1. Welcome to Tacoma World!

    You are currently viewing as a guest! To get full-access, you need to register for a FREE account.

    As a registered member, you’ll be able to:
    • Participate in all Tacoma discussion topics
    • Communicate privately with other Tacoma owners from around the world
    • Post your own photos in our Members Gallery
    • Access all special features of the site

Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Discussion in 'Bay Area Metal Fabrication' started by MTNHABITOVERLAND, Mar 27, 2018.

  1. May 19, 2022 at 6:46 PM
    #6461
    xplorn

    xplorn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2015
    Member:
    #168805
    Messages:
    348
    First Name:
    Ken
    Oregon, USA
    Vehicle:
    '10 DCSB OR
    I like your idea (and I think I have some from convention swag). My early light went too. I have thought about trying one with more coverage, like the 10" bars. Hard to tell what kind of surface is available for mounting flat though.

    (there are tons of these all over, just as the VO style ones)
    https://www.amazon.com/PSEQT-Trailer-Identification-Assembly-Waterproof/dp/B099PL2353
     
  2. May 20, 2022 at 10:20 AM
    #6462
    Trucko

    Trucko Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2013
    Member:
    #113030
    Messages:
    1,279
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Matt
    Summit County Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2005 Tacoma
    arb bull bar Smittybulit 9.5 winch topper shell with yakima basket piaa lights toytec boss coilovers Dakar leaf pack with boss shocks 28/75/16 bfg at ko2 Midland CB Home made trailer with CVT Mount Rainer tent and max coupler hitch
    I swear I read somewhere on this thread where someone did double add a leaf for the dakar leaf pack. anybody have info on that or where i could find it. i think he just used longer center bolts but unsure. Love to be able to add an additional add a leaf instead of a new pack all together.
     
  3. May 20, 2022 at 4:14 PM
    #6463
    xplorn

    xplorn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2015
    Member:
    #168805
    Messages:
    348
    First Name:
    Ken
    Oregon, USA
    Vehicle:
    '10 DCSB OR
    I have an extra leaf to my HD Dakar pack. I'll add another if mine ever moves. It is like 1 leaf less than the largest Deaver pack count right now IIRC.
     
  4. May 20, 2022 at 4:23 PM
    #6464
    Trucko

    Trucko Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2013
    Member:
    #113030
    Messages:
    1,279
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Matt
    Summit County Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2005 Tacoma
    arb bull bar Smittybulit 9.5 winch topper shell with yakima basket piaa lights toytec boss coilovers Dakar leaf pack with boss shocks 28/75/16 bfg at ko2 Midland CB Home made trailer with CVT Mount Rainer tent and max coupler hitch
    so would you just buy one more add a leaf and longer bolt and thats it?
     
  5. May 20, 2022 at 6:10 PM
    #6465
    xplorn

    xplorn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2015
    Member:
    #168805
    Messages:
    348
    First Name:
    Ken
    Oregon, USA
    Vehicle:
    '10 DCSB OR
    That's right. Longer center bolt. Use a C clamp or something similar control the tension release.
     
  6. May 22, 2022 at 8:40 AM
    #6466
    4wdExplorer

    4wdExplorer Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2009
    Member:
    #28499
    Messages:
    1,071
    Gender:
    Male
    Orange County, CA
    I have 2 extra leads on my Dakar making them heavy heavy. Holding up the drifter weight just fine.

    It depends you might need a center leaf bolt and new U bolts. You have to check if your center lead bolt are cut flush or not.

    I even took the extra mile to line them with leaf liners and oem Toyota bushings. I have zero suspension noise after 3 years.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2022
    ETAV8R, Ridgewalker1 and xplorn like this.
  7. May 23, 2022 at 8:13 AM
    #6467
    SliMbo4.0

    SliMbo4.0 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2015
    Member:
    #172322
    Messages:
    1,422
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Rick
    Colorado Front Range
    Vehicle:
    07 Tacoma DCSB TRD offroad
    BP51, BAMF hangers, BruteForce HC, SCS, Vagabond Drifter
    I'm actually in the process of re-doing the wiring that Off-Grid installed for my bed power cause it all went dead from being corroded. Besides some it not being shrink wrapped very well, I think the issue most likely came from a water crossing that was deep enough to submerge that area around the rear bumper.
     
