prado2004's 120 TD Prado + Custom Camper build

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

Well not really an update but an interesting story none the less.

Sitting at the lights and heard a big skidding noise behind. Looked in the side mirror to see a car do a full 360 and hit a light pole. It clean snapped the light pole and somehow it fell over the car without hitting it. I did a big u turn straight over the median strip to see if the bloke was ok. He was fine but shaken up
Understandably. 3 guys and I couldn't even budge the light pole so I got the trusty prado winch out and winched it off the road as traffic was backing up massively as it was the corner of a main road.

First time the prados winch has ever winched a fallen street light off a road! The bloke should be counting his lucky stars!

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

Going to install a dual battery over the next couple of weeks and also throw some LED spotlights up on my roof cage. Trailer has taken up enough spare time now back to the Prado

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

In addition to the dual battery install& led spotlights on the roof cage I am also going to install diff, transmission and transfer breathers at some stage over the chrissy break.

I bought some LED work lights off ebay a while ago think I paid $70 for 4 of them and have 2 left so figure I may as well throw them on the roof.

I am waiting on some switches for lights & also need to drop in to ARB and pickup the Pirahna dual battery tray also. The battery that will be going in is just a deep cycle century battery which I have had in another vehicle and is sitting in the shed. It's a 100a/h so will be a good backup to have in the rig and by my measurements will "just" fit in the piranha tray so lets hope so!

Also going to rig up a voltmeter in the back of the prado and some new 12v plugs for the fridge and whatever else needs to be run.

Will throw some piccies up when I get a spare chance, hopefully early next week.

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

Not really a big mod but last trip the fridge ciggy socket popped out in the trailer so didn't want it happening again. Rigged up an Anderson plug in the trailer for fridge power and also spliced the cable and connected an Anderson but kept the original cig plug. Didn't want to lose the cig plug as then it wouldn't work in the back of my car or other cars etc so now have the best of both worlds.

No way that suckers falling out anymore!

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

Put a dual battery system in the rig on the weekend. Will throw some pics up soon.

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

Ok guys so rigged up a dual battery system on the weekend. Had the projecta system and the century deep cycle in the shed out of another rig so thought no point buying something else when this setup has worked well in the past. I know more people run the redarc but I've had this previously and its a great little unit. Bought it from super cheap at a big sale and the whole kit cost me a little over $100 for memory and comes with everything you need. The battery tray I've used is the piranha tray which worked great. Easy to install and so much more secure than the original toyota cranking battery tray it puts it to shame with all the extra support brackets. I had a hard time finding somewhere suitable to mount the dual battery isolator and managed to modify the brackets to fit in behind the fuel filter. I wanted it somewhere I could access it easily and somewhere not too close to the motor & heat so this was about the best place I could mount it.

I also bought one of LeighW's voltage boosters so that should make a difference in ensuring the batteries get a full charge now.

I'll be installing some voltmeters in the rig and more auxiliary points in the rear soon as well as some led lights on the roof cage so will put picks up of that also.

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

I've got a Projecta DBM100 Dual Batt Monitor in mine which is great. They come up cheap at Repco when they have their 25% off weekends for RACQ members.




With regards to the cabling across the front between batteries, is the cable single of double insulated?

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

Not sure whether it is single or double Craig, hopefully double. Whatever the 100amp dual battery kit comes with. I know it is 6 B&S

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

Dare say if it's part of a kit it will be single insulated then. Might wanna put some split tubing on those long lengths to keep them protected from rubbing etc... There's something I read on the forum about this requirement also.

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

cheers for the heads up. Its all pretty well zip tied but will have a look.

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

So hooked into a few more mods on the trailer and the car this weekend.

Here's starting with the car. I had a flat battery the other week before I installed my dual batteries which I had been procrastinating about for a while. So last weekend after installing the dual batteries I figured I'd better install some voltmeters to ensure everything is running right. I copied another thread which found some eBay cheapues which you can see here. for $3 each you really can't go wrong. Ive tested them with a multimeter and they are dead accurate so great value.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DC-Digita...fbcd00a&_uhb=1

I also bought some switches for some led lights which I have mounted on my roof cage. I wanted them to match my arb locker switches and this style looks identical. The only downside is they are bright blue as opposed to arb's green colour light however mine aren't next to the lockers so you can't tell. On the plus side they are the same blue as the voltmeters which look great at night. I have one light on the rear of the car and one of the right of the car. The left side of my car houses my 2x2 tigerz11 awning which has strip light inside so now I have light around the whole car if I need it.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REAR-ROOF...6f94cf4&_uhb=1

First off I pulled out the console around the gear stick as I decided I would mount everything here. I used a multi tool/renovator tool to cut the holes which proved fun. Overall it turned out really well however one of the voltmeters is slightly crooked but I am still pretty happy with it.



The main aim was to have the gauges easily readable but out of the way so they weren't a distraction. I also wanted the switches near my shifter as one will be used a reverse light. I hooked the lights up to my aux battery and on permanent power so they can be used as camp lights with the ignition off. I also didn't want to hook the reverse light up to the reverse gear as I often reverse out of my driveway at night and it's so bright the neighbours would hate me! I did however hook the voltmeters up the ignition so they turn off when the car is turned off. This way if you want to check after a night of running the fridge you can just turn the ignition on you don't need to start the vehicle.

Here's a pic once they were in



After mucking around with wiring and soldering here's the finished product



Here is what the switches look like when the Parker's and headlights are turned on. I just tapped into the dash lights on the back of the cigarette plug.



And another pic once the engine was running to test that the LeighW voltage booster was working correctly giving the batteries a full charge



Overall really happy with it. I'll put some pics up of the lights on the cage soon. I just ran the wire up the windscreen as many others have done on here and put a few drops of sikaflex to hold it in position.

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

I also decided the 140 watts of solar on my trailer wasn't quite keeping up and found this 40 watt panel on eBay so mounted it to the toolbox. Should help with power and I think it looks really good too which is a bonus. Now I have 180 watts of power in total so will see how that goes with keeping the batteries topped up. The 40 watt panel will be a permanent fixture however I can take off the 140 watt panel in 2 minutes and have it in the sun courtesy of a 10m extension cable.

Here is where I purchased it from

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mono-Sola...9cfd812&_uhb=1



Another mod I've done is added roof racks to it and kayak holders so can now take the kayak away and throw any large items up on top.

[Dueler120 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dueler120]

Hey Prado2004,
Have been away from the forums for a while now but have to say the whole setup is fantastic. Nice work on putting all together and having a go at it. Great Prado and trailer combo.

Cheers

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

Cheers dueler 120. I'm pretty happy with how its all coming along. You really can't beat having a crack yourself!

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

Have just taken some time updating the first post with all mods (I could think of) for the prado and the trailer. No doubt I have missed some but it is most of them I think.