-100A LCD Display Digital Current Voltage Power Energy Meter Multimeter Ammeter Voltmeter with 100A Current Shunt

100A Current Shunt

As far as panels, I will probably be going with Renogy as well. I wanted to do the Panasonic HID panels, but the voltage output is too high for the solar charing system I have.

Looking good!

 

Ordered with habitat. Made solar panel mount myself. The roof rack was pricey, but very handy. L track is great stuff. Working on installing some in the bed to hold the combo slide when it shows up. Lol. All in all, really handy stuff. Everything mounts to it rock solid.

 

So I bought 1 but I'm having trouble installing it. Could you please help me out or point me in the right direction. I suck with electronics.

 

No worries. Well the ML-ACR is pretty straight forward. Run a heavy duty cable (minimum of 4 AWG, I used 2 AWG welding cable between the batteries) to connect (-) to (-) or ground to ground. Then off of my primary battery all of mine are AGM, you should only connect batteries of the same type together. I ran a

$22 Blue Sea Systems 5191 Fuse Block Terminal 30-300 AMP

fuse block and

$17 Blue Sea Systems 5187 200A Fuse Terminal

200 amp from the (+) side of each battery with the same size cable to either side of the ML-ACR(doesn't matter which side). You'll want to heat shrink and

$20 Forney 57637 Lug Crimping Tool, Blue

crimp all of the cable ends onto the lugs of course. terminate the ground for the ML-ACR. hope this helps.

 

I'm thinking about the set up now, thinking i could use solar charging to just charge the 31M (accessory bank) when sitting in a 2-3 day camp, with the G35 (starter only) isolated, rather than what I normally have the setting in "auto" mode that would link both banks with the solar charge voltage.

 

New
My combo slide and stove come Monday. Why couldn't they get it done a few days earlier? Waiting on parts is for the birds.



Oh well. I attempt to plan and the universe continues to laugh. So much for having a fridge on the slide for the RRG trip.

 

What an awesome set up!

 

Slowly getting there. Need to add some updates.

 

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Leaf-Spring-Liner-with-Lip-2-1-4-Inch,39823.html?sku=91033038-BLK

For future reference.

 

Sweet build so far. It's always awesome to see other people with PRO's doing cool shit with their rigs. Also always fun taking notes from good ideas . Looking forward to seeing what else goes into it. Also, I'm super jealous of your habitat. It's pretty much my dream to have one lol.

 

Quick update from the RRG trip two weekends ago. Finally getting around to it.

First things first, time for a Corona.


The camp was basically on top of this hill at the dead end of a road with great access for all manner of camping, but well hidden with a decent view all the way around. I was pretty impressed overall.


Random camp pictures. Most people were setup in hammocks or ground tents for this trip and the EZup city was already constructed.


Had to try out the awning for a bit the first night and figure out what the best configuration was for the trip.


Made a quick dinner of burgers with mushrooms and onions on the skottle for the Friday night. i should have taken a picture of the other skottle meals made, but this is definitely my go to cooking apparatus in camp.


Some beautiful sunsets through the trees with all the rain.


Camp at night

The next morning after a breakfast of bacon and eggs with veggies, it was time to get the truck dirty.


I didn't take to many trail pics, but it was a good ride. along the way, we stopped off at this cave and joked around with a group of side by side riders, etc. It was a good time.


Back at camp with a few scratches, but ready for another nice evening.

Saturday night sunset.

Shenanigans.


Overall, a good weekend with plenty of fun and I look forward to the next one. Definitely an area with plenty to explore.