AGM BATTERY

I run a X2 power 24f AGM battery (made by Northstar), it puts out 840 CCA. I just use a battery tender to charge it up once or twice a month. If a go a month or longer it usually takes a fair amount of time to charge up back to 100%. Probably 1-2 hours. If I charge twice a month it takes less than five minutes. Yes if you spend the extra money on a AGM battery you should maintain your investment, its not that hard. If you have run an AGM battery for years without the correct voltage from your alternator I can guarantee that your battery lost a significant amount of its original performance. If you don't off-road or abuse your truck I honestly don't think an AGM is worth it. The primary draw for me was vibration resistance and the ability to repeatedly deep cycle. It's worth mentioning they are heavy too. Heavy enough to crack the stock battery tray. That weight also will probably slightly effect your front suspension, I certainly noticed it until I upgraded to heavier rated coils on my 6112 shocks.

 

Hey @YF_Ryan

Like @WRDD Taco said, our BCDC chargers will have both the smart alt wire (blue trigger wire) and also charge profile wires (orange/green) to be able to run varying battery chemistries between start and aux battery. This also allows you to future proof when you upgrade to AGM, or Lithium if you haven't already!

If you have any other questions feel free to shoot me a message!

 

Wow, what a great surprise to see you chime in. Thanks for joining the TW forum @REDARC_Ryan ! Once my bank account recovers from the holiday season I’ll be putting in an order for a manager 30

 

I try to get on when I can!

Make sure to post some pictures of your install love to see REDARC in the wild

 

I have a question! I've been looking at adding a 2nd battery - REDARC was in the final running here! - and I'm trying to figure out if there is way to also replace the stock battery with an AGM and make use of its capacity. I doubt there is a way to have the manager 30 charge both batteries? but do yo have any products that can combine the batteries and disconnect 1 when the voltage starts to drop? @REDARC_Ryan

or any other suggestions? I assume the hood battery would always be alternator charged while running, with no easy way to fully charge the AGM from solar while off, and the 2nd battery would always be charged by the manager 30, and then there is some other device that combines/isolated the two and supplies power to all the devices?

 

i wouldn't want to use a heavier battery. don't want the radiator support/inner fender well sheet metal cracking like on a bunch of other tacomas.

 

the AGM battery I am looking at is about 10-15lb heavier, or around ~25%, I'm not sure that is going to be a huge concern? not looking to shove a group 31 in there or dual batteries lol just something similar sized that can deep cycle and make some use of the weight (the 2nd battery would go behind the rear seats)

 

1) Manager 30 will only charge the house battery, not the starting battery

2) Many dual battery systems have a solenoid (smart or dumb) between the batteries to combine them. This would bypass the REDARC which I'm not sure if that would mess anything up. Also, this would require very heavy gauge cabling between the house and starting battery (redarc only needs cable for like 30 amps, but you'd need something that could handle 100-200 amps, especially with the distance to the backseat). I did this with a

$203 Blue Sea Systems 7622 ML-ACR 12V DC 500A Automatic Charging Relay with Manual Control, Gray

Blue Sea Automatic Charging Relay. < link to it on Amazon. This alone allowed me to charge my house batteries (2 in bed of truck) off my starting battery when the truck was running. When truck is off, it auto disconnects. Or I can press the switch and connect the two batteries together to either run electrical accessories or even self jumpstart off the house battery. This also meant that when connected, my solar controller and Noco Genius battery charger attached to my house battery would charge both the house AND starting battery.

 

thanks for the info @YF_Ryan ! - I'll look into something like that that will see if I can reverse it to maybe connect when alternator is off/disconnect when on so each system can be charged appropriately. I was going to run 4awg wire anyway just to be safe and its what I had on hand so I imagine that'll be fine.

 

I had an AGM in my Ram, with no tune, and it had all sorts of charging system problems. I only have a 12 minute interstate drive to work. FYSA.

 

Had a Duracell "Gold" from Battiers plus on my 4cyl Acura daily and after 18 months it would go dead if I didn't drive the car after 4-5 days. Picked up a Die Hard AGM Platinum and left my car at the airport for 10 days - started right up with no problem. Would recommend Die Hard Platinum.

 

I'd suggest larger than 4. 1, or 0 would be better for running that distance between your starting battery and your back seat. If you do run 4, make sure to fuse it @ 100 or less amps.

EDIT: and to add, for mine, I bought a set of reasonably priced Heavy Duty jumper cables on Amazon and got some BIG crimp on connectors for the ends. Cut off the big alligator clips and replaced with those. Was way cheaper than buying the 20 feet of cable I needed.

 

yea I was gonna fuse it, presume at 100amp and if I only use the 4 AWG wires for charging with the redarc BMS 30 OR as a backup for devices if the aux batteries get low with a load less then 100amp it should be fine eh

 

I have two of these batteries and they are great.

 

For the redarc, the small gauge is fine. Just meant if you ran a direct connection between the batteries via solenoid. Good luck with your build!

 

This works for the 3rd gen tacomas as the alternator output is part of the code written into the ecu and factory tune... on the 2nd gens it's all hardware not software hence the fuse voltage booster in place of the standard fuse for the alternator charging circuit in the under hood fuse box.

 

Can you give a longer term update? Any issues?

 

I just put an AGM 27F into the truck last night. My rad support is on borrowed time now (I might relocate it). I have 8AWG going to a fridge. A random internet calculator says my voltage drop at 12.6V is 0.03V, so relatively negligible. And that's using 20ft, I think I'm closer to 10.

https://www.calculator.net/voltage-...ceunit=feet&amperes=0.9&x=Calculate&ctype=nec

Point I'm asking about: What should I set the battery monitor to on my Dometic fridge?



I am thinking I need to set it to high. Right now it's on medium (from my lead acid I had in the truck until last night )

I am using a 100W solar and MPPT controller, so I am getting to the right voltage instead of the stock ECU tune on the alternator. But still, with the AGM I don't want to drive it too low on voltage.

It appears, from another random website, 11.8V is about 30% on an AGM.
https://shopsolarkits.com/blogs/learning-center/agm-battery-voltage-chart

 

I'd set it to high for the safety factor. That's how I always ran mine, even when running off my dual house batteries (isolated from my starting battery). That way if the fridge did turn off, I could make the decision to turn it down to medium, or start my truck up and charge the batteries.

 

So it turns out my voltage drop IS significant. My mppt controller is right at the battery and was showing 12.9-13V, 0A coming from solar (sun was down). The fridge was reading below voltage cutoff at high.

Also threw one of these in there today. So now I can watch the temps, it'll send me an alert (if I'm close, I haven't tried that part yet), and data log for a long time. 15$ and if I leave the truck for a couple days I can see if things went haywire and the food is spoiled. Beer fridge - don't care. Chicken - I care.

$15 SwitchBot IP65 Indoor Outdoor Hygrometer Thermometer Wireless, 394ft Bluetooth Range, Refrigerator Thermometer, Dewpoint/VPD/Absolute Humidity Sensor, Free Data Storage Export, 2 Years Battery Life

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVLYPYT1