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Fr8Train's Build: Hoss


Fr8Train
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8 minutes ago, RainGoat said:

Yeah, it’s the integration of the mattress as a whole single unit which sets it apart from anything over here.

Yeah my kids love them, they love having their own space camping.

 

We originally had a soft floor camper trailer, that the kids shared with us, they eventually wanted and got swags, and then my wife and I were asking why are we still spending an hour to set up/pack up such a large camper???

 

So that was when we started looking at getting ourselves something a little "glamping" and we worked our way up to our hybrid offroad caravan, hence the reason for Hoss.

 

And before you yankees ask, this is a soft floor camper:

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8 hours ago, mbro said:

Love the truck rim stools,very unique?

 

Yeah they are a mate of mine's, an old hot rodder around here used to make them, they are pretty sought after around here since he passed, I was lucky enough to get to use them for the Blues Festival where this pic was taken.

 

 

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Started on the dual battery set up, went with a battery box arrangement for universal and flexible operation. The battery will be responsible for fridge duties, auxiliary lighting, and device charging. I got a complete kit that comes with VSR for automatic charging and isolation from main starting battery, but has the bonus of a relay over ride so I can jump start off the secondary battery if need be.

 

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Edited by Fr8Train
Can't spell for s#!t
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Started on the dual battery set up, went with a battery box arrangement for universal and flexible operation. The battery will be responsible for fridge duties, auxiliary lighting, and device charging. I got a complete kit that comes with VSR for automatic charging and isolation from main starting battery, but has the bonus of a relay over ride so I can jump start off the secondary battery if need be.
 
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Very cool. What type/size battery did you go with? I also went with a vsr for my set up. It’s been working great paired with my solar panel.


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19 minutes ago, R50JR said:


Very cool. What type/size battery did you go with? I also went with a vsr for my set up. It’s been working great paired with my solar panel.


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I'm just using my old starting battery, and getting a new bigger capacity starting battery, I have an 80ah AGM but I am reading they don't like being charged on alternators, so I am not sure if I will use that yet, I figured using the old starter battery I can afford for it to be abused a bit while I do more research on hooking up an AGM in my system.

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I'm just using my old starting battery, and getting a new bigger capacity starting battery, I have an 80ah AGM but I am reading they don't like being charged on alternators, so I am not sure if I will use that yet, I figured using the old starter battery I can afford for it to be abused a bit while I do more research on hooking up an AGM in my system.

I’m not sure I understand. Why wouldn’t an agm battery like being charged with an alternator? A working alternator should put out 14v+. That’s plenty for proper charge on an agm.


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I’m not sure I understand. Why wouldn’t an agm battery like being charged with an alternator? A working alternator should put out 14v+. That’s plenty for proper charge on an agm.

 

Actually, this is a significant issue in 4Runners. Their stick alternator definitely doesn’t fully charge an AGM. Consequently, there are all kinds of gimmicky things you can buy to increase the voltage. I have an Optima 150-40000 Digital 400 12V Performance Maintainer and Battery Charger that I’ve been using on my 3 vehicles& an extra deep cycle house battery I have. My experience is that all the batteries are at ~75% when I plug them in to maintain & condition them about every 1-2mo.

 

Here’s one if those AGM voltage boosters - though there are many more. Somewhere else on NPORA is a thread I started on the topic. IIRC the consensus opinion was that the Pathfinder OEM alternator charges to a higher voltage that the T4R & there was alot of speculation that these were either unnecessary, snake oil, or even damaging.

 

AGM Voltage Booster

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/216665-voltage-booster-31m-agm-battery.html

 

ArcLight Voltage Booster $55

OEM/+0.5v/+1v

https://www.arclightleds.com/collection/dual-state-voltage-booster-5th-gen-4runner-fj-cruiser-pg2tb-brs6a

 

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 Actually, this is a significant issue in 4Runners. Their stick alternator definitely doesn’t fully charge an AGM. Consequently, there are all kinds of gimmicky things you can buy to increase the voltage. I have an Optima 150-40000 Digital 400 12V Performance Maintainer and Battery Charger that I’ve been using on my 3 vehicles& an extra deep cycle house battery I have. My experience is that all the batteries are at ~75% when I plug them in to maintain & condition them about every 1-2mo.
 
