Mobile power

Who doesn't like power...I mean electricity. It's just such a good invention and fortunately, thanks to a bunch of really smart people, we enjoy the benefits of harnessed electricity for all sorts of purposes today. I'm talking about people like: Ben Franklin, Michael Faraday, Alexander Bell, Thomas Edison, Lewis Latimer, Alessandro Volta and Granville Woods to name just a few. Thanks guys!

A few days ago I wrote a post about some equipment I was installing to my vehicle. You can check out the blog here.

I thought I'd do an update post on the job with a few images. Essentially I installed a second battery in my vehicle, a DC-DC battery charger, an electric brake controller and some plugs and sockets to the rear. The post above explains it in greater detail but I'll summarise here with some images as well.

Here's the battery installation under the bonnet (hood) of my 200 Series Landcruiser. The LC200 used to have two cranking batteries as standard however fortunately the manufacturer saw the light and increased the capacity of one and eliminated the second. Cranking batteries cannot be used for slow-drain purposes and so a second deep-cycle battery needs to go in. Them omitting their second battery allowed me the opportunity [space] to install the battery I needed in the vacant space. This is what you are looking at below. This is a N70T deep-cycle battery which charges off the vehicle when the vehicle is running. It has a 105AH (amp hour) capacity. The new battery is the one to the left of the image of the entire engine bay.

The pictures below show the DC-DC charger called a BCDC1225D by the manufacturer, REDARC. I've installed it under this air-flow panel so it's out of the way and also receives cooler air flow than if it was mounted inside the engine bay next to the battery. The need for this BCDC is due to the temperature-sensing alternator the vehicle is fitted with which reduces output when the vehicle is running. This is an emission-control initiative by the manufacturer. Anyway, that reduced output runs into the BDCD and is boosted to pump a full charge into the second battery. The lights on the BCDC unit tell me what's happening at any given point.

I have installed an Anderson plug next to the BCDC unit. This allows solar panel input to the battery from my solar panels when I am at a camp site. This means the battery stays full even when the car is not running. I have a second Anderson plug as well which is wired straight to the battery. This one is for regulated solar panels and the other is for non-regulated panels giving me the ability to use either. (Mine are regulated).

These two images below are of the sockets at the back of the vehicle. The black twin plug to the left, is called a dual Engel/Cig socket which is for my fridge/freezer to plug into and accessories like LED lights and phone chargers and the other on the right is another Anderson plug which connects to my camper trailer when I am towing. This means the battery system on my camper also gets charged off the vehicle. It also has its own BCDC charger and two batteries on board. Both of these power directly from the second battery installed up front. My camper has a fridge/freezer on board hence the need for the battery system.

Here's an image of my fridge installed. This is an ARB 60L fridge/freezer. On the front panel you can see the current temperature inside the fridge, currently zero degrees C. This fridge unit is the reason for needing the second battery up front. The fridge has come out of my truck prior to selling it as they are an expensive unit and I didn't want to let it go. I have a false floor panel being constructed to go down in the back of the vehicle shortly and the fridge will then sit on its own slide panel so it will slide out for easier access. I have the fridge fitted now as I am going away for the weekend. The fridge cover is dusty from being in the back of my truck and when I have more time I'll remove the cover and give it a clean. Below you can see it plugged into the socket on the left.

In my previous post I talked about the brake controller. It's a unit that controls the brakes on my camper trailer when the brakes in my vehicle are applied. It's proportional and can be adjusted manually or left to work autonomously. This is all one sees on the instrument panel. This little head-unit operates the whole system with the actual system being hidden up behind the panel. There's not much to see but due to the weight of my camper trailer it has to be fitted with brakes by law and those brakes need this control system to operate effectively.

So, that's pretty much it for now. I am looking forward to getting the platform and slide in which will complete this element of my build-up; From there it'll be back to saving for the next thing. These systems are not cheap unfortunately with the ones described here plus the platform/slide costing around $2,300AUD all up, and that's with my discounts from knowing people and calling in favours. It'll be a while before I do the next things, the suspension lift, bull bar and light bar which I already know will run up to around $9,000AUD. In the meantime there will be some saving...A lot of saving. It's doubtful I will be able to get those things this year however for now at least I can tow my camper and power my fridge which is enough to start with.

Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - @galenkp

P.s. If anyone wants to hit me up on Discord: @galenkp#9209