  8. May 23, 2022 at 11:36 AM
    #6468
    xplorn

    xplorn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2015
    Member:
    #168805
    Messages:
    348
    First Name:
    Ken
    Oregon, USA
    Vehicle:
    '10 DCSB OR
    It's a good reminder to be aware of where I'm dipping my wiring. :)

    I've been doing some glamorous work in beautiful sunny weekend weather, adding grounds and redoing my panel. Grounds seem to cause the most issues and can cause bigger problems with high loads.

    I had an old 1/0 cable. It worked out well to just cut and reuse. WTF are Toyota using M11(???!) bolts to secure seat brackets to the cab?(my passthrough to the frame) At least 7/16-20 are very, very close.
     
    Swatdude1 likes this.
  9. May 24, 2022 at 8:49 PM
    #6469
    trashrose

    trashrose Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2019
    Member:
    #306217
    Messages:
    98
    BLM
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tacoma Offroad
    Figuring out my shunt in the engine bay situation. Couple of glands and a waterproof box, going to VHB it to the battery bracket, probably.

    Think i might have to do some rewiring of my ground wires to make it work?

     
    Ridgewalker1, xplorn and Wackyhacky like this.
  10. May 25, 2022 at 7:26 AM
    #6470
    xplorn

    xplorn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2015
    Member:
    #168805
    Messages:
    348
    First Name:
    Ken
    Oregon, USA
    Vehicle:
    '10 DCSB OR
    Without knowing anything else about your build I wouldn't think so. My '10 has battery negative to the fender, and I assume there's an engine to frame connection. I've only redone mine because the main battery is an off size and I like the mil spec terminals. My secondary stuff is all in the cab so that got its own system.
     
  11. May 25, 2022 at 9:19 AM
    #6471
    trashrose

    trashrose Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2019
    Member:
    #306217
    Messages:
    98
    BLM
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tacoma Offroad
    Hm good to know.

    I want my set up to monitor my house battery (lead acid, in engine bay via OGE kit) and solar (controlled by Redarc BCDC).

    I have my camper grounded in the bed, so was thinking i need to run the ground up to the shunt. Solar already runs it’s ground to the engine bay. One solution might be grounding solar and camper to a bus in the camper, that then runs up to the engine bay.

    What is unclear to me is if my BCDC needs to be grounded in. I assume so, if I am hooking up solar. Thus, the rewire.
     
  12. May 25, 2022 at 9:31 AM
    #6472
    Trucko

    Trucko Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2013
    Member:
    #113030
    Messages:
    1,279
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Matt
    Summit County Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2005 Tacoma
    arb bull bar Smittybulit 9.5 winch topper shell with yakima basket piaa lights toytec boss coilovers Dakar leaf pack with boss shocks 28/75/16 bfg at ko2 Midland CB Home made trailer with CVT Mount Rainer tent and max coupler hitch
    3/8 or 5/16? and 5 inches one. thanks for this
     
  13. May 25, 2022 at 9:42 AM
    #6473
    Wackyhacky

    Wackyhacky A Well Known Troublemaker

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2014
    Member:
    #131275
    Messages:
    609
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Keith
    Berthoud, CO
    Vehicle:
    2013 Tacoma DCSB
    You are correct that for it to read properly, the Victron Shunt needs to be close to your house battery as you are planning on doing. All the negatives (including the Redarc) get hooked to one side of the Shunt and the negative from the house battery to the other side of the shunt.
     
    trashrose[QUOTED] likes this.
  14. May 25, 2022 at 9:58 AM
    #6474
    trashrose

    trashrose Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2019
    Member:
    #306217
    Messages:
    98
    BLM
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tacoma Offroad
    Awesome. Thanks. I'm not interested in looping in the starting battery - do I still have to ground that in?
     
