My Build Thread and Retirement Plans

It’s not overkill to have sustainable power. It’s smart. My truck can roll indefinitely with the setup I have moving or not! Wouldn’t change it for the world.

 

I learned yesterday that the Jackery won't charge off the outlet in the bed while driving. The outlet gives out 400 watts while parked, but only 100 watts while driving. The AC adapter for the Jackery outputs 180 watts, so the inverter in the truck shuts off. I ordered a 65 watt plug, so we'll see if that works. It will charge 1/3 as fast...or it will charge infinitely faster...however you look at it!

 

Keith, you’ve got a really solid camping machine set up. Thanks for all the info. It looks solid. Looking forward to following your trips!

 

I'm having all sorts of problems trying to charge my Jackery. My plan was to charge it off the AC plug in the bed. That didn't work because the factory plug has an output of 180 watts (it really seems closer to 145 watts), and the truck inverter cuts off with a load over 100 watts while the truck is moving. So I bought a 60 watt plug, and that one won't stay on. The truck inverter doesn't cut off, but the plug won't maintain an output. The plug shuts off in both the truck and in a wall outlet, but I can't tell if that's because it's a faulty power adapter, or if the Jackery is trying to demand too much power from it, and it causes the voltage protection in the adapter to shut off.

So I ordered a 90 watt adapter. That didn't work, either. It's rated at 90 watts, but it outputs 125 watts, and that shuts off the Tacoma inverter.

So, yeah, back to the drawing board. I can charge it with 60 watts on the cigarette lighter plug in the cab, but I don't have enough room in the cab to haul around that Jackery 1000. I ordered a 60 watt adapter with a female cigarette lighter plug on the end...I'm hoping that might be better at holding a consistent output. But I don't have high hopes.

I'm a bit flustered about it at this point.

 

nice build! I had a goal zero in my old camper, and charged that off of the cigarette lighter plug with an extension to the camper. Not as fast as AC, but it did work.

 

I haven't found the bed outlet to be terribly useful. It's also inefficient to go from 12VDC to 120VAC and back to 12VDC rather than just keeping it all DC. I'd guess you'll want to have 12V supply in the bed regardless for charging up devices, running the fridge, etc, so I'd just run power to the bed and setup a 12V station that you can charge your Jackery from. Solar would probably be a good idea too.

You might also look into using one of these:

$40 Goal Zero Regulated Lithium Yeti Car Charger Used to Safely and Efficiently Charge A Goal Zero Yeti from A 12v Power Source Featuring A Protective 15a User Replaceable Fuse,Black

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NRQ4KY3?smid=AZ6R2O6YU64WX

That gets up to 120 watts and is what I'm using with my setup. From Amazon reviews people say it works with the Jackery boxes.

 

Ken how’s Utah?!

 

Beautiful, as always!

The truck has done great. As you can see, I've been putting it through its paces, and even going out on some pretty rough trails. So far, nothing has broken off!

The Summit has also been great. I've been sleeping like a baby in it, despite temps in the 20s. I am super happy with everything so far.

 

Living the absolute dream! I had the privilege to live out of my truck for about 6 months across the west (NV, UT, CA, MT, and ID) and I think that was the best living situation I have ever had, so much fun! Very jealous but congratulations on your retirement!

 

Hit any good hiking trails out there? Not sure if you mountain bike but I’ve heard there are some good bike trails out that way also.

 

So jealous!!! We picked up ours last week in Prescott, but had to make a bee-line for home due to spring break time constraints.

We did make a stop at the Grand Canyon and Moab first because when in Rome...

 

I had to wait about 3 months after I got mine on before I could hit the road, so I feel your pain!

 

I'm not a big mountain biker...I tend to go over the handle bars and barely escape death way too often!

I have been hiking some, but March was colder than I was hoping it would be, so I've only been on one backpacking trip. That trip was up Arch Canyon, which was absolutely beautiful.

I'll be going out in a week on Cedar Mesa with a buddy for five days.

Here's Angel Arch in Arch Canyon.

 

I'm back from a month in south-east Utah. I have to teach a couple of classes, and I need to train for my Alaska packrafting trip, so I came back to Alabama.

The truck build worked wonderfully. I found the AT Overland Summit to be extremely comfortable. I honestly slept like a log for 8-11 hours every single night, even though about half of those nights were sub-freezing. I can't overstate how well I slept for the past month.

And the truck itself did great. I did several technical trails on this trip, and I was constantly surprised how easy it was to do things that would have scared me in my stock 4Runner. The work from Southern Overland Outfitters was spot on. I feel like they set it up exactly the way I needed it...not too much and not too little.

