wi_taco 12V house power v1.1

Project Overview

This is an evolution of my v1.0 house power thread here. During that process I discovered some things I like and others that I didn't which was to be expected as the first iteration. Time for some upgrades.

Goals for this revision:

• Victron Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger takes up too much space and has akward mounting requirements. Being replaced by a REDARC BCDC mounted under the hood.
• Single zone fridge doesn't let me carry ice for mixed drinks very well. Being replaced by a dual zone fridge.

I will be re-using many components of the v1.0 system because they still work fine and I haven't finished designing what I would call the large-scale changes I desire for a v2.0. There are still bigger plans for the future but it's going to take some time. I forsee this version lasting as long as I need it to and would already be overkill for most people.

Table Of Contents

1. Design and Layout
2. Parts and Costs
3. REDARC BCDC1240D + OGE mount + Connections
4. Rear Seat Delete and Wiring
5. ICECO VL65D fridge and slide installation
6. Final Thoughts and Comments

Photos Of End Result To Save You The Scrolling



Fridge picture goes here later

Write-up is still a work in progress. More coming soon.

 

Design/Layout

Here's the basic layout if you are interested in diagrams. It's fairly straight-forward, and should be explained quite easily in the photos that will follow. In a nutshell, alternator power is sent to the BCDC which then charges the lithium house battery. Current is regulated by the BCDC to the appropriate amperage based on which charging state it is at (i.e. bulk/float). Most of this is wired the same as my v1.0 setup with exception of the BCDC which has a different physical location.

 

Parts and Costs

Including costs for everything as if I was starting from scratch to help others gauge the true cost if you wanted to copy it. There's no way to sugar coat it - this costs a buttload of money. It's not for everyone, and you can certainly do it for less and get just as much enjoyment. I am doing it because I plan to use it a lot and because I can't take money with me to the grave.

This section still needs some editing so don't take this as the final info yet. I hate tallying receipts.

 

$508 REDARC BCDC1240D Dual Input 40A in-Vehicle DC Battery Charger

REDARC BCDC1240D + OGE mount + Connections

One of the big components of this evolution is changing from my previous Victron 30A DC-DC charger to this new REDARC BCDC1240D which does DC-DC and allows for solar input as well. The Victron required being mounted vertically for passive cooling and wasn't suited for exposure to the elements - good for RVs but not necessarily my application as it took up too much space in the interior. the REDARC is potted & sealed against weather, and can be mounted in the engine bay quite nicely.



In my opinion, the Off-Grid Engineering mount that doubles as a stock battery tray is the cleanest solution in our 2nd gen Tacomas. I ran into some problems here: OGE only sells the tray in combination with a battery tie-down which I already have, but OGE wouldn't answer any of my calls/emails and seems to be "disappeared" by the TacomaWorld mods due to some past dramas. As of 10/28/23, it also seems they no longer sell just the battery tray and you have to buy the $1k full dual battery kit which is a huge pain. Luckily, I found a used tray on the TW classifieds and everything worked out perfectly. If you can't get one of these, you may want to have a local shop fab one, it's a simple design.



The holes in the stock tray for mounting the BCDC are a little bit small, possibly 5mm. I didn't feel it secured the BDCD well enough without risk of coming rattled off. After drilling them out to 1/4, I had a much more secure fit and access to use more common & less expensive hardware.



I've chosen to use a Blue Sea 285 series panel mount 60A breaker as a cutoff switch between the engine bay and the house battery wiring. I'm mounting this in an old stock Pelfreybilt accessory power tray that I got from BAMF a while back so this may not be suitable for everyone. But it's how I'm doing it now so sharing nonetheless. Mounting holes are again a bit small and give a bit of wobble that I don't like. Drilled those out a bit larger as well, now it's rock solid.



Both trays were looking a little rough - OGE tray was previously coated in some kind of clear that is ugly now, Pelfrey tray is bare and scratched from all the test fitting. I also wanted to give a bit of protection against the heavy road salts we use up here to prevent pitting/corrosion. After sanding with whatever I had laying around (assorted scraps between 120 and 400), I sprayed both with Rustoleum engine ceramic in an aluminum color that has heavy metal flake and really does come out looking like cast aluminum.





