The NorthStar AGM Battery + Voltage Booster Upgrade

What I am saying is the devices don't do the reading. They don't have sensors. They don't read engine RPM, they don't read intake air temperature, they don't read engine oil or transimisison temperature directly. Sensors in the vehicle take a reading, just like a fluke connected to the battery. The various ECU modules in the vehicle interpret the value from the sensors, and send them via the OBDII data bus to other ECU modules. The Scangauge and Ultragauge capture data from the OBDII data bus, interpret the data, and display it on the screen.

 

I understand, all I want to know is if I can use the data captured from the OBDII data bus to set the booster appropriately?

 

I'd give it a couple days to settle out. When I first got mine I thought it was set too low but after a couple of days things seemed to even out so I just left it at the recommended setting.

 

Being in a Southern climate Id think the fixed 0.5V would be fine for you. I wish I had gone for the adjustable one to be honest. Cold starts below about 35-40*F up here in the north give me 14.8-14.9V which seems on the high end. Thats as reported by my SGII, as you said I have no idea how accurate that might be.

 

I have a SGII and it reads the same as my voltmeter that is connected directly to my battery.

 

The SGII isn't going to take the reading at the battery, like you would with a multimeter. How much it differs is likely quite small. Note that the voltage fluctuates as shown in the voltage graphs in my original post, so place your SGII out the windows where you can see the reading while you take the reading with the Fluke so you are comparing the results from the same readings in real time. I suspect they will be close. If the SGII reads say 0.1v low, then you know to add that to the SGII reading to get actual.

 

So I’ve got a use question.

I’m in outside sales and make an average of 15 sales calls a day meaning I start my truck 15 to 20 times a day with a short drive, usually 10-15 minutes, between. For day to day use Would I be better off with a standard battery or a Northstar? I’m worried that I’ll be discharging an AGM battery with the constant starts without being able to fully recharge it off the alternator... or it’ll handle it just fine because of the deep reserve capacity that I’ll top off when I plug in the truck every night in winter or weekly in summer.

 

Just saw this voltage booster over on T4R.org. Might be an interesting alternative - it's adjustable from OEM, +.5v and +1v. The site doesn't specifically say, but it looks like it might plug in to the same ALT-S fuse.

 

$60 damn sweet, and state side.

Nice call sign BTW haha

Edit: Have one of those toggle things coming. Will decide if i sell the one i already after test drive.

 

Well, the Mail Man definitely surprised me. I placed my order on eBay for the micro blade 0.5V booster on Sunday January 12th and I got it last Friday, the 25th. I was expecting it to be way slower. Well here is what I got so far:

I did install the booster microblade "fuse" on Sunday (following included instructions). The Taco was parked without any movement since Friday January 25 at 6:30 pm. This morning at 6:50 am I did start the Taco, the air temperature was 54F and the SGII read ~14.7VDC (on cold start) right on the button. After the Taco warmed up it ranged from ~13.8VDC idling at stop lights, to ~14.0VDC for the most part constant while cruising on the interstate, to peaking at ~14.4VDC.

So far happy with the result, meanwhile I will continue to connect my charger at home (NOCO GENM1 - yeah, I know probably not very popular brand with most people here, but is worth a try) to promote desulfation on my NorthStar, which I suspect has some already. I purchased the battery on September 2018 - and since then I have not been giving the battery the proper charge that it needs. I looked at my resting voltage on Sunday and with a Fluke at the battery I had 12.38VDC - I saw on line that is roughly 50% charge on the battery - so I will try to force that recovery and restore that lost capacity. After talking to NorthStar this is the route I'm going to try. It's funny, because the guy even told me that at the current capacity of only 50%, that the Northstar battery will still last for 3 or 4 more years. Just want to get the battery healthy again and able to keep a 12.85V resting reading.

All-in all:

BEFORE booster:

Cold start ~14.0VDC
Up to temp ~13.0 to 13.3VDC

AFTER booster:

Cold start ~14.7VDC
Up to temp ~ 13.8 - 14.4VDC

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks!

Rick

 

Ordered the ARCLightLeds Triple State Voltage Booster.... it WILL NOT work in the 2nd gen TACO as configured from ARCLight...

sux i purchased 2 units thinking i could get it to work in my project vehicles....

 

So I have a 2019 TRD Pro Tacoma that I installed a Odyssey in. If the power is controlled by the ECU, how can it be boosted?

 

you sir, have some reading to do...

 

You can’t.

 

So I have a CTek charger, how often should I be charging it up then? Its an Odyssey Group35

 

@Norton uses a CTEK ^^^

Like, mentioned before, it would really benefit you to go through the tread. It’s not very long, and has tons of great info.

It will answer all of your Qs, guaranteed.

 

Update: I had my fridge go from 12.4v to 10.2v in 36hr. Maybe I'm crazy, but that seems extreme. I'm thinking that my battery bank health isn't great given the drastic drop - might need an AGM main truck battery and voltage booster to help with charging health in the long run...


Edit: I guess on second thought, if the fridge is using on avg 2aH, then I would be at around 72aH over that period of time, which actually may be a reasonable draw from 12.4 to 10.2.....I hate electrical.

 

UPDATE:

So on my original post above, January 28, 2020 - I was very happy with the 0.5V micro blade’s numbers.

Today I received the adjustable booster and I am happier with a 0.6V boost vs a 0.5V boost. Like I mentioned before - I had super low numbers from the beginning - 14.0V cold and 13.1V up to operating temp.

I feel better with 0.6V and will keep the micro 0.5V which will give me the option to make adjustments with 0.4V, 0.5V, and 0.6V as needed.




Like the new numbers:

Cold start ~ 14.7V

Up to temp ~ 14.0V to 14.4V

Rick.

 

Air Temp @ 8 a.m. today 66F

COLD Start with FLUKE 77


COLD Start with SGII


I would say that the reading on the SGII is pretty dead-on...

Up to operating temp cruising speed...



At a stop light...


Pretty much fluctuated between 14.5V and never less than 14.0V.

Rick

 

Looks like you are well dialed in!