And, most surprisingly, despite the hundreds and hundreds of miles of dirt roads, and the technical trails with steep ledges and deep sand and many other obstacles, I'm happy to report that my interior build didn't fall apart! Before this trip, I half expected everything to become a pile of matchsticks the first time I took it off road, but (knock on wood) I literally didn't have any problems at all. That really made me happy.

The only concern I had the whole time was the gas mileage. But, eventually, I realized that it wasn't really the gas mileage that had me upset...it was the gas prices. The Utah gas prices were about 4.64 the whole month...that was painful. Sometimes I was able to coax about 15 MPG out of it...on the way back, I was even able to coax 19 MPG out of it...but the overwhelming majority of the time, regardless of the driving conditions, I was averaging 12-13 MPG. I don't know if there are things I could do better, or not. When I got the 19, I was driving through the mountains of Colorado, so I suspect it was a function of driving about 55 MPH for several hours. The cruise control seems to run the RPMs pretty high, but it looked like the cruise control still got better results than driving without the cruise control.

So, yeah, great trip. I'm back home for a few weeks to teach those classes, and then I'll head back out for several months. I'm stoked!

 

I know im late to the party here and IDK if you figured a solution out, BUT if i remember correctly there is a plug n play mod that lets you use all 400W anytime on that back bed plug. I'd be careful to not drain the truck battery when truck is not running though, or maybe find a middle ground solution plug n play where its 400W anytime truck is running.

FWIW i have a jackery 500 and lived out of my taco for 43 days out west last summer charging it off the cigarette lighter port in cab. Ran out of juice once when parked in sun for 3 days, powering a 40qt off brand fridge. I had zero solar panels, and just changed locations every 2 days if sunny and hot, and 3-5 if cloudy and cool (temp diff changed power needs from the fridge).

 

Great trip report- AND the picture as well!! I haven't slept in my Summit yet, but plan on doing a few shake-down nights in our State Parks real soon. It's good to hear about the comfort. I have an Exped air mattress I can put on top of the one that comes with the camper if needed. I'm guessing you have either a heater or really nice sleeping bag for those sub-freezing nights?

As for the mileage, I only lost a couple mpg's on the way back with the topper on. Same amount of people/gear. The wind noise was barely anything so I'm not going to worry about a fairing. Like you said- on the AT Summit there's really no room for one anyways(it overhangs practically right to the windshield line)! The only difference I had was a set of Alcan Springs installed while I was passing thru Grand Junction, but that wouldn't make any difference.

Did you have any time to check mileage before the camper, but after the new suspension/wheels/tires? I'm guessing(again) it's more the lift/added weight that's hurting, but I could be wrong. Anyways, don't change a thing because your rig is BADDASS!!! Gas prices will stabilize and honestly it was cheaper to fill-up everywhere for me except Arizona and Utah than it was at home! If your interior build is removable maybe keep the bed bare except on trips?

 

Thank you!

No, I didn't get a chance to check the mileage before the camper was installed. But like you said, I added so much weight with bigger tires, front bumber, winch, full skid plates, and the interior build, that really the mileage isn't that horrible. I just have to wait out the gas prices!

And I still have my 4Runner, so I'm driving that whenever I'm not taking the Tacoma out, so that helps.

For the cold nights, I have an electric blanket. That helped a lot. I also have 0 degree down sleeping bag unzipped on the bed.

I think you'll love sleeping in it! For me, it's just great to be sleeping comfortably out in remote, beautiful places!

 

So the Jackery 1000 is enough to keep an electric blanket going thru the night? I always figured those things pulled lots of watts!

Sorry for all the questions, but I figure it's best to ask someone who knows. Thanks again!

 

Don't apologize...that's how we learn!

Yeah, the Jackery 1000 was great for the electric blanket. It was only using about 20% per night. The blanket acted weird, and with it on the lowest setting, it made the Jackery fan turn on and off regularly. And the fan is pretty loud. If I put the blanket on the 3 setting, the fan actually stopped coming on. But, man, that 3 setting was toasty with the 0 degree sleeping bag on top. So, I ended up keeping the blanket turned off until it got chilly late at night, and then I turned it on 3. That worked well. I was able to recharge the Jackery completely every day by either charging it off the truck while driving, or charging it with a 100 watt solar panel.

The blanket went all the way to 10, and I was toasty on 3. I imagine you could get away with a much less warm sleeping bag or blanket and go with a higher electric blanket setting if you wanted to. And I wasn't sleeping inside the sleeping bag...I had it completely unzipped and used it like a blanket.

 

So after your Maiden Voyage are you wanting to change or add anything?