Simple Noob Solar Question

I am a bit of a newbie here but after reading a number of posts here and elsewhere, this is what I came up with and it worked well last weekend. I purchased as ARB 50 frig and did a hard wire to the rear with their 8 gauge wiring kit. I also ran a second 8 gauge to a BlueSea fuse box with a Voltage Meter and USB charger. Both of these run through a 100 A breaker at the battery. I changed out the OEM Panny battery for a Battery Plus version of the Northstar Group 27F (92Ah) and added both a quick disconnect for a 120 W suitcase style solar panels with controller and a NOCO battery charger so I can top off the battery when either on the grid or off the grid to the 13.8 V recommended for the battery depending where I am parked for the evening. I went with the 120 W solar as it gives me 6.8+a of charge so even if it is only for a couple of hours in the evening or morning as I pack up, it helps with topping off the battery. Last weekend I camped for two days without running the engine and my voltage never dropped below 12.7 V with frig set at 27 degrees. Once cold and keeping it fairly full, the ARB only draws 1 to 1.5 a per hour. All in, it was not inexpensive but works well and very simple to install in an hour or two.
 

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That's a bad ass set up and ideal. I do believe its a little out of my budget though. Now here are the options Im thinking

1. Change Stock Battery for heavy deep cycle (Northstar Group 27F) or Similar, run fridge 24/7 and charge during extended no run times with charger. No Solar Panel

2.Get Renology 100w panel, hook to 35AH 12V DC DEEPCYCLE batt, run 12v directly off that run fridge 24/7

Now could I get a dual batt set up and come out cheaper than the $300 range and still run my fridge 24/7??

Its all so much!!! Im going to be driving ALOT and anytime the truck sits for more than 3-4days I will unhook the fridge. :confused:
 
SIRWILLYSC said:
That's a bad ass set up and ideal. I do believe its a little out of my budget though. Now here are the options Im thinking

1. Change Stock Battery for heavy deep cycle (Northstar Group 27F) or Similar, run fridge 24/7 and charge during extended no run times with charger. No Solar Panel

2.Get Renology 100w panel, hook to 35AH 12V DC DEEPCYCLE batt, run 12v directly off that run fridge 24/7

Now could I get a dual batt set up and come out cheaper than the $300 range and still run my fridge 24/7??

Its all so much!!! Im going to be driving ALOT and anytime the truck sits for more than 3-4days I will unhook the fridge. :confused:
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Finally​ got my rack and hooked up my solar panel. I'm running dual batteries, however, sometimes there's only a week between trips and I don't want to pull my fridge out or run a cord across the driveway. Rig has been sitting since Sunday afternoon, fridge set to 36 degrees, battery was still 12.6 this morning with ambient temps in the mid 80s.

That being said, any fridge running 24/7 without some sort of external power source will kill a battery right quick. You either need to run the vehicle, plug it into an outlet, or have solar.



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So you have a battery hooked to the starting battery in sequence or separate? And you're charging both with the Solar? If you don't mind, how much does your set up cost

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Dual batteries are connected via isolator for charging off the alternator. Solar is only connected to the house battery, but I suppose it could charge both in tandem. Batteries are isolated while the vehicle is off, or via a switch if the vehicle is running. Since I haven't hard mounted my charge controller yet it'll only be connected while the vehicle is off otherwise I'll risk cables moving around and becoming disconnected from the charge controller.

Solar was around 200ish

Dual battery setup for all parts was around 150 I think. That's fuses, 1/0 cable, copper lugs, isolator, and any misc parts I needed. Another 200 or so for the battery. I did solder all my connections and do the install myself. I also made a battery tray from scrap I had in the garage so that saved me a few bucks.
 
SIRWILLYSC said:
That's a bad ass set up and ideal. I do believe its a little out of my budget though. Now here are the options Im thinking

1. Change Stock Battery for heavy deep cycle (Northstar Group 27F) or Similar, run fridge 24/7 and charge during extended no run times with charger. No Solar Panel

2.Get Renology 100w panel, hook to 35AH 12V DC DEEPCYCLE batt, run 12v directly off that run fridge 24/7

Now could I get a dual batt set up and come out cheaper than the $300 range and still run my fridge 24/7??