  15. May 25, 2022 at 10:26 AM
    #6475
    Wackyhacky

    Wackyhacky A Well Known Troublemaker

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2014
    Member:
    #131275
    Messages:
    609
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Keith
    Berthoud, CO
    Vehicle:
    2013 Tacoma DCSB
    That is how I have mine set up, yes. Full positive & negative runs for the system. As to whether you can work around that, I can't honestly say. It just made sense to me at the time I did it to run them both for the system.

    IMG_4818 copy.jpg
     
    xplorn and trashrose[QUOTED] like this.
  16. May 25, 2022 at 10:28 AM
    #6476
    Wackyhacky

    Wackyhacky A Well Known Troublemaker

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2014
    Member:
    #131275
    Messages:
    609
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Keith
    Berthoud, CO
    Vehicle:
    2013 Tacoma DCSB
    but I guess I should say, if you aren't using the Redarc to charge your house battery (as a solar controller only) then no your starter battery wouldn't be tied in at all. In case that is your intention.
     
    trashrose likes this.
  17. May 25, 2022 at 4:45 PM
    #6477
    xplorn

    xplorn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2015
    Member:
    #168805
    Messages:
    348
    First Name:
    Ken
    Oregon, USA
    Vehicle:
    '10 DCSB OR
    As answered, no because it will likely be further away and you want the shunt close to the battery you want to monitor. Your shunt knows nothing about the starter battery because its ground is taking a different path. A simple ignition switched voltage gauge would work fine to monitor the starting battery, unless you want All The Data(tm), then you'd want to use another shunt/reader.

    From my pic above, I use a negative bus bar (left of the inverter). Shunt is bottom right. House battery negative to shunt, shunt to neg bus bar. Distribute off bus bar. Tie to cab+frame ground at bus bar too.

    Also note all that shown is a mock up (v2 or 3 even) to see where things fit well. It will be the final location of things but isn't complete in the pic.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2022
  18. May 25, 2022 at 4:55 PM
    #6478
    xplorn

    xplorn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2015
    Member:
    #168805
    Messages:
    348
    First Name:
    Ken
    Oregon, USA
    Vehicle:
    '10 DCSB OR
    Here's a diagram of part of the system. It is super helpful to have a print for arranging components.

     
    Wackyhacky likes this.
  19. May 25, 2022 at 5:29 PM
    #6479
    trashrose

    trashrose Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2019
    Member:
    #306217
    Messages:
    98
    BLM
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tacoma Offroad
    Dope. This is super helpful, thanks! This is what I have in my head:

    Screen Shot 2022-05-25 at 5.26.58 PM.jpg

    Really putting that graphic design degree to use here.
     
  20. May 25, 2022 at 9:46 PM
    #6480
    snwbrdr852

    snwbrdr852 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2012
    Member:
    #76081
    Messages:
    476
    Gender:
    Male
    Utah
    Vehicle:
    '17 DCSB OR V6 AT 4WD
    Yep, that'll get the job done.

    A couple minor points to consider (if you're not already aware)
    • Ideally, you want the wiring between the BCDC and house battery to be as short as possible to minimize any drop in the voltage that the house battery actually gets compared to what the BCDC puts out. Better to be closer to the house battery, and further from the starting battery if it has to be one or the other.
    • The fuse and breaker between the house battery and fuse panel is kind of redundant unless it's like a class T fuse that provides a slightly different protection (but those aren't used as much with lead acid anyway). Redundancies like having both a fuse and breaker does add a secondary point of safety, but also creates more voltage drop and more points of complication or potential failure, so it's a trade-off.
    • Also, just be aware that a single shunt in this config mainly just gives you the net inflows and outflows from the house battery, so if you've simultaneously got 100W of solar coming in and 105W going out to lights, fridge, & chargers for example, the shunt only sees and reports that as the 5W outflow. Now, if you're ONLY discharging or ONLY charging, you'll get the info solely on the full in/outflow of course. But the reason I say this is that because lead acid batteries aren't the most efficient with the power they take in, amp hours in and out over time is not a great indicator of state of charge for lead acid. As a simplified example, if the shunt sees 200W outflow overnight, it will likely be reporting the battery is at 100% state of charge once it sees 200W of solar inflow the next day, where it might take like 215W to actually get it back to 100%.
     
    Wackyhacky likes this.

Products Discussed in

To Top