Shore Power? Battery Maintainer? Let’s Talk About It.

Looking for some ideas and inspiration….

Back story -

Truck has dual batteries + isolator + solar.

Truck also has a fridge that runs 24/7.

Usually, the solar is more than enough to keep the battery topped off.

However, living in Western PA, sometimes we can go a week without seeing the sun.

And my drive back and forth to work is only 10 minutes each way, so the isolator doesn’t always have the opportunity to fully charge the house battery.

I’ve been coming home from work and dragging out my battery charger to top the battery off when it needs it.

I’d like to add an onboard charger.


I’ve been eyeballing the

$70 NoCo Gen5x1 , 1-Bank, 5A (5A/Bank) Smart Marine Battery Charger, 12V Waterproof Onboard Boat Charger, Maintainer and Desulfator for AGM, Lithium (LiFePO4) and Deep-Cycle Batteries

NoCo Gen5x1’s and it seems to be the perfect fit for what I need.

A 5amp charger should be more than effective at keeping the battery topped off.

Is anyone else doing this?

What are you using?

 

I'm using a NoCo 2 Amp on board and plug it in about once a month or so. Works great albeit a little slow but it gets the AGM battery charged and conditioned.

 

I installed a NOCO 2D and a NOCO outlet. Happy with the setup.

 

This may be a dumb question but I’m curious. Why leave the fridge on 24/7? Why not just power it off when not in use.

 

It’s in use 24/7.

And it makes no sense to only run it when I wanna go camping.


I ended up going with the

$70 NoCo Gen5x1 , 1-Bank, 5A (5A/Bank) Smart Marine Battery Charger, 12V Waterproof Onboard Boat Charger, Maintainer and Desulfator for AGM, Lithium (LiFePO4) and Deep-Cycle Batteries

NoCo Gen5x1 and it does exactly what I wanted it to do.

 

I use CTEK battery maintainers, especially the MXS 5.0. I like their chargers' built-in 8-step program for battery maintenance. I especially like CTEK's indicator quick-disconnect with a LED "traffic light" system of green-yellow-red flashing lights to indicate the battery's state of charge.





At some point I may convert one of my CTEKs and one of my two Tacomas to use Rosenberger MagCode connectors, a la Ferrari and others. The magnetic quick-connect to a disk-like fitting could be a super convenient system. Although, truly, raising the hood to clip the maintainer to the CTEK pigtail takes but a moment.

 

That looks terrific, @nds0000. Super clean installation.

 

Did you make the Trays that all of the Components are on? Or are those purchased?

 

The one with the fuse box is purchased, the other ine with the isolator and the kill switch is self made.

 

What brand is the Purchased one? You did a Nice Job on the Self Made Tray.

 

The purchased panel is from Overland Equipped. It comes with the 100A CB/Switch and the fuse panel itself.
Toyota Tacoma - Complete Auxiliary Power Kit (2016-present) – Overland Equipped