Its all so much!!! Im going to be driving ALOT and anytime the truck sits for more than 3-4days I will unhook the fridge. :confused:
Click to expand...
do it in stages.
go dual battery first. in fact, you could keep the 2nd battery completely separate from the main, and just use a charger to top it off before trips. and run the fridge directly off of that.
then get the solar set up to charge it. it doesn't have to be done all at once.

the new ARB's take very little power once they are down to temp.
 
nevada said:
do it in stages.
go dual battery first. in fact, you could keep the 2nd battery completely separate from the main, and just use a charger to top it off before trips. and run the fridge directly off of that.
then get the solar set up to charge it. it doesn't have to be done all at once.

the new ARB's take very little power once they are down to temp.
Click to expand...
The main thing is I'm preparing to go across the US off road. Essentially I need to have the ability to go off grid for at least 4days. All I'll be running is the fridge. I did this trip last year without the fridge and didn't need anything more than stock. So if I get a dual battery set up and run it in sequence will that work?

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SIRWILLYSC said:
The main thing is I'm preparing to go across the US off road. Essentially I need to have the ability to go off grid for at least 4days. All I'll be running is the fridge. I did this trip last year without the fridge and didn't need anything more than stock. So if I get a dual battery set up and run it in sequence will that work?

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Click to expand...

get the dual battery, and make sure its isolated from the house battery.
no matter what the fridge does, you don't want it drawing from the main battery. either with an actual isolator, or just wire it in separately.

this of course is worst case scenario. most likely it would be just fine. but being able to start the vehicle when you are "out there" is pretty darned important.
 
SIRWILLYSC said:
The main thing is I'm preparing to go across the US off road. Essentially I need to have the ability to go off grid for at least 4days. All I'll be running is the fridge. I did this trip last year without the fridge and didn't need anything more than stock. So if I get a dual battery set up and run it in sequence will that work?

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Click to expand...

Dual battery would work just fine if you're moving daily. We did 5 days in Death Valley back in November and the only time I had a battery issue was because we posted up at one of the cabins for 2 days. Just had to run the rig a couple times to give it a charge. I picked up solar for days like that so I wasn't wasting gas keeping everything charged. That being said, I also had a Whynter fridge at the time, which was having issues so it was running more than it should have been which was draining my battery.
 
Drunner97 said:
Dual battery would work just fine if you're moving daily. We did 5 days in Death Valley back in November and the only time I had a battery issue was because we posted up at one of the cabins for 2 days. Just had to run the rig a couple times to give it a charge. I picked up solar for days like that so I wasn't wasting gas keeping everything charged. That being said, I also had a Whynter fridge at the time, which was having issues so it was running more than it should have been which was draining my battery.
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How did you do your dual battery set up?


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Drunner97 said:
Roughly following this guide on Expedition portal. I did everything in 1/0 gauge wire with 200a fuses and a 200a isolator.

How to make a cheap isolated dual-battery setup for $50 - Expedition Portal
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Ok awesome! Well after being extremely confused for a little while, I now have a plan. Thanks for everyone's input. Here's the plan.

Follow the guide for a cheap dual battery set up. I will set it up to take a solar charge in the future. As of now I will only run the dual battery set up and no solar. I will video the install and pay it on my YouTube channel The Broke Camper

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Wonder why I couldn't plug charger into ac outlet in the T4R to charge a battery when I'm driving I can turn on the AC outlet wouldn't this be about the same as a dual battery setup

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SIRWILLYSC said:
Wonder why I couldn't plug charger into ac outlet in the T4R to charge a battery when I'm driving I can turn on the AC outlet wouldn't this be about the same as a dual battery setup

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If I am understanding you correctly, you are saying running an aux battery tied to a battery charger powered by the OEM inverter...so from DC(main battery) to AC (battery charger input)to DC (battery charger output to aux battery)

I did that in the past with a portable powerpack I built and yes it worked decent but it's definitely not ideal. If you are on the move everyday, which I was, it worked but the second battery many times never received a full charge and had to be replaced eventually due to cell damage

It's best to just have both batteries charging off the alternator and never look back
 
Quick update, I found the cheap battery! $79.99 hope this will do the trick. Wonder if I could some how mount it inside??

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SIRWILLYSC said:
Quick update, I found the cheap battery! $79.99 hope this will do the trick. Wonder if I could some how mount it inside??

3890b28a16ddeec56ec6099bcced7edc.jpg


bd85a402ab9d3efdff7ef94136adbe03.jpg


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What gen 4runner? I mounted mine on the passenger side behind the intake hose.

I've redone things, but here's an old pic. Mines a 4th gen.

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So I thought I had my mind set on the dual battery deal but with the amount of money I would spend on that I'm considering upgrading to an optima 31 yellow top, and hooking solar up to that

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