The NorthStar AGM Battery + Voltage Booster Upgrade

The switch is a Blue Sea from Amazon. No fuse for the winch just the switch. The two small fuses are for headlights. The two larger fuses are for SwitchPro and Blue Sea fuse block.

 

That looks like a wireway cover..?

 

Here is a brief conversation I had with HKB Electronics.

 

Interesting being they list it as compatible with the 2016 version.

 

That’s what I thought also. Pretty much the same truck, just a different year. NOT TRUE

Update:

So I can confirm the HKB voltage booster won’t work with a 2018 Tacoma. 2018’s don’t have the Alt-S fuse.



I had a conversation with Leigh from HKB Electronics.

 

I saw earlier they only listed up to 2016 but my thought was maybe they just haven’t tested new models yet, as I’m not aware of any charging system changes on the 3rd Gen after the first year.

 

Isn’t 2018 when all the safety stuff became can’t standard?

 

Yeah, 2018 is when Toyota safety sense came equipped.

 

I just got off the phone with NorthStar's Director of National accounts, the guy knew his stuff. The original published information in this thread covering voltage boosters was correct.

While running these batteries in a vehicle, the alternator needs to hit 14.6v-14.8v peak voltage. The NorthStar rep even said Toyotas are some of the worst at not charging these batteries correctly due to their low charge rate. Without me sharing my data, he said you'd want to "increase the alternator voltage at least 0.5v or so" in a Toyota. Not increasing the voltage will reduce the life and performance of the battery. If not done by adjusting the alternator voltage, the battery will need to be maintained periodically on an AGM plug-in battery charger for best performance and life. The OEM alternator will not provide sufficient voltage levels, and that will cause sulfation of the battery. The automotive use is not considered 'float charge', float charge is for battery storage. A battery being used in a vehicle should regularly see peaks of 14.6-14.8v.

Here is the material I temporarily removed from this thread. I'll need to reupload the photos later.

 

Excellent job tracking that down! Sounds like there is a little bit of a dependency on the vehicle in question but that for the Tacoma you definitely want the boost - and pretty much exactly the amount you are doing. And based on some of the information others posted it sounds like running the voltage above the float range would have to be for many, many hours before it could damage the battery. I suspect the need to be careful about stepping down to the float voltage is more applicable to cases where the batteries are used for emergency power - in that case they would be held at charge for days/weeks on end and could be damaged. I could find very little information on vehicle AGM batteries but lots on them for PDUs and power backups.

Thanks to everyone for running this stuff to ground and sorry I brought up what turns out to be a non-issue.

 

I appreciate the scrutiny! I’m certainly not infallible. In the end it will make this thread better and has provided me an opportunity to now have a contact at NorthStar.

In other news the ACE technology will not come to the Pro series batteries, maybe to a Group 31 at some point in the future. But the Elite series batteries are new and were designed from the ground up with molds to account for the ACE technology. Since the Pro series batteries are in production, they would need to retool the line to change the molds to add the new technology, which is cost prohibitive.

 

Thats exactly what the Odyssey Tech support told me as well. Thanks for getting the info from Northstar as that will help a lot of people from killing $300 batts.

 

Original content reposted! I'll add some more bits of info from my discussion with NorthStar soon. While the battery states 14.4-14.8, the rep recommended hitting the upper end of the range at 14.6-14.8 for best performance and life.

 

So I guess best practice would be to install the booster, then dial in those charging voltages with a meter til you get it right.

 

Yep, except I want data logged history from actual driving vs a few static multimeter test readings while parked.

I’m installing one of these tomorrow that will provide trailing battery history over time, synced to a phone via blue tooth for better data analysis and optimization.

Battery Monitor BM2 Bluetooth 4.0

$29 Battery Monitor BM2 BM3 Bluetooth 4.0 Wireless Battery Tester 12V Automotive Battery Load Tester,Automotive Charging and Cranking System Monitor Digital Battery Analyzer for Android & iOS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GP1RXYZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ZdsUCbZHGX7CM

 

I can do that real time with idatalink.

 

Nice, the BM2 does real time too though not nearly as fancy as idatalink. What I am really interested in though is logging over time, so I can look at the data history to see if I am operating in the optimal range over a given time frame vs momentarily in real time.

 

Well, that was a good turnaround. So voltage boosters are back on. Does anyone want to order together to save on shipping?

 

For everyone looking for a budget alternative, 2000’s GMs use a diode which fits into our Alt-S slot. $4 at O’Reilly. I’ve been running this in my truck. Here’s a pic of me testing the resistance. Raises output by about .6V.
The only thing to go wrong is installing it backwards in which case your battery light will illuminate. NBD, shut off truck, turn it around and be on your merry way. I’ll try and find the part number and edit my post.

Edit: found it, here y’all go:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...i-diode/02400113xp/4414229?q=diode+fuse&pos=0

The only thing to do before install is trimming off a tiny bit of plastic on the side so it sinks in the slot. Hard to explain but super obvious when doing the task. I used a nail clipper.

I originally looked for this even before I got an AGM because our tow package uses too thin a wire gauge to actually charge a trailer battery properly.

 

Nice budget find! A diode is not a fuse though, so you have removed the short fuse protection. The HKB product is a PCI auto-resetting fuse, so it still maintains the fuse functionality, although obviously is more expensive.