The 150 series Dual Battery Guide

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

I am looking for two batteries, and am thinking the simplist way to go is a auto switch device, and two batteries up the front, and run decent cable to the rear for my fridge and for external lighting via anderson plugs put in somewhere (an Ausfridge Eutectic that doesn't use much power and retains its cold when there is no power). I am likely to pull the rear kidddy seats out (mine are electric ones) and I am likely to purchase drawers from Drifta and also a means to lower the fridge from the top of the drawers.

I am wondering if the Optima D31 battery would fit ... It has 75 amp hours compared to the recommended for Prado unit's 66 amp hours. Compared to the factory battery, its dimensions are 25mm longer and its 28mm higher - which should fit in the main battery space.

It would fit too in the spare battery space, but for the air conditioning pipe.

Are there issues I should know about with moving the air conditioning piping outwards from the spare battery space? Is there a flexible hose for the air conditioning behind the bright alloy air conditioning tubing? Or is the whole of the piping solid metal and hence mechanically dangerous to move the piping 40mm away from the side of the spare battery housing?

I would also like to be able to use some of the amp hours from the starting battery, but it seems devices are more likely to turn the starting battery off when the motor is turned off. Is there a device that can use some of the Optima's reserve deep cycle power but isolate the Optima starting battery when its jump start capability is under threat?

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

I would be wary of fitting anything bigger than a D27 for instance due to the weight
considerations.

The Traxide VSR will allow you to use some of the reserve capacity of the cranking battery
see www.traxide.com.au

The Optimas are good units though I have never been able to get them to supply a
life cycles verses depth of discharge graph, they just state that discharging to 0% SOC
won't hurt the battery but then refuse to back it up with hard data. Have you considered a
Marine pro, they are relatively cheap, have a 100Ah capacity and if you abuse it you can
get 80Ah out of them?

Cheers
Leigh

[Mattfunk 120 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mattfunk 120]

Marine pro, they are relatively cheap, have a 100Ah capacity and if you abuse it you can
get 80Ah out of them?

Cheers
Leigh

They are one of the few deep cycle batteries to offer a 2 year warranty as well. For around $220 if you look after it you can't go wrong

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

I would be wary of fitting anything bigger than a D27 for instance due to the weight
considerations.

The Traxide VSR will allow you to use some of the reserve capacity of the cranking battery
see www.traxide.com.au

The Optimas are good units though I have never been able to get them to supply a
life cycles verses depth of discharge graph, they just state that discharging to 0% SOC
won't hurt the battery but then refuse to back it up with hard data. Have you considered a
Marine pro, they are relatively cheap, have a 100Ah capacity and if you abuse it you can
get 80Ah out of them?

Cheers
Leigh

Thanks for the Traxside link - the D80 looks to do a great job, using both batteries and then isolated the starter battery.

As far as the condition of the Optima, I am unsure about that. Are you saying that the device from Traxside would not be able to analyse the condition of an Optima starting battery?

As far as the price issues ... I realise the Marine Pros are much cheaper. Typically over $100 more, and in some case, a lot lot more. I had thought though, that the AGM batteries last longer, while the resin in batteries like the Marine pro can loose their adhesion and fail much sooner than an aGM battery. The yachts I've been in all now use AGM batteries, yachties think they are well worth it. But I guess they are fume and safety conscious too.

As far as weight goes ... its certainly an issue, although this is not for my 90 series. Its for a 150, which I think can handle the weight.

But with AGM, there are heaps of choice, and perhaps an AGM deep cycle is a smarter buy? I think they can be run down much lower without damage. Some of those can have over 80 AH @25 and some in that capacity are smaller than an Optima and some only weigh 25kg. I don't use the camping side that much, so long life is a big issue for me.

With my camping style, the main draw is the fridge, which runs for 4 hours per day, maybe. At 4 amps that's only 16 amps a day. Stay three days, and its less than 50 amps. Plus lighting. If I go for a drive, then IMO an AGM will re-charge quicker if wired in the right way, which is another perhaps a big plus for me I think.

I put the recommended Optima in my 90 Prado, and I could put that in as the starter for the 150. Its only a year old, and has done little work.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

What fridge and what are the weather conditions? On Fraser our NL and ARB fridges use between 20 and 24 AH per day (data posted in here somewhere). Both are good fridges. Where are you mounting the aux in the 150? Not much space for a good sized battery forgetting any concerns with guard cracking. That's why I put my 120AH AGM in the back. If you go for a 75 AH auxiliary you won't get two days out of it in summer.

[BlakMoth Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close BlakMoth]

Or if you're going for a smaller battery as you're worried about the guards cracking then get a solar panel to keep it topped up


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[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Or if you're going for a smaller battery as you're worried about the guards cracking then get a solar panel to keep it topped up


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Or just run the engine for the once in blue moon you need to stay put for extended periods. It amazes me sometimes the lengths and $$ people will spend so they don't have to start the engine for an hour every six months to top up the battery!

On our travels I run a fridge and a freezer of our 90 amp hour AGM, a bit bigger capacity would be handy but I don't think its worth the cost or the weight.

