The NorthStar AGM Battery + Voltage Booster Upgrade

I assume the first gen doesn’t have a “smart” alternator (may have missed info on first gens). I ran an Optima yellow top in a Suzuki Samurai for at least 5 years, then moved it to my 2003 where I got another 7 years out of it. Still had enough poop left to jump start a guy’s early ‘70s Ford V8. Gave it to him (I had just moved it to secondary battery). He and his girlfriend had a dead battery in the mountains near Glacier NP. They said they hadn’t seen a sole for hours!

 

Hah, bit by terminal location. Rats

 

I hate it when this kind of oops happens! A good reminder for me to watch for when I eventually get an AGM starter battery.
Guess it’s time to upgrade the cable?

 

I recently upgraded my stock 27f to the X2 AGM 27f, did the big 3 upgrade and cleaned up all of my under hood wiring. Im only just now seeing that I should have one of these HKB fuses. Maybe a long shot but does anyone have one they cant use that theyre looking to get rid of before I just preorder one? I assume the mk2 and mk3 will both work in an 06 Tacoma?

 

Yeah both work in 2G. I pre-ordered 2. Bought an mk2 for my tundra, realized it wouldn’t work as I needed a mini so I bought two mk3’s and sold that mk2. MK3 working great in the Tundra and going dual battery in the 3G so I got that 27 for the 2G and now I need another mk2 or MK3 but I sent my 2nd MK3 to crash already. So I pre-ordered one of each. I made a quick diode in an add a fuse for now.

Looks like they pulled the wrong battery for me so I’ll go back and haggle. My paperwork says 27F and the image shows opposite terminal polarity.

 

Am I probably good just driving the truck while I wait for the voltage booster? Ive already been doing so for maybe a month

 

I’ve run an optima 35 in my 3G for 2 years without any voltage boosting. It all works. Just maybe not getting the max value out of the AGM but sometimes the circumstances make that difficult. I’m swapping in the lead acid for the starter battery because doing an AGM tune is just one more step I don’t want to deal with yet.

TLDR, you’ll be fine. And those hkb’s are great. If you are able to top off with a charger, consider that. Or a diode.

 

ahh ok. Ill just order the HKB booster and wait... gd prison colony

 

So "pre-ordered" mine on 6/5. It arrived today. Totally out of the blue. Figured it would be a worthwhile data point for some people waiting for theirs.

 

That’s a pretty quick delivery considering it came in from OZ. IIRC I waited well over a month before my voltage booster showed up.

 

Hah, popped in my HKB and battery light on. Gotta flip it now but don’t have tools and the fuse extractor won’t pull it. Rats.

 

Ordered one on 6/24. Hopefully mine shows up randomly before the end of August

 

I got my order from 6/21 on Saturday.

 

mines probably in the ocean somewhere

 

Dykes work, but if you don't have a gay girlfriend, you can use needle nose wire pliers.

 

That was the solution and it worked perfectly.

 

Looking for some input on what might be my issue if anyone has an insight. I just installed an X2 in my 2013, w/ one of the fixed voltage ALT-S boosters I got off Ebay. I was measuring 13.78v before adding the booster and 14.14v after, so the booster is doing it's job, but it is still technically too low for good charging from what I have read here. I haven't been able to find a source for the boosters that can go higher.

Is this lower voltage most likely due to the age of my alternator (99k miles of life) or could it be something else? I have a Redarc DC to DC charger to send charge to my camper battery when driving, so I was wondering if that might be the cause of the lower overall numbers. Any input is appreciated! Thanks!

 

Temporarily disconnect your Redarc and see if it changes. It shouldn’t make a difference but us folks on the internet can’t see how you wired it so best to isolate one thing and see what results you get.

I noticed when installing my fixed booster on the first start it read low, then after that it boosted higher. If your battery light stays lit on the dash you need to flip the booster fuse direction 180 degrees.

 

True, I can do that easily enough for testing if it could be the Redarc, but I do doubt it's the reason. I haven't had any battery light issues arise either so far. I need to drive it some too and then check it again.

 

I think you are getting the voltage output expected. This voltage range you gave sounds like it's after warm up. There are several comments in the thread that match what you are seeing.