The 150 series Dual Battery Guide

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MickL is a valid member, has been since he stopped having time due to family and work issues.. I'd suggest having correct facts..

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

Interesting argument.... lol@sock puppets.

As a side question then. When do you guys suggest using a C-Tek type charger? For instance, I recently converted a LWB HiAce into a camper for a customer. Now this fella was a greenie through and through... He was a vegan and also burst into tears when I wouldn't budge on the invoice if that helps define the character heh. His want was to be able to camp as long as possible without starting the car.

So, we settled on 160 Watts on the roof, 4x50AH AGM batteries and a C-Tek D250S and needs to run a fridge, 600watt inverter from time to time, CD Player and LED interior lighting.

Currently, he has been camped for two and half weeks without starting the car.

Could I have done anything differently? I honestly couldn't see a better option.

[drivesafe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close drivesafe]

Hi RanJ and with 200Ah of battery capacity ( 160Ah available ) and the long stays, if his batteries are discharged down to their safe limit, 11.58v or 20% SoC, to get the batteries back to around 95% or a bit higher, with the Ctek charging the batteries, he will need to drive constantly for 10+ hours.

Whereas, if he has a late model Hiace with low operating voltages, as I have posted above, he could have fitted one of LeighW’s Alternator Voltage Booster fuses and my isolator.

With that set up, he would have had 200Ah available ( the extra 40Ah being provided by his cranking battery ) and would be able to charge all the batteries to around the same 95+% in around 5 to 6 hours of driving.

Plus, he would have obviously used a lot less fuel, but don’t tell him as he will probably just start to cry again!!

Or at a much higher set up cost, you could have fitted a 40 amp DC/DC unit.

He would still only have 160Ah available but then he would have only needed to drive about 6 hours, to get the 4 batteries up tp around the 95% mark.

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

Where would the solar panels fit into that?

Because so far with the panels, he hasn't seen the voltage drop below 11.92 during the night after a cloudy day.

[drivesafe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close drivesafe]

Hi RanJ and even at 11.92v or 40% SoC, if he started his drive in the morning, not giving the solar time to start recharging his batteries, he is still looking at around a 6 hour drive.

Because of his long stays, fitting a second solar panel would be the best improvement you could do to his existing set up.

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

I'm not sure what you mean... He has two 80watt panels fitted to the roof. Hasn't started the car in two and a half weeks and hasn't dropped below 11.92 during the night. I mean essentially we don't need to improve it as it's working perfectly.

I was asking how it could've been done differently. Sorry to confuse mate.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Interesting argument.... lol@sock puppets.

As a side question then. When do you guys suggest using a C-Tek type charger? For instance, I recently converted a LWB HiAce into a camper for a customer. Now this fella was a greenie through and through... He was a vegan and also burst into tears when I wouldn't budge on the invoice if that helps define the character heh. His want was to be able to camp as long as possible without starting the car.

So, we settled on 160 Watts on the roof, 4x50AH AGM batteries and a C-Tek D250S and needs to run a fridge, 600watt inverter from time to time, CD Player and LED interior lighting.

Currently, he has been camped for two and half weeks without starting the car.

Could I have done anything differently? I honestly couldn't see a better option.

Being a vegan and a greenie to boot, I'm sure he'd have enough wind to power on of these...
http://www.energymatters.com.au/aero...ine-p-511.html

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

hahahaha

While he was in my workshop he bloody well dropped his guts. My god... I thought I was awesome!

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

I'm not sure what you mean... He has two 80watt panels fitted to the roof. Hasn't started the car in two and a half weeks and hasn't dropped below 11.92 during the night. I mean essentially we don't need to improve it as it's working perfectly.

I was asking how it could've been done differently. Sorry to confuse mate.

In this setup the focus is getting as much efficiency out of the solar as possible, I would therefore have suggested that maybe rather than using the 250's solar charger which is a compromise and from what I have read only average in efficiency, you might have been better off going for a purpose built high efficiency MPPT charger.

Charging from the car if required could have been done as Drivesafe suggested.

Bottom line though is if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Leigh

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

Interesting argument.... lol@sock puppets.

As a side question then. When do you guys suggest using a C-Tek type charger? For instance, I recently converted a LWB HiAce into a camper for a customer. Now this fella was a greenie through and through... He was a vegan and also burst into tears when I wouldn't budge on the invoice if that helps define the character heh. His want was to be able to camp as long as possible without starting the car.

So, we settled on 160 Watts on the roof, 4x50AH AGM batteries and a C-Tek D250S and needs to run a fridge, 600watt inverter from time to time, CD Player and LED interior lighting.

Currently, he has been camped for two and half weeks without starting the car.

Could I have done anything differently? I honestly couldn't see a better option.

If he is that much of a greenie, why is he driving an inefficient, polluting, fossil fuel burning vehicle in the first place? Maybe best not to point that out to him.

[Aceprado Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Aceprado]

Battery Trays

Team,

How many of you have utilised the factory 2nd battery mounts already available in the prado?
It looks as though i can get away with a $10 plastic tray and $10 clamp from supercheap and the battery will be just as snug as the main battery.

Am I missing somthing here? Most people seem to be spending $150 plus on aftermarket battery trays.

Cheers,
Swanie

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

Apart form the guards cracking you haven't missed anything

[Audiobuzz Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Audiobuzz]

I was about to ask the same question. The factory cranking battery doesn't have a tray so if people are fitting a tray for the aux battery, why not also for the main battery? The mounts for both side look identical so why does one need it but the other not?

Ab

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

Generally the aux will be heavier than the cranking battery, anything you can
do to spread the load away from the guard would be a idea. The after market
trays mount to lower guard and also to the side guard and also have a support
bracket to the radiator, well at least mine does. Doesn't spread the load much
but somethings better than nothing

[Aceprado Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Aceprado]

Thanks for the feedback leighW.
Has there actually been any reports of gaurd failures yet?

I am going to risk it anyway. The weight difference between the battery's will be negliagable. I am sure the engineer's at toyota will have rated the gaurd to suit.

I will report back if any failure occurs.

Cheers,
Swanie