Weather was on my side, and with temperatures in the 70's the paint cured quickly. Here's the BDCD mounted up using stainless hardware and lock nuts. Ready to start making some connections!



After some test fitting here is what I came up with. Wires coming out of the BCDC are all 8 AWG and I used crimp step-down connectors to go from 8 to 6 AWG for the inputs and outputs. Wires were then covered in 3/8" corrugated loom for the parts that get tucked down out of sight, and braided loom for the exposed areas just to give a bit more protection. All of the crimp lugs are Ancor UL rated and finished off with my Temco hydraulic crimper which is now one of my favorite tools. Green + Orange wires from the BCDD are connected together and soldered for the Lithium charging profile, and bundled together with the blue and yellow wires in that short pigtail covered in loom. I also used some Husky toolbox liner and cut a small piece to fit where the battery sits so it doesn't slide around - something I found useful previously and it has kept my battery rock solid and in good health.



The bottom of the OGE tray has no locating pins like the stock plastic tray so I also cut a small piece of toolbox liner for that spot as well, again just to prevent sliding around. It costs nearly nothing since I already had it on hand. Certainly not required, but I enjoy adding things that remove worrying whenever possible.



Here is how everything looks after final mounting in the engine bay. Notice the BDCD at the bottom, now vertical and up near the radiator for a little bit of airflow. You can easily see the charging indicator lights this way to see how the system is working.

• Power input goes from alternator/battery -> Blue Sea 2151 dual MRBF terminal block -> Blue Sea 5178 60A fuse -> 6AWG -> Butt splice step down crimp connector -> 8AWG into BCDC
• Power output goes from BCDC -> 8AWG -> Butt splice step down crimp connector -> 6AWG -> 6AWG 1/4" crimp lug -> Blue Sea 7048 60A breaker -> 6 AWG wire to the back seat area, terminating at the bus bar.
• Ground goes from BCDC -> 8AWG -> Butt splice step down crimp connector -> 6AWG -> 6AWG 1/4" crimp lug -> Bolted to ground point near negative battery terminal

You can see I have the Pelfreybilt power tray populated with a Bussman RTMR fuse block and another Blue Sea 285 breaker - those are mostly for display right now and not fully wired. In either case, they are not related to house battery power either so I won't discuss much about it here. But if you want to build something similar, there is already a huge thread with great info on how to do so and is a better reference than anything I can write (and it's where I got the idea too!).



Now that we have power available from the DC-to-DC system, it's time to work on the interior side of things!

 

Rear Seat Delete and Wiring

Removed the entire rear seat and storage cubbies again - possibly for the final time as I expect to stick with the cargo setup from here on out. Just my single power wire laying there now, ready to be connected.



I have ideas for a rear seat delete platform/storage solution in the future, but since I'm on a time crunch for my upcoming trip (again) I am recycling my quick-and-dirty 3/4" plywood solution from last time. Click this link to read more about it in the v1.0 thread. Because of this, install time was very quick and wiring everything was even quicker save for a couple new crimp ends. [Note: You'll observe that I have a small aux fuse panel mounted but not connected - I couldn't find my wiring before I took this picture but connected later. Wasn't used on this trip anyways.]



Connected the lithium battery and initially had some problems with my Victron Smart Shunt but eventually it "woke up" and prompted me to update firmwares. Once that was done everything was ready to go.



Initial startup was only showing me 1A input and I slightly panicked, but after a short time it jumped up to 40A or thereabouts. I read the manual a bit more and there is a startup delay so this is normal. We have power, we have liftoff!

 

ICECO VL65D fridge and slide installation

Previously I had an ICECO VL45ProS single zone fridge. It fit well behind the driver seat and worked great. Though I really liked that fridge, I wanted a freezer if for no other reason than carrying ice cubes for mixed drinks and ice cream. Originally I was going to go with something smaller for more space in my back seat, but ultimately wound up with the ICECO VL65D dual zone fridge/freezer as well as the hard mount slide to match. ICECO typically runs sales at regular intervals so if you time it right often you can get a great deal. Initial setup and testing on the bench. First impression is that compared to the VL45 this thing is HUGE.