Here’s one if those AGM voltage boosters - though there are many more. Somewhere else on NPORA is a thread I started on the topic. IIRC the consensus opinion was that the Pathfinder OEM alternator charges to a higher voltage that the T4R & there was alot of speculation that these were either unnecessary, snake oil, or even damaging.
 
AGM Voltage Booster
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/216665-voltage-booster-31m-agm-battery.html
 
ArcLight Voltage Booster $55
OEM/+0.5v/+1v
https://www.arclightleds.com/collection/dual-state-voltage-booster-5th-gen-4runner-fj-cruiser-pg2tb-brs6a
 

Didn’t realize hoss was actually a 4runner in disguise.


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On 4/28/2021 at 11:11 PM, R50JR said:


I’m not sure I understand. Why wouldn’t an agm battery like being charged with an alternator? A working alternator should put out 14v+. That’s plenty for proper charge on an agm.


Sent from my Pathfinder

 

Like I said, it is what I have been reading, and like all research on the interwebs it takes some time trawling through the BS and factual information. Like I said I will just be running the old start battery while work out any kinks etc... and be confident I am not going to ruin a new AGM battery.

 

On 4/29/2021 at 1:38 AM, RainGoat said:

Interesting battery box. Was that off the shelf or a DIY?

 

Off the shelf unit, one of our camping stores had them on sale cheaper than I could get all the components and make one for.

 

On 4/29/2021 at 4:46 AM, R50JR said:


Didn’t realize hoss was actually a 4runner in disguise.


Sent from my Pathfinder

 

 No Hoss isn't a 4runner ?

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You’ll be okay with a deep cycle agm on an alternator. I have a 92ah deep cycle agm on a vsr and also paired with a 100w solar panel. I’ve had it nearly a year with this setup. This keeps my ARB 60L fridge running 24/7. Without any input from solar or alternator, the battery will power the fridge 4 days.


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On 4/30/2021 at 12:54 PM, R50JR said:

You’ll be okay with a deep cycle agm on an alternator. I have a 92ah deep cycle agm on a vsr and also paired with a 100w solar panel. I’ve had it nearly a year with this setup. This keeps my ARB 60L fridge running 24/7. Without any input from solar or alternator, the battery will power the fridge 4 days.


Sent from my Pathfinder

Went to a local tradeshow yesterday and picked the brains of some battery gurus, they said the AGM will be fine, and that overcharging with a vehicle alternator is difficult as most pre-smart alternators don't actually fully charge an AGM battery only producing enough volts to actually charge it to some 90-95%. They said this "issue" actually doesn't hurt the battery and you will have a pretty robust auxillary battery system with the gear I am using.

 

So I feel a lot better about that ?

 

Time to get her wired up now...

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Went to a local tradeshow yesterday and picked the brains of some battery gurus, they said the AGM will be fine, and that overcharging with a vehicle alternator is difficult as most pre-smart alternators don't actually fully charge an AGM battery only producing enough volts to actually charge it to some 90-95%. They said this "issue" actually doesn't hurt the battery and you will have a pretty robust auxillary battery system with the gear I am using.
 
So I feel a lot better about that
 
Time to get her wired up now...

Awesome. Can’t wait to see your set up!


Sent from my Pathfinder
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Went to a local tradeshow yesterday and picked the brains of some battery gurus, they said the AGM will be fine, and that overcharging with a vehicle alternator is difficult as most pre-smart alternators don't actually fully charge an AGM battery only producing enough volts to actually charge it to some 90-95%. They said this "issue" actually doesn't hurt the battery and you will have a pretty robust auxillary battery system with the gear I am using.
 
So I feel a lot better about that
 
Time to get her wired up now...

Awesome. Can’t wait to see your set up!


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Out with the old, in with the new...

 

Front sway bar bushes started banging during my shakedown run, simple 8 bolt job is now turning into a 2 night ordeal, found two stripped bolts, and suspect threads, getting a tap from work, and a couple of new bolts fix it properly.

 

Ahh the fun of cars and how the simplest job is one broken bolt away from a nightmare.

 

51171549688_cb70eef61b_o.jpg

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