Dual Battery set up, Offgrid-engineering, Adventure Ready or ???

What’s the question? The plb40 discharges 12.8 natural voltage all the way to zero so it won’t shut down until the battery is drained.

If it’s plugged into your starting battery when your vehicle is off it’ll pull that down instead and keep the plb full. You want to either unplug it from the main battery when the vehicle is off or have it hooked to a keyed outlet that’s only powered when the ignition is on.

As far as charging times it accepts 8A so it needs five hours to fully charge from zero but will power a fridge for about two days without any added power. If you’re going to be parked for long periods of time it has a solar input and inputting 8A from a 100W panel will keep it full indefinitely.

Hope this helps

 

Thanks guys, both very helpful! The 12.8 number is what I was missing but apparently just wasn’t looking hard enough.

 

Aside from wiring/simplicity, the weight of the dual battery system is actually an issue on these trucks if you use them off-road. I highly recommend to Genesis to consider a re-design of the mounting. Toyota didn't engineer the truck for that weight, so the aftermarket has to be cautious in design and testing. I wouldn't take the time to make this comment if I didn't have factual background information to make the suggestion. I'm attempting to caution others who do a lot of off roading, and simultaneously help with continuous improvements of aftermarket products for this very popular 3rd gen platform.

 

What's the issue?

 

There is over 100lbs of battery weight constantly torquing on the factory sheet metal where the Genesis 6 nutsert locations are. I have seen these locations crack. Maybe this is a rare case. This truck is not used lightly.

 

Gnarly

 

I used Optimas in all my Jeeps. At one time they were as good as any out there and then their manufacturing moved south. QC became an issue, especially with the popular red top.

 

Nice work. What do you think you have invested in your set up? Seems simple enough and exactly what I need.

 

The largest cost is the Redarc component of the system at $360ish. I’ve added a second 100ah battery now but the cost of the whole system is still sub $900. It could be done for cheaper, but I used good quality stuff. I liked this option because I can transfer it all to a trailer if I ever get around to building one.

 

Thanks. Yeah, I’d really like to do it all myself too not only for cost, but so I know how it works if I have issues. Does the Redarc instructions cover most of what you need to know for an install like this?

 

Yes, I wired it per the instructions. It will also let you know exactly what’s needed for this set up. I think I have a compiled list of everything I used, if you’d like I can PM it to you.

 

Sent you the list @Wackyhacky

 

Thank you! Much appreciated @Hstone556 !

 

Hi,

Been reading up on this thread since I am weighing my battery options. Folks with the plb40, are you still happy with it and glad you didn’t go the dual battery route?

 

So.... I actually sold my PLB-40. Not because it wasn’t amazing but simply because I ended up selling my Go Fast Camper, and moving into a Alu-Cab Khaya. The Khaya came with a full electrical system built in including charging systems, 200W of solar and a group 31 deep cycle dedicated to the camper. That said I sold my fridge and PLB to a buddy and have 2 other very close friends running them and all of them love it. It’s by far a better option than a Conventional battery. When my group 31 craps out I’ll be replacing it with a Battle Born LiFePo group 31. The new tech is far superior.

Biggest thing with the PLB is you can just plug it into a cigarette lighter plug in your fridge and go. Fancy dual battery systems are great they certainly work but are very heavy, very complicated and your restricted to one vehicle. It’s also nice to be able to remove your PLB and keep a fridge by you in the right setting. We utilized that option with a buddy’s PLB a few weeks ago.

I think it’s a very very attractive option.

 

I was considering getting super complicated and hard wiring the 2nd battery in a dual battery set up to the outlet in my bed, with a voltage cutoff and solar redarc to keep it going indefinitely. I would also do the 400w anytime hack. This would make the plug in the bed actually useful!

Also attached to the second battery would be a Bussmann relay/fuse box for my lights, compressor and other accessories that attach to in cab switches.

Doable?

 

I am slowly working into the setup and plan on adding quite a few components in the future. Unfortunately, electrical is really not a strength for me. I have slowly been piecing together my dual battery setup and just picked up a Redarc 1225D to go with the OGE dual battery trays. I have the trays installed and a group 35 and group 24F AGM (starting) battery. Currently my sPOD is running off of my primary battery and I want to shift it over to my secondary battery. My question, is..

Should I look for a solution to move and re-run the wires to the passenger side by the additional battery or just pickup a set of wires and run them (about 6.5 ft of cable) between the extra battery and the sPOD?

If I run the cables, should I stick with 8AWG or use 4AWG? Should I add an inline fuse or just depend on the sPOD to handle it? (I am only running lights off the sPOD currently.)

 

Not nice

 

Not to resurrect an old post from the dead, but I just bought a Dometic CFX3 75DZ and have found that my Odyssey group 34 AGM is not enough to power it. I really only bought it because I thought I could do it with my single battery as I just don't want to get involved in a dual battery system if possible. As I'm looking into dual battery setups and standalone units like the PLB40, I am leaning towards the standalone unit.

I am starting to think the same way.

Are you still happy with your PLB40?


For the price and simplicity, I really think it (or the Jackery 1000) is going to fit my needs the best. I need to solve a problem, and that is keeping the fridge running. Whether I accomplish that with a dual setup (costly and complicated) vs. a PLB 40 (still costly for what it is), why should I add complexity to my life since dual batteries are the "right way to do it"?

 

FWIW, i did the OGE side-by-side with 2x Odyssey G35's PC-1400.
I've also used VF to up the alternator voltage to what Odyssey recommended at 14.7v.
I don't use them all that hard, but they've been super solid running heated blankets at night. I'm very happy....






Looking back on things, i should have done a primary lead acid and a secondary AGM and charged the AGM with a DC-DC charger. Live and learn! As long as i get like 8-10 years out of the batteries, i'm happy