There was one immediate problem where FedEx damaged the lids in transit. Notice the large dent shown below, and also notice the misalignment/gap between the two sections. I had a difficult time contacting ICECO support initially but that was likely due to it being Labor Day weekend. They were very hesitant to do a return/replacement even given my concerns about the misalignment causing potential problems with how the lids sealed. Ultimately I was able to adjust the hinges and latch to get things back in spec, and ICECO gave me a partial refund for the troubles and vows to maintain the original warranty. I still have some concerns here but it ended up working well over a 3 week road trip and I don't sweat it much.



Here's the foam that comes on top of the fridge - notice the huge hole right where the dent occurred. The part that bothers me is that ICECO could easily prevent this by making a simple packaging change but they appear not to care. Giving a partial refund is likely cost of business and/or easier than changing tooling. I get how that part of the business works but it still sucks. Oh well, moving on.



I connected the fridge to 120V AC and tested on the bench for like 7-10 days before installing in the truck. Going from 75°F ambient outside to 32°F internally did not take long at all, maybe a couple hours. Impressive. I monitored temperatures along the way using my Klein clamp meter that has a wired remote temperature probe and in general the fridge display was always ±2°F which is close enough. Ultimately I set the fridge side to 41°F and it usually stayed closer to 39°F, and freezer side set at 0°F stayed at or below 2°F. Surprisingly I also found the "ECO" mode cooled more reliably and took less power than "MAX" mode. Perfect.



Now that the fridge was confirmed working, I set to mounting the fridge slide. This was more of a challenge than I expected because honestly this fridge is pretty freaking HUGE to stuff into the rear seat of a double cab Tacoma. The other major challenge is that the rear doors don't open far enough and the fridge can't pull straight out (perpendicular to the cab) because the inner door panel interferes. I don't have a good photo but what I had to do was trial & error move around the slide, open the door and pull out the slide, close the door to see if it shifted, rinse, repeat, etc. Once I found the correct position, I marked it with a sharpie and drilled some holes. Those T nuts you see on the top side are where the plywood mounts to the OEM seat brackets below.



Here's the view from the bottom showing the T nuts. 3/8" bolts and washers completed the connection from above. The entire horizontal plywood platform was bolted much more securely this time around using brackets, lots of screws and bolts, and whatever I could find around the shop. I knew the cantilever force of the fridge slide would stress it more this time and I didn't want problems. I'm happy to say that I think the truck itself will tear apart before the platform does.



Here's how it looks from the side after the final mounting. Notice it's on a slight angle - again, that's due to how the doors open and how the inner door panel interferes a bit. I almost ran out of space on my big ol' plywood platform but it was just barely enough to support it down the edge. SOK 206Ah LFP battery still lives on the floor which is fine because it's a durable plastic case and marine rated with O rings against moisture. Fridge power is hardwired to the bus bar because there is an ATO fuse accessible from the outside of the fridge on the opposite side. There isn't an inch to spare and I'm not sure you could fit a larger fridge on a slide in this location.



And here is how it looks out on the road on a rainy fall day in Wisconsin. Pulls out just enough to access the freezer. Even for a short guy like me (5'6") it isn't too high to access the inner contents (at least with a 2.5" lift and 32's though that may be a touch harder when I upgrade to 33s soon). I shared this photo to ICECO's Instagram and they replied to me immediately with shock that it fit so I'd say I'm doing something right here. Seriously, in the words of Goldfinger it's "toight like a toiger."



I do have some major rattling noise with the slide mechanism but not sure if it can be adjusted out. I have to look into this a bit more because it's hella annoying after a few thousand miles, especially when offroading where it sounds like a clunky shopping cart banging all around.

 

Final Thoughts and Comments

Things that I like compared to v1.0:

• Having the DC-DC charger mounted away from the rear cargo area saves space and cuts down on the wiring exactly as I expected. Very happy about this.
• Might not have 37's on my rig, but having a separate freezer compartment for ice cream and ice cubes are every bit the ultimate trail flex I'd imagined. It also opens up so many things for cooking.

