Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Ive got cutting boards for sale, hit me up

 

Off Grid Engineering recently released a dual battery system with a

$438 REDARC BCDC1225D Dual Input 25A in-Vehicle DC Battery Charger

REDARC BCDC1225D DC to DC battery charger. It has the ability to 100% charge your secondary battery bank. Capable of charging AGM, Gel, Flooded, or Lithium batteries. Also has a built in solar controller for solar panels.

The thing I have with dual systems is your secondary battery never gets fully charged IMO. This is a good alternative to Blue Sea dual battery systems to make sure your secondary battery is always full of charge. This is one major reason I never liked dual battery setups. Last vehicle I ran a single 80 lb Group 31 battery and it was fine for my needs.

Now with these new controllers coming out I might get a dual battery system if they can 100% charge my secondary battery while on the move.

*Edit*

I tried to post the link but somehow Tacomaworld used ***** in their name so the link wouldn't work. Not sure if TW wants advertising money from them?

Search the net and you will see it on their site.

 

I really like my

$478 BCDC1240D Dual Input 40A in-Vehicle DC Battery Charger

BCDC1240D.
Like you mentioned, it's pretty much got all the bases covered - always keeps the house batteries isolated, 3 stage charging, profiles for different battery types, MPPT controller, etc.

 

CTEK has a great reputation for ensuring proper charge of both batteries connected to their units.

 

You now owe me one (1) tequila shot next camp (read: you have to do one with me)

 

I have an odyssey Group 31 as a dedicated house battery. It runs my fridge and accessories. I haven’t got around to it but will be hooking up 1-2 100w solar panels on the roof to help keep it topped off.

In the mean time i came up with a bit of a different solution to keep the house battery fully charged. A long time ago I did the anytime 400w mid to the stock power inverter in the bed. I picked up a NOCO single bank 10 charger that is mounted to the bed side behind my fridge/cooler slide and keep it plugged into the stock bed out let.

NOCO Genius GEN1 10 Amp 1-Bank On-Board Battery Charger

NOCO Genius GEN1, 1-Bank, 10-Amp (10-Amp Per Bank) Fully-Automatic Smart Marine Charger, 12V Onboard Battery Charger and Battery Maintainer

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JSHQW0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_LaCgoZt9DaCdX

When we are driving a long stretch or if it’s been a while since the house battery was charged I flip the inverter on and let it do it’s thing until we get to where we are going.

Works fine for now until I make time to get the rest of the charging system dialed in.

 

I finally got to pick up my Drifter last week!!! Living in Illinois my grandson and I decided to make it a road trip vacation. After having the camper installed last Tuesday, we headed north to check out the giant redwoods before turning east and stopping at several national parks on the way home. He had to be home to start 5th grade this Thursday and I was excited to get home and start working on the inside of the camper. We still managed to drive 4945 miles in 12 days!

Installation at Vagabond Outdoors:


BLM camp in Nevada:


Lower insulated panels and floor installed. Start of the left side storage cabinet. Upper insulation cut and sitting loosely in place. It will be covered with the same marine carpet as the lower panels:


Even camping with the interior completely empty I can tell how much I'm going to like this set-up.

Thanks to Vagabond for making such a bombproof camper available!

 

Looks great!

 

Did VO do the insulated panels or was it DYI?

 

Very exciting! Congrats!!!

 

The insulation is a do-it-yourself project. 1" foam board from the big box hardware store. I got some of the panels covered with the Automarine carpet yesterday.

 

That looks great!

 

This is my plan as well. Love the carpeted look/feel! What are you attaching the carpet with? Glue and staples like you'd use for furniture?

 

I'm using 3M Super77 spray adhesive. Spray the foam board and the carpet and stick 'em together. The carpet wraps around the backside a couple of inches and is glued. That's all that's needed.

The panels are a tight fit in the cavities so they stay in place, but the carpet sticks really aggressively to the hook-side of Velcro so a few pieces stuck to the camper walls make sure they aren't going anywhere.

 

Did you do a write-up somewhere on the storage build or could you please let us know how you did it? Can it easily come out and is there a frig going in? Very nice! Thank you.

 

There will be either a Dometic 35 or 45 liter fridge going in after the solar panel install. All the solar parts are on the way now. There will also be storage and counter space along the right side that will have a sink with running water. Basic, but good enough for my camping needs.

I haven't done a write up on the build, but there are quite a few out there already. @White Mountains - EDIT: I did a short tutorial on working with the extrusion here: 8020 Cabinet Construction. I used 8020 extrusion from https://www.tnutz.com/. Search the web for "8020 van" and you'll find info and YouTube videos. Lots of the DIY van conversion folks are using it. The stuff is really simple to work with.

The cabinets will be reasonably easy to remove with bolts and hold down screws. It's not something I would want to do often though, and don't anticipate needing to.

 

Has anyone used a 100ah lithium ion battery or a Group 35 for their second battery with a 30amp DC-DC charger and leaving the starter battery alone? Not sure if one can fit more than a group 35 near the passenger side firewall in a Tacoma? If one can I heard reports of the fender cracking due to the weight of the second battery on the passenger side.

I like the idea of just isolating the starter battery and placing a second battery in the engine bay with a DC-DC charger. Also like the idea of a 100ah Lithium battery (30 lbs) and many many advantages over a AGM battery expect for $$$. I am not sure if a group 35 AGM will be enough power? It will just be used to power a fridge for 2-3 days max without starting. My single group 31 battery in my 4runner ran the fridge fine for 3 days.

Since I want my starter battery completely isolated I want the ability to jump start my vehicle using the Lithium battery (if I go this route). I contacted Battle Born Batteries and their Lithium 100ah battery is CCA is 200 amps, which is on the small side? Also contacted Deep Cycle Systems in Australia and their Lithium 100ah has 1000 LCA's or 1000 CCA’s in old lead acid terminology this is much batter.

My question is what Lithium Ion 12v battery companies do people use?

Reason for me going this route is some of the dual battery kits are $800-1000 without batteries. Seems like a lot of money for few feet of copper and isolator/controller. Also add two group 35 batters to the mix and the dual kit costs ~$1500-1600. Power still might not be adequate since the group 35's are not big.

I can wire my own kit together buy a 100 ah lithum battery with 30 am Redarc controller and still be cheaper than a dual setup battery system and have huge power than an AGM kit

Decisions, decisions. Sorry if i'm not making sense. I am new to this dual battery setup thing. Thoughts?

 

You can easily eliminate the cost of those “dual battery kits” by just making one yourself. In essence all you really need to do is find a way to mount the 2nd battery (wherever you choose) and spend less than $50 on good wiring. That way your only expensive purchase is just your batteries.

Here’s my homemade set up made with materials I had in my garage (old pic, now have Northstar batteries)

 

Thanks I’m definitely going to piece my own setup together. Interesting that you placed your second battery there. Never knew there was space there. I need to check when I get home.

Might just purchase a second battery tray and do everything else myself. But the tray is $200. Little pricy.

 

All I had to do was relocate the PS reservoir which required longer hoses. All the instructions are here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/power-steering-reservoir-relocate-for-dual-battery.430056/

Won’t work on some tacos. I think the 2.5 gen has something there. Whatever makes that suction noise when you turn off the truck - I think