Cheers Andrew

[BlakMoth Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close BlakMoth]

Or just run the engine for the once in blue moon you need to stay put for extended periods. It amazes me sometimes the lengths and $$ people will spend so they don't have to start the engine for an hour every six months to top up the battery!

On our travels I run a fridge and a freezer of our 90 amp hour AGM, a bit bigger capacity would be handy but I don't think its worth the cost or the weight.

Cheers Andrew

Yeah there is that. It depends on how often you use something as to whether it's worth the expense.


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[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

I have two 120a agm batteries for camping and one 55a optima in the car. The two spare 120s last 10 days easy without a charge running an 80L engel. The optima runs a 60L fridge.

Cheaper than a solar panel and no need to camp in the sun or rely on it.

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

Traxide unit will work fine with an Optima, cracking of the guards is also a 150 issue..

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

What fridge and what are the weather conditions? On Fraser our NL and ARB fridges use between 20 and 24 AH per day (data posted in here somewhere). Both are good fridges. Where are you mounting the aux in the 150? Not much space for a good sized battery forgetting any concerns with guard cracking. That's why I put my 120AH AGM in the back. If you go for a 75 AH auxiliary you won't get two days out of it in summer.

Yes, such fridges use a lot of power. I have an Autofridge, a 40 litre. Because its eutectic, it doesn't need to be run much and they are far more efficient.

I've run it from a 90 series, I haven't yet setup the 150 (still have the 90 too). For that, I just put a battery in the back, and ran the fridge from the car battery, which wasn't even deep cycle. If I flattened the battery, I had the spare battery to jump the car. A cheap way of doing things. Because the fridge uses little power, i never got round to a proper system. Also the 90 is pretty weak in the front.

If the 150 is weak in the front, then maybe i should go for a light purely deep cycle battery.

I may also buy a camper trailer ... so perhaps I need to be able to later add a capacity to charge its battery ...

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

Traxide unit will work fine with an Optima, cracking of the guards is also a 150 issue..

Hmm ... maybe I should epoxy some carbon fibre onto the guard. It would never crack, and its a lightweight solution.

Maybe replace the battery support metal bases etc with composite ones which would save a KG maybe?

... but I am skeptical about this:
- in Europe, the 150 comes standard with two batteries.
- does the standard battery break the guard?
- if not - then the battery on the other side should not, as long as its not heavier than the standard battery.

I guess I should ask Toyota?

But I am now thinking that a lightweight AGM deep cycle might be the answer for the secondary battery ... one that is that is not heavier than the Toyota standard battery perhaps.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

I also have the 39 litre Eutectic Autofridge, I don't think it uses any less power over the journey than my ARB fridge assuming we keep them at similar temps. Yes the Autofridge doesn't run all day, but when it does run the compressor runs constantly, where as cyclic fridges turn on and off so over a few days compressor running time would be similar. The efficiency comes from being able to decide when you use that power, I would turn it on an hour or so before I knew we would start the engine and that power draw would quickly be replaced and the fridge would effectively run off the alternator until we stopped. I generally only use it as a freezer now. We ran it for 6 years in 2 vehicles without any second battery.

As for the guards, do you have the 2014 update model? I gather they have strengthened the inner guards.

Cheers Andrew

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

... but I am skeptical about this:
- in Europe, the 150 comes standard with two batteries.
- does the standard battery break the guard?
- if not - then the battery on the other side should not, as long as its not heavier than the standard battery.

I guess I should ask Toyota?

Weight and vibration crack the guards. You can find a lot of info if you search the forum.

[MelbournePark Member Find all posts View Profile Close MelbournePark]

Weight and vibration crack the guards. You can find a lot of info if you search the forum.

Toyota supply 22.5kg batteries in Europe as standard, for years.

And their battery shipped with the 150 weighs 22.5 kg as well (they probably vary a bit though).

So ... I presume 22.5 kg is not a problem?

There are lots of AGM batteries that are not heavy too, but they tend to be Chinese or Indian made ones. I presume because they are light for their performance, that means their lead is less, and hence they won't be as durable.

The Optima is quite heavy for its performance IMO. I guess that means its got lots of lead in it, which is actually a plus point IMO.

Having looked at some AGM batteries available here, it seems most AGMs are tailored for dual purpose, which increases the weight, but not the endurance.

Varta's F21 is an AGM and weighs 25kg; it fits, and has 80 AH. I think it would last a very long time. It has less starting capacity, so its 80 AH is a bit lighter than most.

I have a VARTA bias, as my wife's grandfather who was an industrial chemist, invented some batteries including a major invention/innovation used in German submarines, and was #2 in running a major VARTA factory pre, during and post WWII.

And NO - he refused to join the NAZI party, and he was a fervent catholic. When told to join the "Party" due to his position, he refused, and said that they could not sack him ... and they came back and requested that the meeting had never happened.


I realise that VARTA is now owned by Johnson Tech, hence I presume its owned by that US company.

My wife's father knows so much about electricity its extraordinary ... he's a civil engineer educated in Munich. Sadly he is getting Altziemers ... but I'd love to have a VARTA in my 150 - he'd love it. He would be convinced that Toyota is the supreme brand if it had a VARTA in its spare slot!!