5th Gen 4Runner Electrical Management System/Dual Battery

[JCDriller]

I wanted to share a project I've been working on for a few weeks. It's not quite finished yet, but it's to a place where I'm comfortable sharing. Things left to do include replacing the starter battery with a group 35 odyssey and getting 4x 50w Renogy Eclipse panels mounted in series to a slide out under my roof rack. The slide out will be controlled off a starter relay system and a linear actuator will extend and retract the panels with the cars ignition out over the hood, of course there will also be a manual override. The panels will also be removable so they can be set up remotly or angled to track the sun.

I have installed the Shrockworks dual battery tray, vacuum pump relocation bracket, and ACR/Fuse tray. In the tray I have a Odyssey Group 25 65ah battery, they are automatically joined using a Blue Sea ACR. All of the main cables are 1/0 and were purchased from Custombatterycables.com for the most part they already have the cable lengths/terminal sizes figured out. Most smaller cables are 4 awg. The battery cables are protected with dual 400a ANL fuses in Littelfuse holders. I can't thank @krayton444 enough for bringing the custombatterycables.com to my attention, the fact that they already knew what cables/lengths and terminal were needed for the dual battery 1/0 awg wire really saved me a ton of time!

CTEK 7002 AC/DC charger

I made a custom circuit breaker/fuse panel out of 1/4" plastic and attached it to the top of the battery tie downs. Everything is capped for safety. Circuit breakers are for 1. Under hood Blue Sea Fuse Panel 2. Constant 12v to the rear blue sea panel 3. Ignition hot 12v to the rear blue sea panel. The 200a PAC controls the ignition hot feed.

Shrockworks vacuum relocation bracket made a great place to mount my Victron BMS-702 500a shunt. Hopefully a ARB twin compressor will sit atop all this shortly.

NOCO Genius 110 input plug. This feeds the CTEK 7002 AC/DC charger and the rear shore power. The ARB is always connected to 110v and 12v, when 110v is plugged it is automatically switches over so the CTEK can focus on charging the batteries not running the fridge. (Thanks for the NOCO plug location idea @NoOneBetter)

This is the ARB on a Easyslide 150 drop slide, behind it is the RAGO Modular Storage Panels (they are awesome!) (Thanks @maddiesel67 for the Easy Slide idea)

This photo shows the rear circuit breaker, Blue Sea dual buss fuse panel (12v con/ign./ground), Victron MPPT 100/30 solar charge controller (panels on order), and shore power strip. You can also see that I'm using a key retractable reel to automatically control both the 110v and 12v fridge cables. It works beautifully! Key-bak

Showing the other awesome RAGO MSP

The rear all buttoned up

Finally, in the cab I have a Victron BMS-702 mounted along with the handy bluetooth dongle installed. This lets me check the batteries from outside the vehicle on my iPhone. I used a cravinspeed steering column mount. (@LOLSNOW brought this gauge to my attention, thanks!) There is room for another gauge, (hopefully a Magnuson Superchargers boost gauge :Wow1. You can also see the Blue Sea ACR switch just peaking through the steering wheel on the bottom right.

I also whipped up a custom dual battery voltmeter that fits in a switch blank in the overhead cluster (Idea belongs to @Keith_PDX, awesome mod for <$15)

Finally thanks to @Sleeter for brining the HKB voltage booster to my attention. This little alternator fuse bumps my alternators voltage about .5-.7v higher than factory which keeps the Odyssey happy and lets the ACR work in the stubborn 4Rs. Thank you to @dwh and @DiploStrat for sharing your knowledge and answering stupid questions.

 

[BWilliams]

Damn! That's impressive. Very well thought out. I like it. I like the retractable shower/clothesline thing you installed for your fridge cord....might steal that idea.

 

[JCDriller]

Damn! That's impressive. Very well thought out. I like it. I like the retractable shower/clothesline thing you installed for your fridge cord....might steal that idea.

The link is above, it's a key-bak, auto retracting key lanyard. It works great, I just have the end zipped to the cables. I really should come up with something more elegant than a zip tie, but it's the best I can do right now.

 

[Scoutman]

@JCDriller, have you had any issues with your Victron shunt being exposed to the 'elements' under the hood? I'm struggling to find a suitable place to mount mine.

 

[krick3tt]

Didn't find it as you posted but I did find it listed like this. NOCO GCP1 13 Amp 125V AC Port Plug with Integrated Extension Cord
Thinking of using this instead of threading the extension through the window to get to my ARB fridge. Thanks for your photos, makes the installation look professional and much cleaner than many ideas.