Things that I dislike:

• The OGE mount puts the REDARC in the ideal/normal place that most people put their winch power cutoff switch. Minor inconvenience and I'll find another spot, but something to consider.
• The cost. Gotta pay to play but damn if it doesn't hurt sometimes lol.
• Fridge slide rattles badly. I have to see if I can adjust it or not, or if I can add some stoppers to hold it more rigidly.

Things I would like to improve:

• I would definitely like to get a label maker and some clear heatshrink so I can better keep track of which cable is for what. Currently it is very simple but it doesn't take long to get disorganized. Future me will say thanks if I have to make repairs on the road.

Would I do this again? HECK YEAH!

 

Post reserved for the future updates/additions.

 

Nice upgrade! Doing it all so you have ice for drinks, yep, we could camp together lol. I run a VL45 in the bed and a generic 10Q in the cab. Normally the Iceco is for my beer and food and the little one is for water, as I'm driving. Or I'll use it as a freezer if need be. I like my beers ice cold and sometimes that makes my salsa and produce freeze. I've been thinking about swapping out the 10Q for a 20Q and using that for waters and the things that freeze too easy. I don't want a big ass dual zone, but I do see the need to have the flexibility of keeping certain things at different temps.

 

Haha well it's not quite all just for ice for drinks, that's more of just a joke/flex. But it is really nice that I can actually make ice at camp if I plan correctly which is just silly and awesome. I considered the separate small cooler for ice but in the end I spent the cash because I've probably lost my mind and fully given in to the cult of Tacoma.

One fringe consideration supporting my fridge decision: Sometimes, if we get lucky to draw a tag, I will drive halfway across the country and go elk hunting with my dad up in the New Mexico mountains. One of the big reasons for this big ass fridge is on those trips. Having the ability to condense everything down into a single fridge without worrying about filling coolers with ice (especially when the nearest gas station could be 3 hours away) is a game changer. Once I add solar into the equation, I can fulfill my dream of living offgrid for as long as I want to, versus being forced to go into town for food/ice/etc. That means more hours spent in the wilderness hunting & hiking and that's what it's all about because those hours are hard to come by. You can't buy those hours, but you can buy a big arse fridge and it kind of becomes the same thing.

Definitely there is some downside to having such a large fridge. No question it takes up way more space than the previous VL45. It's not so much space that I personally mind it yet, but it's not for everyone. I think in my case, at least right now, the pros outweigh the cons and I'm quite pleased with how it has been working out.

The next iteration of my rear seat delete and lithium battery are going to be big changes. I'd like to think I can do something by next year but it has been more challenging than I expected. More to come but it ain't happening soon lol. Even if I change nothing, this would function for a very long time (though I do still need to figure out heat for the battery if I want to leave it in 24/7).

 

I hear you. I don't hunt, just like to get away from it all. Having things like a battery system and a 12v fridge really do extend the amount of time you can be off grid. I really like when I am on a long trip to be able to just add beverages to the fridge as needed, to maximize room for food, and not have to worry about melting the ice. I 100% do not miss using a cooler! My fridge selection was made when I still had my little reg cab with a snugtop on it. Once I got the Topo Topper and did a little buildout, I was able to be a bit more organized and had a bit more space. Then in May, we did a 6 day trip in Death Valley and I decided that I was tired of folding my tall ass into the reg cab, so I sold it and bought an Access Cab. My dog appreciates the added cab room just as much as me lol.

Last winter was the first winter with my lithium battery setup and the first winter with the Topo. I went out in conditions that I normally wouldn't. There was a few times that it got so cold, that I had to unplug the battery from the DC - DC charger. I also found out just how much condensation forms on the aluminum walls and roof, of the topper. Then it freezes! The electric blanket kept me warm while in bed, but getting up sucked! I haven't installed it yet, but I picked up a Propex heater. With the battery being in the bed, we'll both stay warm this winter.