The NorthStar AGM Battery + Voltage Booster Upgrade

Eliminated or illuminated?

 

Illuminated..

essentially the diode facing the wrong way will prevent voltage flow through the ALT-S circuit, tricking the ECU into thinking that there's an open in the circuit

 

Diode is not backwards, I have no battery ligth on the dash. But good looking out for that one, thanks.

Turns out the gutter that blew off my house ripped off a bunch of pieces underneath and now my small project turned into a BIG project. Now instead of doing fun Taco stuff I get to do very annoying but important chores......

Also I've had some squeaking in the front drive belt system since last year. All new parts (belt, idlers, tensioner, water pump) are sitting in my garage waiting for the weather to change. Before I do any more fiddling around with the voltage stuff I'm going to replace those things to eliminate any doubts. I'm 99% sure the existing parts are fine but I especially want to do the tensioner so I know I'm getting proper alternator engagement.

For now I'm throwing out my own data until I can further confirm so consider my previous posts irrelevant. I'll update here once I get more time but it probably won't be soon.

 

Dang!! I hope the body on the truck wasn't damaged by the gutter too! What was the damage? Hopefully no damage to the wiring or major components.

 

Truck is compeltely undamaged, thankfully garage/driveway is 100 feet away from the house.

Previous homeowner re-sided the house a few years before I bought it and they used a contractor who cut corners. They boogered a scab piece of 2x4 onto the fascia so the flashing would bump out far enough to look good. They used drywall screws...yeah. Now I have a rather large hole in said board and eitehr I booger it back together or finally bite the bullet and rip off the siding to do it right.

I just bought a full Fox suspension and leaf pack so this is just fantastic timing. Hooray!

 

That sounds dead on. My stock system is 14.2 at start up and runs 13.6-8 after warm up. I’d be concerned if it stayed high but not otherwise.

 

Is it possible for the HKB fixed voltage booster to fail?

Driving in to work this morning, my Charging System light on the dash came on. Truck was running just fine. I looked at the battery voltages - the starting battery voltage dropped to 12, while the aux battery (charged by a DC/DC CTEK - powered from the alternator) read its normal ~15 volts.

Since the CTEK continued charging, I think the alternator is OK. The battery (even with the truck off) shows 12V, so it doesn't appear to have a short.

Voltage regulator maybe?

I am currently at work, and have not diagnosed this yet - just thinking about it, and looking for a good place to start.

Both of my batteries are Odyssey. And, as mentioned, I run the HKB voltage booster to charge my AGM battery. The starting battery is 4 years old this month.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

 

Simple to swap a spare fuse into the spot and see if the problem persists. If it does it is unrelated to the booster.

 

That was one of the first things I planned to look at.

However, when I started my truck after work, the problem was not there. No indicator light, all voltages were normal. I drove a bit last night, stopping and starting, all with no issue.

This morning, no issue.

I will be taking a longer drive on Friday, so I'll see if it is possibly a time/heat thing.

I'm glad it's gone, but at the same time, wish it wasn't so I could find and fix it.

I know - maybe it was a sun spot! LOL

 

Coronal Mass Ejection Electromagnetic Pulse……99% sure.

 

You are aware that it's effectively a circuit breaker + diode in terms of logical functionality? So, if the circuit breaker trips, killing power should reset that.

 

If I was aware, I had forgotten about it.

Thank you for that!

 

I need a good solar panel to keep my batteries topped of because I have not been driving my truck much and they drain down over a few weeks. It is my LVD and battery monitors that are doing it but it would be nice to have a simple panel that keeps the AGM at their peak.

 

So after reading through a bunch of forums I'm planning on going with an ODX-AGM27F battery and the mk4 upgrade being I'll be picking up a warn zeon 10s winch now. But a thought popped across my mind did any of you find the alternator was hotter/working harder after increasing the charge voltage? From what I read the "red line" for the alt is 14.8V

Edit : Also I just learned that odyssey bought northstar less I was told wrong

 

Trying to read a bit of this thread but sometimes it's more information than I really need. I'll probably replace my battery this year.
My Diehard platinum has been flawless for 7 or 8 years. I've let it sit for up to 3 months without being used and it started up every time. No winches, amped systems or anything like that. Just a few extra little lights.
I kinda feel like this agm + a voltage booster is more than I need.

And I know this is an agm thread, but ....for a non-agm requirement, is a diehard platinum still the way to go? Looks like they might only do a 24f now (unless a larger 35, which I'm not doing).

 

I know the 24f size is the stock sized battery which should be fine, unless you wanted a bit more out of the battery that size should be fine. One thing for prolonging the battery life would be upgrading the alternator, doesn't need to be a huge upgrade like say going from the 100A to the 130A, that way the alt supplies more of the power than the battery when running things. In terms of if the diehard is the way to go I can't help you there sorry man

 

This has been discussed before (probably in the other thread). As voltage goes up, amperage goes down assuming the same amount of power. So in theory the alternator is actually working just a little bit less after the booster. That being said, the concern is overvoltage of the electronics in the truck like the ECU etc. So thats why you dont want to see more than 15 volts.

 

Ok thanks man I'll have a look for that other thread

 

Im having a brain cramp this morning and cant find that other thread.. But basically that was the consensus. No issues expected when running the voltage booster. Some folks have been running that way for many years now

 

I’m going into year 5, if memory serves, of running the HKB fixed booster. I’ve had zero issues to speak of.