 

[Trailgeardo]

Very nice install.

Curious why you have both an ML-ACR and a 200a PAC? My understanding is a relay or a solenoid can be used for dual battery setups, seems one or the other is needed, so there is probably something I'm missing

Is the PAC powering other draws on the ignition circuit? Is it for starting using only the aux battery?

New to dc electrics and excited to learn!

 

[tbisaacs]

NEXT LEVEL. Well done chap!

 

[JCDriller]

@JCDriller, have you had any issues with your Victron shunt being exposed to the 'elements' under the hood? I'm struggling to find a suitable place to mount mine.

I am on my second shunt. The first broke a tine that connects to the data cable. Don’t think it was weather related, maybe vibration.

Nice inlet location. Happy it will never rain.

I can see your concern, but I haven’t had any issues. That being said I only plug it in over long weekends in the garage (done it maybe 2-3 times). The solar panel on the roof and my daily driving keeps the fridge charged and running 24/7. In my head if your worried just cover it, a small funnel slipped over the cord wold be perfect.

Very nice install.

Curious why you have both an ML-ACR and a 200a PAC? My understanding is a relay or a solenoid can be used for dual battery setups, seems one or the other is needed, so there is probably something I'm missing

Is the PAC powering other draws on the ignition circuit? Is it for starting using only the aux battery?

New to dc electrics and excited to learn!

The PAC runs ignition only power to the rear of the vehicle to charge my Turtleback trailer via an Anderson plug. I have a manual override so I can join both 4R and Turtleback battery banks when I want to.

 

[just_some_4Runner_]

I wanted to share a project I've been working on for a few weeks. It's not quite finished yet, but it's to a place where I'm comfortable sharing. Things left to do include replacing the starter battery with a group 35 odyssey and getting 4x 50w Renogy Eclipse panels mounted in series to a slide out under my roof rack. The slide out will be controlled off a starter relay system and a linear actuator will extend and retract the panels with the cars ignition out over the hood, of course there will also be a manual override. The panels will also be removable so they can be set up remotly or angled to track the sun.

I have installed the Shrockworks dual battery tray, vacuum pump relocation bracket, and ACR/Fuse tray. In the tray I have a Odyssey Group 25 65ah battery, they are automatically joined using a Blue Sea ACR. All of the main cables are 1/0 and were purchased from Custombatterycables.com for the most part they already have the cable lengths/terminal sizes figured out. Most smaller cables are 4 awg. The battery cables are protected with dual 400a ANL fuses in Littelfuse holders. I can't thank @krayton444 enough for bringing the custombatterycables.com to my attention, the fact that they already knew what cables/lengths and terminal were needed for the dual battery 1/0 awg wire really saved me a ton of time!

CTEK 7002 AC/DC charger

I made a custom circuit breaker/fuse panel out of 1/4" plastic and attached it to the top of the battery tie downs. Everything is capped for safety. Circuit breakers are for 1. Under hood Blue Sea Fuse Panel 2. Constant 12v to the rear blue sea panel 3. Ignition hot 12v to the rear blue sea panel. The 200a PAC controls the ignition hot feed.

Shrockworks vacuum relocation bracket made a great place to mount my Victron BMS-702 500a shunt. Hopefully a ARB twin compressor will sit atop all this shortly.

NOCO Genius 110 input plug. This feeds the CTEK 7002 AC/DC charger and the rear shore power. The ARB is always connected to 110v and 12v, when 110v is plugged it is automatically switches over so the CTEK can focus on charging the batteries not running the fridge. (Thanks for the NOCO plug location idea @NoOneBetter)

This is the ARB on a Easyslide 150 drop slide, behind it is the RAGO Modular Storage Panels (they are awesome!) (Thanks @maddiesel67 for the Easy Slide idea)

This photo shows the rear circuit breaker, Blue Sea dual buss fuse panel (12v con/ign./ground), Victron MPPT 100/30 solar charge controller (panels on order), and shore power strip. You can also see that I'm using a key retractable reel to automatically control both the 110v and 12v fridge cables. It works beautifully! Key-bak

Showing the other awesome RAGO MSP

The rear all buttoned up

Finally, in the cab I have a Victron BMS-702 mounted along with the handy bluetooth dongle installed. This lets me check the batteries from outside the vehicle on my iPhone. I used a cravinspeed steering column mount. (@LOLSNOW brought this gauge to my attention, thanks!) There is room for another gauge, (hopefully a Magnuson Superchargers boost gauge :Wow1. You can also see the Blue Sea ACR switch just peaking through the steering wheel on the bottom right.

I also whipped up a custom dual battery voltmeter that fits in a switch blank in the overhead cluster (Idea belongs to @Keith_PDX, awesome mod for <$15)

Finally thanks to @Sleeter for brining the HKB voltage booster to my attention. This little alternator fuse bumps my alternators voltage about .5-.7v higher than factory which keeps the Odyssey happy and lets the ACR work in the stubborn 4Rs. Thank you to @dwh and @DiploStrat for sharing your knowledge and answering stupid questions

I wanted to share a project I've been working on for a few weeks. It's not quite finished yet, but it's to a place where I'm comfortable sharing. Things left to do include replacing the starter battery with a group 35 odyssey and getting 4x 50w Renogy Eclipse panels mounted in series to a slide out under my roof rack. The slide out will be controlled off a starter relay system and a linear actuator will extend and retract the panels with the cars ignition out over the hood, of course there will also be a manual override. The panels will also be removable so they can be set up remotly or angled to track the sun.

I have installed the Shrockworks dual battery tray, vacuum pump relocation bracket, and ACR/Fuse tray. In the tray I have a Odyssey Group 25 65ah battery, they are automatically joined using a Blue Sea ACR. All of the main cables are 1/0 and were purchased from Custombatterycables.com for the most part they already have the cable lengths/terminal sizes figured out. Most smaller cables are 4 awg. The battery cables are protected with dual 400a ANL fuses in Littelfuse holders. I can't thank @krayton444 enough for bringing the custombatterycables.com to my attention, the fact that they already knew what cables/lengths and terminal were needed for the dual battery 1/0 awg wire really saved me a ton of time!




CTEK 7002 AC/DC charger


I made a custom circuit breaker/fuse panel out of 1/4" plastic and attached it to the top of the battery tie downs. Everything is capped for safety. Circuit breakers are for 1. Under hood Blue Sea Fuse Panel 2. Constant 12v to the rear blue sea panel 3. Ignition hot 12v to the rear blue sea panel. The 200a PAC controls the ignition hot feed.


Shrockworks vacuum relocation bracket made a great place to mount my Victron BMS-702 500a shunt. Hopefully a ARB twin compressor will sit atop all this shortly.


NOCO Genius 110 input plug. This feeds the CTEK 7002 AC/DC charger and the rear shore power. The ARB is always connected to 110v and 12v, when 110v is plugged it is automatically switches over so the CTEK can focus on charging the batteries not running the fridge. (Thanks for the NOCO plug location idea @NoOneBetter)



This is the ARB on a Easyslide 150 drop slide, behind it is the RAGO Modular Storage Panels (they are awesome!) (Thanks @maddiesel67 for the Easy Slide idea)


This photo shows the rear circuit breaker, Blue Sea dual buss fuse panel (12v con/ign./ground), Victron MPPT 100/30 solar charge controller (panels on order), and shore power strip. You can also see that I'm using a key retractable reel to automatically control both the 110v and 12v fridge cables. It works beautifully! Key-bak


Showing the other awesome RAGO MSP


The rear all buttoned up


Finally, in the cab I have a Victron BMS-702 mounted along with the handy bluetooth dongle installed. This lets me check the batteries from outside the vehicle on my iPhone. I used a cravinspeed steering column mount. (@LOLSNOW brought this gauge to my attention, thanks!) There is room for another gauge, (hopefully a Magnuson Superchargers boost gauge :Wow1. You can also see the Blue Sea ACR switch just peaking through the steering wheel on the bottom right.


I also whipped up a custom dual battery voltmeter that fits in a switch blank in the overhead cluster (Idea belongs to @Keith_PDX, awesome mod for <$15)

Finally thanks to @Sleeter for brining the HKB voltage booster to my attention. This little alternator fuse bumps my alternators voltage about .5-.7v higher than factory which keeps the Odyssey happy and lets the ACR work in the stubborn 4Rs. Thank you to @dwh and @DiploStrat for sharing your knowledge and answering stupid questions.

Nice work, love what you have done! Quick questions regarding the Drok Mini Volt meters you have installed. I noticed you followed @keith_PDX instructions and I am planning on doing the same.
When using his wiring method, Does the display stay lit up all the time (even when the ignition is off) or does it come on when the ignition is turned on, or does it come on only when the lights are turned on? Thanks in advance!!